Steve Dangle podcast with your host, Steve Dangle, Adam Wild and Jesse Blake.

Let's go. Steve's looking rather invisible today.

Yeah. Work from home day.

Yeah.

Well, benefits working from home. Baby. Hey.

Hey. Hey. Hey. She's got good sideburns, too. Can we get a smile? She's so cute.

Oh, my God.

No smile. There she is. Do you have anything to say, Ila? No.

She is looking at us. Hi, Ila.

She's looking at us. She's looking at the camera.

Oh, my God.

They are just the best at this age.

Nothing. She's done. She's so cute. Adam, don't act like you like babies.

I freaking I love babies, dude.

You hate babies.

I love babies. I couldn't stand babies before I had a baby. Now I love babies, but I don't want another one because they're a lot of work. I'm happy to jump in and be like, Hey, you got a cute baby, and here it is. Give it all back once. Things to get difficult. That's okay to visit a baby. Yeah, exactly. Listen, there are two fan groups right now.

No, I explained Steve's at home.

Oh, yeah. No, hold on. We'll get to that.

For people listening just so they know Steve's at home because he's pooping himself.

All right? All right? Yeah. All right? I was going to get to it. I was going to get to it as a part of the intro.

Okay. I feel like that should be the intro.

Okay, well, there it is. There's your intro. Steve shit himself.

I put for a solid seven hours Monday night through Tuesday morning.

And you had a big game last night. So here's the thing. There's this virus that's going around. My family's had it. Steve's We had it. Members of my family, multiple members lose more than 10 pounds on this thing. Not pleasant. So we said, You know what, Steve, why don't you go ahead and stay home the rest of the week? Because Maddie and Jessie and I just didn't want to get it. We How do you want to get it?

I wore a mask around my own damn house yesterday. It was pathetic. But no, today I'm feeling good. I had a full meal and everything. We talked about me not coming into the studio Friday. I don't know if that'll It's not necessary, but I'll leave that up to you guys and your comfort.

It's really about your comfort, man.

Well, my comfort is every... I feel like I should go take golf lessons today because every muscle in my upper core is just engaged so much.

I'm going to tell you, there's a lot in your legs.

Yeah, it's a lot in your legs.

It's all in the hips.

I thought it was in your core.

If you're using too much hands, you want to be able to turn with with your lowest body so you get around on the ball.

So what should I do? Base?

I think you should make videos about hockey.

Oh, okay. That is what I will do.

Yeah, that's a good plan for you.

That's more of your specialty.

Yeah. We're not sure if Steve is going to be in on Friday, but listen, we've done the remote broadcasting before. We know how this works. We did this for almost two straight years during the pandemic. Can you believe that? Yeah, Yeah, it sucked, but we got through. I don't want to say that there are two groups of fans who are having the best time right now, and both of them wear orange. You got the Edmondson Oilers and you got Team Netherlands. I've never seen. Have you guys seen-I thought you were going to say Ducks fans. No, not Flyers fans. Not Flyers fans. No, I'm talking about, have you guys been watching just the parades through Hamburg that's going on with the Euros, with the Dutch fans all going to the left and then all going to the right and then I'm going to say...

That's before the game. I'm going to be honest and say, no, I have no idea what you're talking about.

You need... Oh my God, it's amazing. You guys haven't seen this?

Steve, do you have any idea with Adam Wilde talking about?

No, I've seen the... What was it? I can't remember what fan base, but they were breaking spaghetti at the Italian fans. They were getting all mad.

All right, Jessie, I'm going to send this to you. It's a Twitter video. Are you ready? We can play it, but we can't play the audio because there is a song associated with this. But what I love about this is Dutch Dutch fans. This is in Germany, playing Germany, and the Dutch fans bring a bust of one of their old presidents, and they have a parade down the street, and they start singing and dancing. It looks like the biggest party in the world. Look at this.

I can see it in the reflection of the screen in the studio.

Isn't that nuts?

Yeah.

This is before the game.

I'm more loving it. Sea of Orange. That's Steve's reaction.

Wow.

Here, I should text you a picture of what I'm seeing. I'm seeing the side of Jessie's face and our Sdpn TV in the reflection of the video in the TV.

That's how I'm feeding it. I'm not feeding it back to Steve right now.

Okay, well, listen. I just want to say big shout.

Damn, that's crazy.

Big shout out to the Dutch fans. And hey, Connor McDavid.

I don't like how you've inserted Dutch propaganda into to this show.

No, hold on.

Let me finish. Let me finish because you're trying to not get another divorce and your wife's family is Dutch and you've inserted some propaganda into this show so you can maintain your marriage. That's right.

Listen, it's always hanging by a string with me. So you just never know. You never know when it could happen. Yes, Maddie. Hold on. There you go.

I don't know.

I found it really high on the interesting over here. Okay, hang on.

I don't think your mic's plugged in.

Yeah, Maddie, how about you plug your mic in, producer Maddie.

This is a nightmare.

Yeah, Maddie, you're not plugged in.

This is a nightmare.

Maddie's not plugged in. Say what you're going to say, and then I'll repeat it. I'm just saying I think this is really high, but these are low in the string. How high? What are you giving it?

You got to be ready with a rate.

Yeah, Maddie.

You can't bring up the deserve to interestingometer.

Maddie gave it an eight on the deserve to interestingometer. That's pretty good. For anybody listening who couldn't hear.

That's pretty good.

No? I think this is a four.

You stink. You wait till you watch that video again.

When Connor McDavid did what he did last night and we start with Dutch fans jumping in the crowd, I got to give it a solid five.

The comment section.50%. The comment section, back me up on this one. Back me up on this one because you know.

I'm not here for your propaganda.

Before the game, and I love hockey images that precede unfortunate events, is one of my favorite Twitter accounts, Matthew K'Chuck on Game 5, We have a chance to go capture the biggest goal of our lives tonight. We're going to do that. They didn't do that.

It's really cool when you do the guarantee thing, but it sucks when you lose, and then you just got to do it again.

For his part, Connor McDavid said, I'm looking forward to to everybody, underestimating us again.

And he got clowned on for that. He got clowned on for that. And here we are going to game six. He said, We're going to drag them back to Alberta, and they did.

I want to ask you guys, when things got a little hairy last night, when Florida started to come back, in your heart of hearts, did you think this is probably where it ends? Florida probably ties this because Sam Bennett came real close.

He came so close. I thought if they tie it, it was over, but it was too much. It was too much. They couldn't do it. We had the conversation, and Jessie has been the biggest proponent of this all playoff is the oilers know how to park the bus now. I don't know if last night was the greatest example of it because the whole bend, not break thing, they bent quite a bit, but they pulled it off. They pulled it off. And I've talked about this in the past. If you actually tell the specific play-by-play story of how a lot of Stanley Cup finals has worked out, you'd barely even be convinced that the team that won is good. But that's not how history remembers it. It's you won or you didn't, right? You won or you didn't. And that's the series. But for a game, you won or you didn't. Who cares if the Oilers were up three, nothing, and then four, one, and only one by one goal? They won. They won. That's the The reason why everyone's on a plane back to Edmonton right now is because there's a sixth game to play.

And it's only, I think, the fourth or fifth time that's ever happened.

Let's talk about Connor McDavid for a second here, because this record-breaking thing that he keeps doing Obviously, he passed Wayne Gretsky for the assist record. First player in Stanley Cup history with eight points in a two-game span.

Ever. Jesus.

That's unbelievable. The previous record was seven, and it was done seven times by, and listen to these names. Gretsky, Lemu, Paul Koffie, Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, Sil Apps, and great name here, Newsy Lillant.

Nice. Newsy Lillant. You didn't name someone who's not in the Hall of Fame.

No, they're all in it.

Newsy Lillant, I'm guessing, but because he's so old.

Newsy Lillant is in the Hall of Fame.

He was one of about 17 players. I'm going to assume he's in the Hall of Fame. I've never had my opinion changed this aggressively. We were talking about Bobrowski versus Barcav, and in the span of two games, whether the Panthers win in six, meaning the oilers lose in six or not. It's absurd to have anyone at the top of your ballot other than Connor McDavid. It's absurd. He had eight points in the last two games. He's got, what is it? 42 on the playoffs. How? How do you have anyone? The Barkov narrative is dead. That's dead because his whole thing was, Oh, he shuts down these guys. Mcdavid just hung four on him in his own building in eight over the last two games. The Bobrowski narrative, that's dead. The all top 10 Stanley Cup final, dead. It's McDavid and McDavid and McDavid. That should be all three guys on your ballot. And it's crazy because Hyman has 15 goals. He's only the third active player to have that. But it's McDavid, McDavid, and McDavid. This is true, true greatness we're witnessing here. He's got to win the Kahn-Smith winner lose.

Well, so that was going to be my question to you guys. Do you think... First off, I don't know that he would want that. I want to add another stat to this. Obviously, he's five shy of tying Gretsky. The most assists and points in a Cup final by one single player is at 10 and 13 by Wayne Gretsky in 1988. Connor McDavid, eight assists, 11 points with potentially two games to go. So record for most assists points, 10 assists, 13 points by Gretszky. Connor has got eight assists, 11 points. So he could not only just break Gretzky's record of total points in the playoffs, but could be Cup final points, too. And I think the more you narrow down, the more impressive it gets, because this is really when it counts, right?

A hundred %. You want your biggest players to be big at these times, and he's been historically huge. I did a lot of writing about Gretsky for my upcoming book, and the gap between Gretsky and anyone, historically or in his era, is hilarious. So whenever anyone gets, not even breaks, whenever anyone gets close to one of his records, it's noteworthy because they're head and shoulders above everyone else. The all time goals record that Ovechkin may break is one of Gretzky's easier records to break, and that's insane. Someone getting... What's the record? 47 or 48 points?

47.

Goofy. Completely goofy. Think of how otherworldly Kutrov was. A few years ago, he was getting into the 30s in points. It seemed like that would be the Cap era standard. No one would be able to get past that. And McDavid, I mean, he's just got four points in his last two games. If he does that again, that's the record of then some. And I know, well, Steve, If you're asking him to score four points a game. I'm not asking him to do anything. He's Connor McDavid. He'll just do it. And now he's about to get a home ice advantage. He could break the record and they could still lose the series. He's absurd.

Connor Eric David has 174 points in 99 games total this season. That's according to Scott Wheeler.

Good Lord.

That's crazy. Now, Arpen Basu made a really good point on Twitter last night, and he The Oilers have made it to game six with Leon Dreisaitl putting up no goals and two assists through five games. He's got to bust out at some point, right? If I'm the Panthers, that thought terrifies me. And I want to relate it to Connor first on this one. Is it more impressive, guys, that Connor has been able to do this without Leon putting up a ton of points as well? Does that make it even more impressive that a major member of supporting cast hasn't produced, perhaps, to the level you would expect?

Yes, it does. Well, and Hyman just got his first goal in I don't know how long. So it's McDavid producing without a lot of Hyman's help and dry settle. Those two were tied in points or neck and neck in points, I think, into the conference finals. I'm just looking now, McDavid is 12 points up on dry cycle. He's 10 points up on Bouchard. How is this happening? Mcdavid is doing this on the power of of himself. He's got 17 power play points, which means he still got, what is that? 25 even strength?

Yeah.

He's only scoring on 11% of his shots, which is downright reasonable. You know what the scariest part of it for me is, and we really saw this in the third period last night, forget the points that he's putting up in the dominant offensive performances. You expect those. Mcdavid on the back check last night. Oh, my God. He's going to win this thing on his own. He's going to break history and do this on his own. It's really starting to feel that way.

Guys, Keith Acton and Jesse, did you want to add to that?

Yeah, because I think we should also leave open the door that, say, he goes pointless in game six. I don't think he deserves the Con Smith's trophy because I think the narrative right now we're going with is the last two games. But let's say those games happened in games 1 and 2, and then he went four consecutive games with the performance that he had in the first three games. I don't feel like if we looked at it as just like that was the most recent history, we wouldn't be screaming about McDavid for the Khawn-Smith. I think if next game, Panthers go out and win it and Barkov shuts them down, I think the Khawn-Smith goes to Barkov.

Do you think that those three games of the finals, and maybe other games throughout the playoffs, are enough to take him out of the contention? Because Kohn-Smith is a whole playoff MVP, right? Yeah. So you think those three games are enough?

If you lose, if they don't get to game seven, I don't know how you can give him the Kahn-Smith Trophy, especially if he doesn't have a good performance in game six. They win two games the whole series, and three of those... Well, four, if let's say they lose and he has a mediocre game, just not an otherworldly McDavid game, and four of those games, the Panthers were limited him. Then we're just basing the narrative off of two games that he deserved the Conn-Smith Trophy. I feel like we're going a little far with it in that direction, and you're taking away what Barcov did for three rounds and then for four games. Because I think right now he's probably the front runner with Barbarowski's performance in these two games, which I'm talking about two games affecting your performance. It did for Barbarowski, and especially at the end of game, was it two? Even when they won, he wasn't that effective. Or game three, sorry. There. So I think what Barcov did in three rounds plus four games against McDavid, he would be more deserving if they win the series 4-2.

See, I'm pulling my vote for Barbarowski now because of the last two games. And I know that seems a little unfair, but I had Barbarowski. I'm revoking it. And the reason I was is because Jesse brought up a really great stat that Brovowski was going for the all-time save percentage record in the Stanley Cup final. I'm like, Man, how do you not give to that guy if he gets it? Now, probably not possible for him to get it after the last two games.

Since the third period of game three, Brovowski is a 7:56 save percentage. Yeah, that's rough.

Good work.

6:43 goals against average. So he's ruled himself out. Unfortunately, that's ruined what he's done in the playoffs. And with McDavid, the narrative in two games is trumping everything everybody else has done in the entirety of the playoffs.

And three games before that. I see what you're saying. And Yeah.

Then so if game six just goes, it's a two-nothing win by the Panthers, you can't give him the... It feels like a consolation trophy. It feels like, Oh, we all wanted you to win the Stanley Cup for the sake of history. Here's the Conn-Smith Trophy, even though Barcow, I think in that scenario, would be more deserving. Now, we got to leave open the door that Edminton does in the Impossible and wins two games. Then, yeah, give him the Conn-Smith. But if you lose Game 6 and 2-0, he doesn't deserve a Conn-Smith Trophy.

What if they win Game 6, and then they go to Game 7 and they lose? Yeah. It's Connor McDavid that wins Game 6.

I'll entertain that 100%. You'll entertain that. Okay. No, that makes a lot of sense to me.

I want to go through the history of this, Steve, while you're thinking about it, okay? Because the last few players to win the Conn-Smith Trophy and be on a losing team are goal tenders. J. S. Shagair, for the Mike Babcock coached Stumpy Thomas led Anaheim Ducks in 2003, and I believe they lost in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals against... Who was it against? The Devils. The Devils. The 1987 Philadelphia Flyers, Ron Hextal, who who was a rookie, they went to game seven against the Oilers and lost. The last player was just under 50 years ago. Reggie Leach of the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers, Glenn Hall of the '68 Blues, Roger Crozier of the '66 Red Wings, or two other guys that have done it. It's only happened, as I say, six times in this league. So it makes sense that we have to be talking about this at this point. We have to be talking about legacy things. And the Con Smith Trophy really is a legacy trophy. It really is a, you did this when it counts. I would say, and here's a crazy hot take, Con Smith says a lot more about the player's importance to the team than MVP of the regular season.

I think when you talk about importance of trophies, if we're going to rank trophies, to me, it's outside of the Stanley Cup, obviously. Con Smith's the number one. It's the most important one. It's because this is when it counts. There are guys that go on runs and win them. Jaeger is one of them, right?

But they did it.

It's likening to say the Stanley Cup means more than a as a trophy. I think we look at those two different seasons. The one is the champion of one, one is the champion of the other. If you say the playoff's everything, then being the MVP of the playoff means more than being the playoff of the regular season. I totally get what you mean. And the Reggie Leach year '76, that year, he set the all-time goals record for most goals in a playoff with 19. So that's why he got the Kansmite Trophy that year. And if McDavid sets the all-time points record in the playoff, then it's the exact same plane that Reggie Leach is on. They both had a historic record, and in the losing effort, they get the Kansmite Trophy. I believe Leach, when they lost, it was in game seven as well, if I'm pretty sure.

I think it was. Here, I'll pull it up. I've got it here.

There it is. Seven games, very end, you break an all-time record, you get the Consumite Trophy. I feel like McDavid needs to get to that there to give him the trophy. I think it's premature for me after game number five to give the guy the Consumite Trophy when they could easily win two games this series. He could just have two really good games. The guy on the other side of the ice, the captain of the floor of the Panthers, who throughout the entire play of the play also was unbelievable. Shut down every star could be the leading point gutter of their team and be the best defensive player that we've seen in the play off in a long time.

Let's think about this like a voter. Let's think about this like one of the guys up in the press box who had to vote on this thing. Cj has talked about this process before on the second most recent CJ show. I've been listening to a lot of it over the last few days. He talked about Kessel and Crosby being separated by one vote or something like that. The difference is those guys are on the same team. You're a voter and you think it's close, and let's say your ballot is Barcov and McDavid, and you can't decide. You got to either give the trophy to someone who wants it or someone who doesn't. You know what I mean? Mcdavid, that J. S. Jaguar picture of him with the consomite is terrible. Nobody wants it.

No. It's the worst trophy to win in that scenario.

It looks like the worst day of his life. And that trophy is part of the reason why I wanted the Ducks to win in '07, that and they were playing the damn sense. But I saw that and I'm like, Man, he needs to wash that off of his legacy, that greatest loser photo. He wants to be anywhere in the world but accepting that award. It feels so...

I don't know if you guys-I would go to the guy who wants it. I don't know if you guys agree, but it feels a bit... If he wins it in six games in a 4-2 Stanley Cup final loss, it feels like a participation trophy for a guy who we knew is doing great stuff and is one of the greatest players of this generation to just be like, Hey, you didn't win the Stanley Cup, but here's this.

It does set you up for, Ha ha, enjoy that trophy, loser. Yeah, it does.

It's icky. It is. I'll come here on... Because we won't record a show until Monday, if they clinch on Friday. I'll come here on Monday and probably hear about how Barcov was robbed. Yeah. I don't know.

By the way, just a little bit on the Reggie Leach stuff, because I do want to talk about it just quickly, just to give you some mystery. Reggie Leach is the only player, non-goalie, to do this. He interestingly won the Conn-Smith despite the Philadelphia Flyers being swept in the 1976 finals by the Montreal- So it wasn't even- You could argue he won it before the Finals even started because he scored 19 goals. It set an NHL playoff record, and it has only since been tied once by Yari Curry in 1985.

And I think a handful of guys have 18, like Zack. Yes.

Oh my God. Isn't that wild? The article I'm reading mentions that Chris Pronger, with the Oilers in 2006 was averaging over 30 minutes a night. Thirty minutes a night. That was a crazy run by the Oilers.

It'd be like if McDavid had 48 points at the end of the Dallas series. Yes. Then like, yeah.

Probably give it to him. Probably. Yeah.

But he didn't do that.

You wanted a depressing stat?

Yes.

So McDavid's chasing down Gretsky, right? What is Gretsky at again? I can't remember. 47. 47. All right. Morgan Reilly in his playoff career, 40 points. William Nylander in his playoff career, 43 points. Mcdavid is one back. John Tavares in his playoff career, 46 points. Oh, my God. Mcdavid is four back. Austin Matthews in his playoff career, 48 points. Mcdavid is six back. And Mitch Marner, the greatest playoff performer for the Toronto Maple leaves in this generation. You stop it. Numbers are numbers, Adam. 50 points in his playoff career. Mcdavid is eight points back. Does he pass the leaves entire core five in the remaining one potentially two games?

He's done eight points in two games. I think unless Leon Dreisaddle starts to score, He's going to have to do it again for them to win like this.

Yeah. Or McDavid shouldn't win the Caun-Smith because he's not even the best Connor. Connor Brown? Connor Brown was the architect fact of the first goal, both shorthanded for the Oilers in each of their last two games. He set up Janmark, who almost screwed it up by putting it wide, and then Barkov obliged him. So really, I I hope that is Brown's goal anyway. And then Brown with a ridiculous takeaway. I love vindication. Okay, are they paying him too much? Yeah, probably. But I I feel like for most of the season, I was pretty steadfast in. Connor Brown did not forget how to play hockey. He's simply recovering from an injury, and he's become more and more of an animal for the Oilers as this playoff has gone. I know he's only got two damn goals. I know. That doesn't matter to me. I think you can be an effective player without scoring. That's what I thought about the Tarasenko-Lindell-Lusterina line. Lusterina has been such an effective player for the Panthers. He's only got two goals. This line that Nobloc has put together of a Brown, Janmark, and is it Henrique? Is the other guy? Yeah.

No, not always. It's funny because it does switch.

I mean, this is a penalty goal, though.

Yeah, and Mark, Henry Brown. Yeah.

Right. They're tearing the Panthers up. Yeah. They're doing a great job.

It's funny how little they missed of Andrew Cain.

Yeah. Even I didn't even realize he wasn't playing.

Yeah, you don't. Because of how ineffective he was because of the injury. Remember, Steve, we always use to talk about, Hey, if this guy's 60%, is he better than 100% of your bench player? You might as well play the 100% guy because he's going to be better than 60% of your star. I think right now we're seeing like, Hey, if a Vanda Cane is that injured, 60% of a Vanda Cane isn't better than whoever you want to plug in.

The person they plugged in is Cory Corey Perry. Yeah.

Who scored the McDavid goal.

Yes. Yeah. And listen, Corey Perry, Derek Ryan, number 90, number 10. That means together, they're better than Gretsky. They're 100. I agree with you completely on that. And I think when you have... This is why it's so interesting that Chris Noblek has been willing to scratch a guy like Cory Perry, because I don't think that would happen in Toronto. I don't know if it's a forward depth thing or whatever, but you got Cory Perry for these moments, and Chris Noblek is like, Yeah, he's just not going to play tonight. He's come in, and when he has come in, there have been moments where he's completely not been involved or engaged. There were periods, especially in the Vancouver series, it was like, Why isn't Cory Perry mixing it up a little bit more? But last night, he was vintage Corey Perry in the playoffs.

In fairness, that was Perry's first goal. I don't think it's that huge of a controversy. It's one of those things where I would see the decision to scratch him and I'd be Oh, really? And then I look at his numbers and I go, fair. He hasn't been as effective, and they have other options. Those options got injured and bad, and Perry went in there and he's been effective.

Steve, you were mentioning the Leifs' playoff numbers and how McDavid is going to pass some of them. Well, Locked On sends, yesterday on Twitter did the leafs thing where you stab yourself in the chest with your own stats. And they brought up how McDavid's playoff points alone, this season, his 44 playoff points, would rank fifth in regular season scoring on the senators. Oh, my God. If you look at the sends team scoring by points, K'Chuk had 74, Stutzla had 70, Batherson had 66, Jaru had 64, and then McDavid would slot in in fifth with 44 points, and then Jacob Chikrin would be at 6. That was 41 points. Oh, my God. The fifth highest leading scorer on the sentence is playoff Connor McDavid.

I just had to look it up. On the Sharks, he would be fourth.

Oh, my God.

That's so bad.

What's crazy is he's a hair away from second. Fabian Zetterland is third on the Sharks in scoring with 44 points. Mcdavid's two back, and William Ekeland is second with 45. Michael Grandland has 60. I don't think McDavid's going to catch him, but you never know.

Now I'm obsessed with checking some of these other teams. I want to see where he places on the black. On the black, he's third. He had a word on the black-ons. Bedard had 61. Khrushchev had 54. Oh, no, it's not sorted properly, but still, I think he's still third. Yeah, he's still third. Yeah. Folino had 37. Connor McDavid's playoff points are third on the Black Ox. Rough.

I just checked. He'd be tied for third on the Ducks.

There you go. So he didn't beat the Black Ox, where he's alone in third. So it'd be Black Hawks, then ducks, and then sharks.

That's some rough company. What was it that Everybody kept saying about parody in the NHL. There's no freaking parody. The cap does not give you parody. It just makes teams tank. That's awful. That's awful. By the way, Descend, it is disturbing, and we could talk about this in the offseason, how little they can score. It's crazy. I want to talk to you guysI don't play defense. I want to ask you guys, did anybody look more intense than Bill Zeto last night? Did you guys catch that look?

Yeah, his water bottle throw and his angry face.

So I've got the picture, Jesse.

It was a good Zeto game.

I didn't know that Bill Zeto was that intense. And I asked someone who would know him and said that that's not necessarily how he always is, but during games, yes.

Can you imagine just being across the table from that?

That'd be a tough negotiation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Look at that.

If I'm Zeto, I'm pissed I have to get back on a plane. You know who should be the most pissed at anybody? Friends and family. Vincent Viola, the owner of the Florida Panthers. Why is that? Who I assume has to foot the bill for some of these friends and families flying back and forth. You go to Edmonton, 150 people. They fly to Florida, 150 people back home, I guess. But still, and then now you got to charter another plane back to Edmonton. Oh, yeah. They're costing him hundreds of thousands of dollars. Oh, yeah.

Hockey players are preposterously superstitious. And last night, I was wondering to myself, do the friends and family, do some of the friends and family, at least, who went to game four, just not go.

I don't think there'll be 150 people there this time.

What do you mean?

No, no. Okay, you win the cup. That's great. Take some pictures with it. I'll celebrate with you with the cup when you come home.

No, no.

The other thing is people are like, Wow, 150 people came. That's a lot of people. I'm like, That's five people per- Less. Yeah, per player.

If there's 30 on actual roster.

Yeah, and it's probably some assistant coaches and coaches in there or whatever. But But that's not a lot. No. It's not that crazy.

For most of them, it's like mom, dad, wife.

Yeah, mom, dad, wife, and maybe a kid or a sister or a brother or something like that.

Because you got to think it's not just the roster that's in the regular season, the 20-man roster. It's like Campbell's added all the extra guys in the AHL who you called up for your Black Aces. They count, too. They do. They also are on this plane, and they got family and friends if they want to be out there, too. 150 is actually a small number, I think.

Yeah. I don't disagree. And you know what? Listen, Vinnie, if you're having to pay for this, just suck it up, man. Oh, Vida. Yeah. You've made enough money in the play No, I'd be pissed. You're gay, right? Would you be angry, billionaire, Jessie?

Here's the world's smallest violin.

People with money love spending it. Yeah, that's true.

He got to be a a billionaire because he loves throwing away cash.

I think the taxpayers should put the bill.

You know what? In Calgary, they would. In Calgary, they would. Now, I want to talk about this one with this one play that will be ignored forever. Jesse, I just sent it to you. Steve, you'll only be able to slightly see it on the screen, but it is the best angle of the Matthew K'Chuck save that led directly to the Connor McDavid empty net goal. And we will forget this forever. We will forget in this play, but this play is spectacular. I feel like, is that not... If the Panthers win this game, that is right there, that still is... I would put that on the side of my house if I were him. That is a crazy, crazy play that he made.

I wasn't able to adequately react to it on the stream because everything happened so quickly and McDavid scored so soon after. But the way K'Chuck was sliding into the net, I thought he gave up because his arms were at his side. But no, he was like bobsledding. He was making himself aerodynamic so that he could reach with all his... Like all his strength and whack that thing away. It's maybe the craziest goal line rejection I've ever seen. Jordan Martinuk was ridiculous, and he had it ruined as well.

I think the USA Canada Sochi women's gold medal game wins because that led to Canada winning, right? Oh, yes. Do you remember? I forgot about that. Yeah, that's got to be number one on the Mount Rushmore. Oh, you're right. Empty net goal thing.

Yes, because they won. They actually won.

Yeah, it If Florida comes back here and Jacob Chikrin isn't just like, Kostin, which I want to show that footage, too. Jacob Chikrin? Oh, sorry. Jacob Chikrin. O-e-l. I'm getting my old coyote. Where's Jacob Chikrin? I'm getting my old coyote's defenseman mixed up. O-e-l, who's a sleeper agent for the Vancouver Knux. Absolutely. Yeah, because I think he's trying to affect the game here. If he's not coasting and they actually go down and get a goal and win an overtime, then I think this trumps the gold medal game, but that's got to be number one right now.

Yeah, that is crazy.

Do you buy what people are saying about Ekman Larson that he just thought the fuck went in, and that's why he stopped?

I You can buy it, but it's still bullshit, right? You're told to play until the whistle is blown twice. That's why I had a coach say that. He's like, You play until you hear it twice. He's like, Because it could be somebody whistling from the crowd. It could be anything. I didn't have a game. I didn't play at a level that there would be people in the crowd watching us. Trust me, we were not that entertaining. But you play and you play and you play. Even in volleyball, our coach would be like, Play to the second whistle. Just play everything.

Dude, 100 meter dash. Yeah. 100 meter dash. You run 105.

I like when we get the grade seven volleyball. Absolutely.

Well, because it's basic, right?

It's the same.

It is the same.

Nobody's saying it's the same.

Nobody is saying it's the same.

No, Adam.

You're right. Bring up OEL. Or Jacob Chakeron, whoever you want to call him. All right. This is Chakerin.

Matias Micheli.

He's Matias Micheli. It's the only cup winner with the Toronto Maple East. That's Dersy. Sean Dersy. Here we have OEL completely just coasting on this play. He's obviously not looking at the park. He thinks it went in. He thinks the game's over, and McDavid turns around and scores the empty net goal. It's an embarrassing look. You understand it, but it's unacceptable.

Yes.

To me, it was... Okay, even though OEL had scored the 4-3 goal...

Yeah, what's he doing there? Bend your knees, man.

No, he wasn't even looking. He's just turned around. No, he thought it was over. Yeah, he's turned around going to the bench.

Even though he had the 4-3 goal, for that final 90 seconds, whatever it was, I kept looking at the point and going, OEL?

Yeah.

That's the Panthers. That's the option they're going with?

Yeah.

I'm not sure, fellows.

Yeah.

I'm not like, is that your most capable defender back there? I'm not sure. I thought you had a better options than that. I'm wondering what's up with Montour. His effectiveness has greatly decreased. And you know what's funny? Let me get ahead of it, because I think people are going to say, Steve, you were talking about the Panthers, they were the best team in the world, and they were. I said that because it was just damn true. And I don't even necessarily think they're doing anything bad or wrong. I just think you're seeing true brilliance, true greatness, out of the greatest player of this generation, and underratedly lost in all the McDavid love I love Stuart Skinner.

Great game. Holy-fantastic stuff.

He's given them huge saves, huge saves. People have been talking about Aiden Hill and Darcy Kemper, and You don't need necessarily an elite goalie to win the Stanley Cup, which is both true and dry to those guys. But you just need to win those games. Stuart Skinner in these games, has been preposterous. Not just the quantity, but the quality of the saves that he's given the oilers. It's a team effort, man. It's a team effort, which is why I take the consmith away from Connor McDavid, because where would he be without the rest of his team?

Team effort for two games. That's what we got. That's right. I feel like that's being lost in the narrative because a lot of the times, the way these things play out is just how they played out. If these games for the Edmonds and the Oilers happened in games one and two, and then the Florida Panthers won three straight, and we're like, Oh, they're going back to Edmondson. Florida has won three straight, then the narrative is completely different. If you just take them as different games that happened at different portions, I feel like the conversation is a little different. What? Go ahead. Sorry.

No, go ahead. Well, I was going to say you guys were making fun of me. But when the oilers were up three, nothing, the stat was the oilers have scored 13 out of the last 14 goals in this cup final. I just felt like, All right, at that point, you can't ignore it anymore. That's ridiculous, right? Yeah. I know they won 8-1, but it was two goals, followed by 8-1, followed by 3-0.

I don't agree. It's an 8-1 victory. That's so Well, skewed.

That sucks, Steve. Deserved an interesting meter.

On your 8-1 skewed stat, 2. 2 out of 10.

It's 13 and 14, not 8-1.

I think my Dutch fans were far more interesting than that. I'm just right there. I agree. Thank you, Jesse.

I gave that a five. I gave that one a two. One, I think, very interesting stat that points to just how great of a defensive team the-We'll see. Go ahead, Jeff. The Edminton Oilers really are Over the last 15 games, this was from Sports Det stats, 43 of 44 on the penalty kill.

Wow. That's a nine.

That's a nine.Unbelievable defensive performance from them.Wow. You look at them early on the season, we go with the whole oilers just outscore their problems narrative. That thing, we got to forget that. Well, no, they've proven us. They've proven another life. You mentioned the park the bus thing, Steve. They are a great defensive team. They're led by Evan Bouchard, who passed Paul Koffie for most assists ever in a postseason.

Have you considered that he's bad, though?

Evan Bouchard?

No, I'm doing this to Jesse because it's his favorite defenseman.

I've never considered that ever. We're looking right now at the most assists in a playoff year list. Mcdavid obviously set the record this season. And if you go down the list, the first defenseman on the list is number 8, Evan Bouchard, with 26 assists this postseason. Paul Koffie had 25 and 84, 85. Evan Bouchard just set in records. Great defensive team these Edmondson Oilers are. I love that.

If you're Paul Koffie on the bench, you got to be like, All right, Evan, I think we're going to rest you.

Hey, man, I think it's- You got to hold on to that record. No, man, I think this is great for Paul. Not only did he have the record, but he coached the guy who broke it. That's a pretty amazing resume, right?

Like-ridiculous feather in his cap.

We all had our reservations about yet another oiler for Oiler jumping behind the bench, and we were wrong. And that's okay. It's good to be wrong. I've had issues in the past with it being a bit of an '80s oilers club at the ownership level. But I have to say, he's even getting guys like Cody Ceece. They were talking about, Hey, Cody, you got a good shot. Can't hit anything, but you have a good shot. Maybe you should fire it more. And of course, he scores the very next game. Paul Koffie has been great for that defense.

How many times can you completely screw it up before you don't even get to celebrate when you're right?

Yeah.

We hired 30 former oilers, and the 31st got it done.

That's right. But that 31st has four or five cup rings. I forget if he was with the 1990 team. I don't believe he was. I'm not sure.

The other guy who Paul Koffie was tied with, who Evan Bushard passed, do you guys know? You might have saw it on the list right there. Steve, you wouldn't have seen the list because you can see it through the screen.

The other guy, is it not Leon? Can I get a year?

Is it not Leon? No, I'm talking about the other defensemen. Brian Leach. That's your guess. Adam, who's your guess? Yeah.

On the list. You know what? I actually have no idea. Chris Littang.

He had 24, not 25. It's Al McEnnis. Oh, wow. He had 24, not 25.

To answer your question about Paul Koffie, he didn't win all the oilers cups. He won in 84, 85, and 87 with the oilers, then got the 91 cup with the penguins.

Did he not get the 92 one as well, or the 91, or whatever?

Not according to HockeyDB. Oh, he got traded. No, he was traded to the Kings. There you go.

So it's Gretsky's fault? Yes. Because Gretsky... It's always easily. Oh, Gretsky, people don't talk about this enough. Gretzky basically tried to recreate the '80s oilers with the Kings. He's like, Hey, Luke Robitai. Did it work? I didn't. Luke Robitai, enough of you. Let's bring Yari Curry in. That actually happened. Let's move on to, unless you guys have anything else that you want to add on the-For the game? Game 5. I do want to ask, game 6, pick a winner. And pick a score.

Least fun option, the Panthers.

What's the score?3,1. Jesse?

I said it before in a hypothetical, so I'll just stick with it. Panthers 2,0.

And by the way, did you not say Panthers in 6? To start the series?

No, I picked Edmondson. Did you? Okay. Steve, that said Panthers in 6. Steve was the only one on Florida. You and I picked Edmondson to win this series.

I said Oilers in 7. I'm feeling better about that now because I was not feeling good about it earlier. I'm going to go Edmondson wins this one 5-3.

Okay.

Here's what we deserve. 3-2 overtime McDavid winner.Yup.Yup.7.Yup..

That's what we deserve. Hey, Steve, I bet it gets sunny in your basement.

It does. Here, wait. Wait. Oh, I turned up my light. What am I going to do?

Oh, it's so bright. What would you put on if it got too sunny in your basement, Steve? Steady Rays. That's right. Rated five stars by over 300,000 people. These shades have durable frames and crystal clear optics, making them the perfect choice for all outdoor adventures, even outdoor adventures in your basement. What Steve will do when he's watching Austin Matthews' highlights this year.

It was really bright in there for a second, Steve. It was. Let me get your Shady Rays real quick. That's too much. You need express delivery or something.

I put my sunglasses over the ring lights. That's what dimmed it.

If you go to ShadyRays. Com and use the promo code SDP, you get 50% off two or more pairs of Polarized sunglasses. Again, it's ShadyRays. Com promo code SDP for 50% off two or more pairs of Polarized sunglasses this summer. If your shades ever go missing or take an unexpected hit, don't sweat it. They have some of the most insane protection of all eyewear. Every pair is backed by lost or broken replacements. And if you don't love the shades, exchange them for a new pair, worry free within 30 days. There's no risk when you shop. Their team always has your back with personal and fast support. Shadyrays. Com Promo code SDP, 50% off two or more pairs of polarized sunglasses. Let's get you looking hot this summer. This show is sponsored by Better Help. Now, it is the time of year for, I always call this the time of year for reflection, because once the hockey season ends, we I actually have a minute to go, How do I feel about this life that I'm living? Am I overwhelmed by anything? Have I been pushing things to the side or putting them under the... What do they say?

Pushing it under the cupboard or under the rug?

Under the rug. Sweeping under the rug. Yeah, sweeping under the rug.

Pushing it under the cupboard.

Yeah, pushing it under the cupboard.

Under the cupboard or under the bed, whatever it is, wherever you're putting it. Let's get it out there. Let's talk about it. If you want to be booked with a therapist in a very short amount of time, 48 or less, in most cases, better health is for you. It's also a lot cheaper than most places that you can go to get a therapy. Life is about constant improvement, and you don't have to live with some of the stuff that you're maybe hanging on to. Gentlemen, got a question for you. I got a question for you. How has therapy helped you? In a sentence. You guys have both had it.

Thought processing.

Thought processing. Wow.

Emotion processing.

The therapy helped me learn that there's 2,8 2,880 minutes in 48 hours, which is what you just said in the therapy ad. That's right. Is how quickly you can get a therapist. 2,880 minutes. That's what I learned.

That's what Jesse learned from there. That's good. I'm glad he goes to math therapy. Now, here's the thing with With Betterhelp, you can obviously reach out over text, you can do it over FaceTime, you can do it over the phone, whatever you're most comfortable with. Take a moment, visit betterhelp. Com/sdp to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, h-e-l-p. Com/sdp.

The last Another thing I think we should talk about and hit on, and this is a little outside of the game, but it relates to it. James Duffy.

Oh, I saw this, too.

This is great. Of TSN went viral. Steve, I don't know if you saw this. No. James Duffy tweeted, My hotel TV was acting up. He's in Florida because they sent down the TSN panel. They've been doing some hits from down there, but they're not the actual game. So he's in his hotel waiting to go to the arena next day or whatever and do his hit. James Duffy tweets, My hotel TV was acting up. The engineer, good guy, came and fixed it and then got into the game and stayed for the last five minutes. He'd never watched a hockey game before. That's hilarious. That's pretty cool, right?

Yeah, that is very cool.

The guy fixing the TV comes down, you turn to a hockey fan. He's like, What is this thing? It's really cool. But that's not the reason the tweet has 1.3 million views.

No, no, no.

The reason that the tweet has 1.3 million views, and Steve, you might want to pull it up on your end, just so you know. I got it. It's because James Duffy recreated a pornhub scene with the picture of the engineer. It's James Duffy, his shot of half of his leg and the guy in his uniform standing by the bed.

You need me to fix this television? You need me to fix this- You know what? I've noticed, though. Guys, find Jesus. I was hoping I was hoping James wouldn't have a... I was hoping he was a part of Gripper Nation, but he has his foot covered in this photo, which is disappointing.

That's why this went viral?

All of the... Steve, go through some of the tweets. Steve, are you surprised? How many people asked him if he was wearing pants.

Were you really lying in bed while he worked away? Carla Koliakovo, did you at least buy him dinner? Guru, he was not waiting around to watch Why would you take a picture of the guy? Nothing weird about that at all. You put your pants on, or are you laying in the bed naked with your socks on? Got to love the Costco socks. You're trying to get him fired.

What? We didn't need the picture.

No.

He could have just tweeted it. No.

But we did.

We got the picture.

We did need it, Adam. James followed up after he went viral. He said, I'm wearing shorts, folks, but I'm enjoying the comedy. Probably could have cropped the leg in retrospect.

Yeah, James, you knew what you were doing. You knew what you were doing, dropping gams like that. You can't just drop gams on Twitter.

One leg with a guy who's there to fix your TV.

Is he a member of Gripper Nation?

No, I just told you he's not. If he had his bare feet, then, oh, maybe. No, he's got it covered.

Nine's Cat audio said, What color was the underwear and yours, just as a clarifier.

That's good. That's funny.

Appears to be the beginning of an adult video, but okay. Oh, no. What skin cream did you use?

It's not great.

I like it.

You know I have the keys to two cities in Ontario for calling hockey, said James as he laid in his underpants. Oh, no. Every one of you find Jesús.

No, I respect all of the comments. Well done, everybody. That's how it all starts, Steve. That's how it all starts. Now, to the trade that broke over the course of the show, Jake Markstrom has, in fact, been traded to the New Jersey Devils. Going back to the Calgary Flames or Kevin Ball and a 2025 first rounder top 10 protected. So Kevin Ball is-What year? 2025. Okay. So Kevin Ball is a 6'6 defenseman. He played all 82 games last year, had 11 points. He's a big boy. But it's going to be one of those things. And by the way, Kevin Ball was a highly touted prospect at one point here. Scouting reports say he skates well but lacks elite talent, a shutdown defenseman. It seems, though, that Calgary back themselves into a corner at the trade deadline. I don't know what was on offer from the New Jersey Devils. But watching Jake Markstrom having to waive the no trade clause that he did not want to waive, and then for that deal to fall through, and then for him to talk to reporters and go, I'm really pissed off right now. I think New Jersey could have offered them a bag of potato chips, and they would have probably had to take it because I don't think Markstrom wanted to be back.

And the other thing that I think about instantly is, you know how Sheldon Keeve has a ridiculous winning percentage as a head coach with the Toronto Maple That is very much going to continue. Yeah. The Devils are going to be outstanding next year, assuming Markstrom could stay in his dad.

Markstrom-allen? Markstrom-allen is the best tandem the Devils have had in, I don't even know how long.

Twelve years? Better than Broder-Terrari? Maybe. Maybe. All I'm saying is this is a big win for the New Jersey Devils who have a pretty thin division outside of really the top two teams. And nobody really knows what Carolina is going to look like next year right now. I don't know. I'm excited to see what this team looks like. And it seems like if they're healthy and with a real goal-tending tandem for the entire season, what's going to stop them?

What the hell is Craig Conrad doing? He retained salary, too. Oh, I didn't see that. 31.5 %. That's $1.875 million on the Marshman deal he retained. For how many years? Let me see the Marshman deal. Two. Two, this season and next. Two, this season and next. Yeah, which is, I think, something you don't have to do at all in this scenario where it's $1.875 for this year and next, retain salary.

If I'm retaining salary, that pick is not top 10. Why didn't they get this year's?

Take the 10th overall pick. My thinking is, and this is why I'm going to be so sad when CapFriendly goes away. First of all, they already have the trade-up, so they are working just as hard as they always have.

No, it's bad. Boo. Anyway, sorry.

I know. Markstrom, for the first time in his deal, the first four years of his deal have no signing bonuses. The last two do 2.5 million per season. So my thinking is the salary retention isn't just the cap hit, it's to offset some of the dollars that the Devils have to offer.

If you're doing that, then you lost the negotiation. Yeah, Why are you helping them like that? It's not like the devils need help with money. It's not like they're a franchise that's hurting. I don't like this deal.

Historically, they have had some trouble.

Either way, I think that's the immaterial to the point. I think either way, I think it's ridiculous that they don't get more in this deal. If it's top 10, I would have much preferred if they got this year, so then you know you're getting the 10th overall pick. As you just said, Adam, I think the devils are going to be really good next next year. So you're looking at what? The 25th overall pick? Yeah. And Ball is 23, I believe. A big defenseman, okay, but you want more.

Maybe he tops out as a Nikita Zdorow. I don't know. How did the Devils get him? I don't know. I don't know.

Arizona draft pick. Arizona draft pick. I don't know how he ended up in New Jersey, though.

The Taylor Hall trade.

Oh, the Taylor Hall. Remember Taylor Hall played in Arizona? Taylor Hall played in Arizona. He was a coyote. Yeah. Exactly. He was a coyote, saber, devil, oiler, brewen.

It was not a great tenure. The coyote got Taylor Hall and Blake Spears for nick Merkley, Nathan Schnar, Kevin Ball, a 2021 round pick that turned into Dawson Mercer, and a 2021 third that turned into Ryder Kordzack.

That's not bad asset management by the Devils there to turn a not much trade into pretty solid return to get for Mark Trim. James Nichols, who is a reporter for the Devils, I just want to throw this at you guys. This is how much worse this looks on Craig Conroy to support your point, Jesse. The New Jersey Devils are spending 6.05 million dollars on their goal-tending tandem of Markstrom and Allen next year.

That's awesome.

Oh, my God.

Yeah.

Tom Fitzgerald. Fitzdaddy.

Good job. Wow.

Good job. Is that the best tandem Sheldon keeps had in the NHL?

Yes.

What about Freddie?

Freddie was injured.

Freddie Campbell.

Freddie Campbell was good. In terms of performance, they were good.

Freddie wasn't good. That was the problem.

Freddie was not. One of them was always good, but it was never both. It was never both.

That's very true. Maybe Freddie.

Honestly, the honest answer might be Freddie McAlaney, although did Babcock have McAlaney? No, that was Babcock.

Other note with Ball. He's an RFA at the end of next year, so he's going to need some contract, and you're given up two years of control on Markstrom.

Ball is magic beans, dude. He's magic beans. If he works out, he works out. The real deal is for that first-round pick. Here's another thing. So are the flames just rebuilding then?

I think they are. I think this is signaling that this is on now.

Yeah.

Well, because Ball is That's the only thing that helps them immediately. The first-round pick is 2025.

Yeah. So that player is not playing in the league, ideally at full speed, probably till 2028, unless they're other-Depending on how high it is.

I mean, if it's not a top 10 pick, you're probably looking at closer to 2030. Yeah. Well, maybe not 2030. That might be a bit dramatic.

Well, no, that's not wrong. Kevin Ball played his first full season last year. He was '22. So that's four years after his draft.

It's also Well, you never even know.

Yeah, you just don't know.

He may never play.

If I'm the flames, I flip the damn thing.

For something more current.

Yeah. I'll see if I can maybe get a pick this year. Dude, look at all the players in your team. Look at all the money you got tied up in those guys.

You're not punting, are you? I think you are. Now, here's the interesting part. Ryan Pike, Flames reporter, said, Dustin Wolf, obviously, will now move up into, I think they must believe that he's I need to go.

Lidar Wolf will be their tandem. Yeah.

But the Calgary Flames have $24 million to sign players and fill out the roster spots. Dustin Wolf is one of those players that needs to be resigned, but I don't imagine it's going to be that much money. But looking at their depth chart right now, it's top-line Martin Pospisyl, Nazem Khadri, Andre Kuzmenko, next second-line is Conor Zahri, Jogor Sheringowicz, and Matt Coronado. Third-line, Huberdo, Backland Coleman. Fourth-line, Mangia Penny, Rooney, Driedon Hunt, former relief. If you want to go 5th-line, it's William Strongren, Sam Morton, and Walker Duhre. Then on defense, you've got Wiger, Mourinov, Ball, Anderson, Hanley, Pachel, Poirier, Gushnikov. Gushnikov was the guy that they traded for earlier this year. And then Vlidar Wolf. This is a thin... The Calgary Flames used to be a really deep team. This is going to be a pretty thin lineup unless... Go ahead.

Let me hit you with something. Why would they want a 2025 pick? Because they already have Florida's 2025. Now they got Devils 2025. Oh, Oh, the flames who are rebuilding, allegedly, don't have their own 2025 pick. The reason is because they traded it to the Montreal Canadians along with Sean Monahan. They tied A first-round pick to Monahan to get rid of them.

Wow.

The condition on the pick is if Calgary's 2024 first-round pick is between 20th and 32nd, Montreal can take that pick instead. I don't know if we have an answer for what's going on.

It's not.

Yeah. Well, then there you go. So I guess Montreal just gets their- No, because there's too many The conditions on the pics.

I was looking at it. It's in the stain.

I'm reading the whole thing. I didn't want to do the whole thing.

We don't even read the multiple paragraphs on the conditions around the pick. But there's a way that Montreal could receive Floridas or Calgary stories. It's a very roundabout way.

Was that a true living trade, by the way?

Which?

Monahan? Monahan.

Yeah, 2022.

I think so, yeah.

That was the trade living?

August 2022.

He had some good ones.

Doosy. We'll see what he does. Now, I also want to mention a noted Alan Walsh client getting a big payday yesterday. Philip Hronik is staying in Vancouver. He's got a dog named Attila Hronik, who Alan tweeted about yesterday, and has a noted Alan Walsh hat on, which I love that, Alan Walsh client. That is eight-year contract extension, $7.2 million per year. And he said to the media today, I guess I'm going to have to do media for the next eight years. And he hates doing media. I also want to throw this out there. Michael Boubley was commenting on, I guess, the Bangs Cooper connect feed, and he said, But Frank Cervales said it would start with the number eight. That is what was floating around out there in Frank's defense, that it would have to be a number eight in front of it. But obviously, Phil Hronik and Quinn Hughes, especially, put together a really great defense pair. I know Hronik got a little bit cold towards the end of the season, but how do you not keep those two together as long as possible?

Yeah. I mean, he's 26. The first four years of that are pretty much solely prime. If you're looking at his numbers at face value, you're doing it wrong and you're new here. Have you considered... Oh, he shoots right. There's an extra... I don't even know how many million.

It's got to be worth for defense. I'm not exaggerating. Right-handed forwards are worth a little more. Right-handed defense, it's got to be like a million bucks per year.

At least.

The deals is also good with the cap, like 7.25 for the guy who's going to play on your first pairing with Quinn Hughes for all eternity is great. He's 26. I think it's a fantastic deal for Vancouver. I wish Alan could have got a little bit more for his sake. I don't know. You did a bad job. If he's hurting right now, but he probably used the extra cash, he probably should have fought for a little more because this is- Alan, you bum. This is a fantastic deal for a player who's that young, and you can't just look at the counting stats. It's a defenseman who's going to be in a defensive role because the guy next to him is going to be in the more offensive role. Cronik is going to have... He's only going to grow into a better player. I know he struggled a little towards the end of the playoffs, but he's only going to get better now that he's gaining more experience, and now he's going to be settled down to Vancouver and just build on his career. It's a fantastic deal for the Knucks.

Here's how overshadowed Cronik Hronik is by Quin Hughes. You know where Hronik finished in scoring on the Knucks?

Tell me.

Fifth.

Oh, wow.

Wow.

Jt Miller had 103. That was stupid. Quin Hughes was second with 92. Also stupid. Petterson had 89, Besser had 73. And in fifth place with 48 points, well back if Besser was 73, is Hronik. So Hronik was the top guy in this clump of Knucks that all had within about 20 points of each other. It was Hronik, Garland, Oglander, Joshua, Mikheil, and then there's a bit of a drop off after that.

I think Hronik's only been getting better since he's been in the league, from his Detroit years. I feel like Detroit fans always knew he could take another step, but it never really worked out there. Then since he got to Vancouver, he's taken that next step. I assume it's only up from here for him.

I want to say, too, that this might be a good time to the fact that Alan and I happen to be recording tomorrow.Excellent.With Jesse.What? With who? I don't know. Maybe there's a big contract and a potential guest to talk about. Maybe there's a surprise appearance. Who's to know? Who could know? You'll find out in the next Agent Provocator. What?

You. Tell us.

Tell us. You bum. On the leaves, Tyler Bertuzzi. Tyler Bertuzzi's agent is negotiating through the media? Who is it? I'm kidding. I'm kidding. His name is Todd Reynolds. And he was asked by Terry Koshon, who works for the Toronto Sun. We love Terry. Terry is a good guy. Todd Bertuzzi's agent, Todd Reynolds, on his talks with the Leifs so far, We've had productive talks, but the player realizes that there are other areas for the team to address. We'll see where it goes. Meaning, if there was a slam dunk deal that the Leifs had offered, this would probably be signed by now, which I have to say is a surprise.

Why don't they just do it?

Because they can't. Why? Because they got cap concerns. Why? Because they've got too much money wrapped up in other players and they need defense.

Oh, damn. That's crazy. What year is it?

It's 2024. It's crazy. Now, one thing that you should know is that Tyler Bertuzzi signing here at all was never really supposed to happen. If you remember, he was a July, second, July, third signing. The reason it was a one-year deal is like, Okay, I'll come to Toronto and hopefully get a long term deal after that. And I think after a really rough start in Toronto, he did really well and became a fan favorite. The fact that when he signed here, everybody's like, Yeah, he'll be one and done. He doesn't want to play where he do it. I think he came here and was like, Oh, hey, I actually really like it. And that, I think- I agree. I think that says something. Obviously, Max Domi, when he signed here, wanted to be here, has always wanted to play here, wants to stay here. Bertuzzi was like, Well, that's the best offer on the table. And he came. And after a rough start, like I said, the fans fell in love with him, and he seems to really like it here. So I hope they're able to get something done here. There are a lot of people, I think, underrating what Bertuzzi brought this year and what Bertuzzi did to a guy like Brad Marshan in the first round.

As much as the Leifs were a disappointment, he was the only guy, really, in Brad Marshan's face. Game after game after game, neutralized the BS that Brad has been able to get away with with the Leifs previously. For me, being the knuckle dragon guy that I am, I would love Bertuzzi to stick around. I hope he's still here.

Yeah, with Bertuzzi, you take the good with the bad. He's going to do some squirrely penalties and stuff like that every now and then, but he became one of the most effective players down the back half. If you're going to move off of the core, he's one of the reasons that you're actually able to do it, because they put together a really effective first line that only had one member of the core on it. You good? What? That wasn't facetious.

That's what happened very early. That is very clearly what happened.

They did it for 20 games. What are you looking at me like that for?

Well, okay, with Todd Reynolds's comments, guys, which are very different from what we're being fed from the other camp, I'm trying to piece together what the Leifs' plan is based on comments by outside people, not just reporters, but the agents themselves or people that are feeding the agents or feeding insiders, whatever. It certainly seems like the least would like to do something about this change that they talked about soon. It certainly seems like within, I would say, a week, a week and a half, I Ideally, I think there's some certainty on a certain front. I think, does it not feel to you like maybe whoever the acquiring team on Marner is, maybe the least would like to move him and say, You have to pay that upfront bonus, right? Because they might have... It's a really good deal for a team if they make that deal July second, but that might be too late for the Leaps. Do you know what I'm saying?

Here's the thing. The Leaps are severely limited in who they can trade Marner to because of his full no move. He can give them a list of one if he wants. The list becomes even smaller, and you can't get smaller than one. Well, yes, you can. Zero. If you include the bonus, if you make the other team pay the bonus, it's seven and a quarter million.

It's a lot.

That's a lot of money, man. It's a lot of money. Now, the The only way... It's, I suppose possible because all the money that Marner is owed this season, this entire season, for a guy who has a $10.9 million cap hit is actually eight million and 25,000. It is possible he's dealt before July first. I just think, imagine the windfall you get for trading a 90-point player for the team you're trading them to, makes less than a million dollars. If you're hoping the least to actually get a decent return from Marner, I feel like that's the way to do it, but it prevents them from doing so much other business.

It feels like, though, it'll be a handshake deal that happens after July first. You know what I mean, Steve? It feels like, Hey, you agree on this prior to that, and then you move them once that bonus is played out so that there's some certainty with the Lefs going into the draft in the offseason.

The problem is, like Bertuzzi is not going to sit and wait around. That's what he did last year, and he screwed himself.

I mean, who's to say And this has happened in business before, there's not some handshake agreement.

Leaps go out and they make some signings, and they go get Tyler Bertuzzi for whatever amount of money. And Mitch and his camp go, second thought. No.

I don't think you're ascribing a villain. Again, I want to caution everybody-You're going a little too far. Against villainizing this person. I'm not villainizing this person.

I'm colonizing his clown shoes agent.

But I think that even the agent wouldn't do that because if you screw somebody like that, you can't get business done. This is an agent who's been hemorrhaging clients, so you cannot do that. You just can't. I find that really hard to imagine happening.

Why is he hemorrhaging clients? Is it all the good decisions he makes?

I think you're going a little far with that example. Maybe it'll happen in business, but that's something that's never really happened in the national hockey.

I have a hard time believing that would happen. What? Steve. What?

You've never heard of Michael D. H. Lander?

Steve, think of the fallout. Think of the fallout. That's not setting your- Think of the fallout? His That is not setting your client up for success long term. It's not. It's obvious that it isn't. What has that ever been the priority? That is the priority. He wants a long term deal, and he got it the first time. He got it the first time.

People want 90 point players.

Well, Eric Tulsky is the new gentleman.

Before you move on from Mich, do you guys make anything of the Jake Gensel rumors? That maybe the Lefs will go after Jake Gensel if they move Marner or anything like that.

No. Listen, Good answer. Here's a great thing. If the Lefs are, if there's a good player available, like Vegas, the Lefs should be interested.

Isn't it crazy Markstrom got traded to the Lefs today?

Isn't that nuts? Yeah, because the Lefs were apparently in on him.

They were in on him.

I think some people tie in the Lefs to everything.

Well, and I think to say a player, Hey, here's a really good player. Are the Lefs interested? Well, sure. Sure. Are the Lefs interested in Connor McDavid? Are they interested in Sydney Crosby? They're in on him. Well, Well, this is the thing, right?

So I look at that and I look at that report and I think, listen, if Mitch Marder is not here, maybe you do.

But let's move the big... We have to move the big thing first, right? You got to move that first. And I don't see... By the way, I'm not sure how many...

You can just run it back.

I'm not sure how many flames the leaves can be in on anymore because there aren't many left.

No, they're in on all of them, Adam.

Although I would like to see Nazem Khadri come back. I'm throwing out. Yeah, he's coming home. Eric Tulsky, new general manager for the Carolina Huracanes. A lot's been made of this guy's resume, and he's a chemist and all these other things. But I think most importantly, he is a former flyers blogger. And that That's the key here. Eric Tulsky, back in the day when we started this show, Jesse and Steve remember this, there used to be a thing called the blogosphere, whereas all these blogs were blogging about teams and these big blogging names. Now, that's shifted because blogs, due to many reasons, have just gone by the wayside, and they're not as important as they used to be. It's a shame, really, because you got some really great writing back in those days. It was a lot of the people that were in that core have gone on to do some really great things. Eric Tulsky, among them, bloggers do be getting paid, Steve. They do indeed. I want to know, did you have any interactions with Eric Tulsky when he was a blogger?

None that I can remember.

Because you were a blogger.

Yeah, but that doesn't mean we ran in the same circles. I am passionate, hyper, yelling, screamy man, and he has 27 patents. I don't think an extended conversation with me would have enriched his life very much. But him being a flyers blogger really explains the Tony D'Angelo trade a little bit better. Like, man, that must have killed him. What do you mean? To fleece his team that hard. He At least the flyers hard, getting rid of him, getting pics back. And then the hurricanes resigned him anyway. I know that that must have killed him. And Adam, I know Talski becoming the GM of the hurricanes kills you. And I'm sorry for what is, I'm sure, the worst day of your life.

Yes, I love him. I think he'll be great. But the reality is that I don't think he was ever going to not be the GM there. I wanted the leaves to go and get him, but I feel like that this has been a program that he's made. And I think a lot of people behind the scenes, while Don Wendell was the face of what the Carolina Hurricanes were doing, a lot of the player personnel decisions were ultimately Eric Tulsky and his team. And so that's That's why this really makes a lot of sense. And so the program that they've built in Carolina is Eric's. And if you're him, even though the owner doesn't like paying money for work, what owner would?

What owner would? What do you have money for? You've built this-But to hoard it and keep a stash of it in a giant pile.

I want it in my bank account, and I want to just look at it.

No, I don't even want it in a bank account. I want it in a vault in my house, underground. I just want to look at the number. I want to look at it.

Call my bank manager and go, Is it more today? Great. I feel good. Sorry.

I went to my Twitter to be like, I feel like I have spoken to Tulsky before.

And?

It turns out I have. And one of the more recent questions I asked him, it was nine years ago, but I go, stupid question. I've seen your tweeting more lately. Are you still with the Canes? And now he's the GM. That's amazing. So he is still with the Canes.

So he's helped to build this program. And I can understand why he wouldn't want to leave because you want to see that come to fruition. So he'll be the one that takes the Canes into the next era.

It felt like a situation where if he doesn't get the job, he's going to move on and get the job somewhere else. So you might as well give them the job.

Yeah, exactly. Now, Jeff Merrick mentioned buyout candidates, Truba in New York, Dubois in LA, Campbell in Edmondson. Rob Blake shut down the idea of buying out Pierre-Luc Dubois. So I found that interesting. And then I want to add this. There is potential, according to Friedmann, of a Jeff Skinner buyout, not Stuart Skinner, Jeff Skinner buyout in Buffalo, and that would be a six-year buyout.

I don't really see the point on account of their bad anyway. If you're a team that feels like you're close and this is what's hampering you, the Sabers are close to a playoff spot. Sure. They're not close to contending. Someone asked me about this yesterday during the stream, and I was like, No, Skinner's good now, isn't he? And I saw he had 82 points last year or two seasons ago. I was like, Yeah, he's good now. This past season in 74 games, he had 46.

I'd rather have Skinner, though. Even if he's a 50-point player, I'd rather keep him for the $9 million and have that 50-point player than just buy him out and have that cap hit for nobody. I don't think it makes sense for Buffalo, especially... Yeah, you didn't make the playoffs last year. You haven't made the playoffs in forever. If your expectations are we need... You're obviously going for the playoffs, but I don't think making the playoffs or not making it is dependent on Jeff Skinner being there or not. I'd rather have that player and the not cap hit forever.

The cap hit for Buffalo is rough, not next year, but the next two years. So So 1.4 million next year, it would be 4.4 the following and 6.4 the following after that, when ideally at that point, Buffalo would be making the playoffs, I would think, season after season. That's what they're assuming they're going for. To me, it makes a lot more sense, as you said, guys, to keep this player and see if you can get them back up. You got to remember, Tate Thompson was injured all year, right? So is this player so bad? Listen, is he a $9 million player anymore? Maybe not. But is he a $6 or a $7 million player? Let's say he gets back to 70 points, okay? And in between of last year and the year before. How many 70 point players do you get for six, $7 million? So if you're overpaying one guy at $2 million, that outweighs whatever cap hit they're going to incur, especially in Seasons 2 and 3 of this buy-up. That's what I think.

I'm looking it up right now. If you buy it out next year, it's It's not great.

It's still four years and the $6 million on the other year. You'd rather just have Jeff Skinner leave or resign at the end of these three years. I feel like that's the best scenario. You play it out. It's unfortunate he makes so much, but it doesn't make sense to do the buyout for me.

There's no scenario where it makes it. I did June 15th, 2026. It's two years, but there's still a year where he makes 5.6. Yeah.

Just play it out. It's unfortunate.

Yeah, it's a bummer. See, the PLD buyout to me, if they were going to do it, when's his birthday again?

When's PLD soon? It'll have to occur. It depends on when the Stanley Cup finishes. It occurs if it-June 24th. If it ends before that, the buyout will be a little different than if it ends after that.

If we get a game seven, it's going to be freaking interesting.

I don't think they do that, though.

I don't think they're able to do it?

No, I don't think they are at a one-third. At a one-third, Right.

Rob Blake is still the GM.

Yes.

You can't buy that contract without resigning as well.

That's a really interesting point because it would be as much as that, and I'm going to interrupt you, Steve, because I just want to give context, then I'm going to let you go here. The reason we're bringing this up is that Pierre-Luc Dubois's birthday is on the 24th, which is the proposed last day of the season. If his birthday happens, this happens to be the birthday where he goes from a one-third buyout to a two-third buyout. So if Edmonton were to push a game seven, LA wouldn't have a choice. They would have to do a two-thirds buyout rather than a one-third buyout, which is nuts when you think about it.

That wrinkle is profoundly stupid.

It is weird. It's really weird. It's dumb. Now, Steve, but it's also like either you buy them out one-thirds or two-thirds, you're on the books for the contract for 13 years.

Oh, my God. Like,not just-Sorry, not just resigned.

14 years. Yeah. Rob Blake doesn't just resign. He's unhirable after that. If you, after one year, buy this player out, cost your owner millions of dollars, not to mention the four assets that you gave up for him, resign and retire forever. Go golfing. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? Rob Blake can't buy this player out.

Even if it's the right thing to do. Even if It's not. It's not even at one-third?

No, the cost is for too long. The cap is not as egregious as in the Skinner situation. There's no $6 million a year, but you got a couple $3 million years, actually a trio of $3 million years in there. It doesn't make sense to have somebody on the book for 14 seasons. No. I don't know a scenario where that makes sense.

Unless you're Mike Richards, and then it's fine. And then it's cool. And then it's totally fine.

Because then the lead guard officially knocks it down.

That's right. For no reason. The other I want to bring up is Jack Campbell is a potential buyout candidate for the Edmondson Oilers. And as much as they're not thinking about it, they're thinking about it. The cap hit would be 1.1 next year, 2.3 the following. And by the way, that 1.1, add that onto the Connor Brown overage for that bonus they're paying him. And that wipes out Edmondson's cap advantage next year that every other team is going to get. The $4 million that the cap is going up, if they buy out Campbell, it's gone. Three a million of it is already gone. But it's 1.1 million, then it's 2.3 million, then 2.6, and then for the remaining three years, it's $1.5 million. Guys, do you do it?

This is one I'm like, maybe.

I don't do it, and here's Why? I already know I can win with him on the books.

That's a good point.

You know what? I'm in the Cup final, and if I win the Stanley Cup, it doesn't matter what I do because no oilers fan is going to care. I dropped that news the day of the parade. No one would know, no one would be the wiser, and if they saw it, they wouldn't care. But you already know you can win without this player. And in terms of having a third goalie, I don't know, I guess you could do worse than Campbell. What's the point of affecting your cap situation for longer than you need to, which is what you'd be doing with this buyout? For most teams, I would be saying, Yeah, your third goalie makes $5 million. Buy them out. What are you talking about? But if I'm the other side, I already know I can win.

For me, I'm doing this the second I can do it because your window to win is right now. If you buy out Jack Campbell, you create an extra $4 million in cap space next season. You create an extra $3 million in cap space the following season. That is an extra $4 million where you can add a piece around Connor McDavid. I think that is valuable as long as you to have Connor McDavid. And Jack Campbell is not valuable as your third goal tender just sitting in Bakersfield doing nothing, just playing out the string with those players. So I feel like you take the $4 million extra you could have for roster players to go out and win because you need a win right now because you have Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisaitl. Yeah. That's where I'm at. I think you buy out Jack Campbell as soon as the window opens. Okay.

So this is interesting. Another guy I want to bring up, guys, is in the buyout talks, because we're going to get into season real quick here. Eununis Corposalo in Ottawa. He just signed this contract, but he's considered a candidate. The buyout would be eight years long. No. But the cap hit would be relatively easy to swallow. 300 grand this coming year, 800 grand the following, 1.8 the following, 2.3 the following, and then 1.3 the remaining four years. Do you do it?

No. Eight years is insane. I I reevaluate this in a year if he's still garbage. But eight years is insane for a goalie who has shown that he's up and down anyway.

Yeah. Well, and I think it's interesting to bring it up that I think Dave Pullan was speaking to the season ticket holders in Ottawa. And among other things that need to be done at that rink is they need to upgrade the elevators and things like that. There was a lot of mess, and ticket holders behind the scenes are complaining about basic shit. Not surprising in a Eugene Melnick-led organization that that would be a thing. But then they asked about hockey, and they asked about the goal-tending situation. And his response was essentially, and I'm paraphrasing, We're not happy with the goaltending situation, but neither are there goaltenders. What do you think Ottawa does? Because you've got 6.75 wrapped up in Corpusallo and Forresberg next year. Forresberg will be a UFA after that year. Do you just stick it out this year?

I stick it out.

You've seen both players be good.

Yeah. The criticism with Corpusello, I think, was the contract, not that he sucks. So last year, to see that tandem, both goalies be bad at the same time, was surprising. And it's not like the team was good around them. I stick it out. There's no reason to ham string your sofa a period of time where during that buyout, the sends might actually be good with Corposalo on them.

All right.

So I would just leave it.

Okay. Corposalo also, he doesn't even make that much. Like four million bucks? No. I feel like you just- It's manageable. We're not talking about the PLD 8 million. We're not talking about Skinner 9 million, Campbell even 5 million. It's $4 million. I feel like that's fine for a goalie who might turn it around.

Well, and I think that's why he got the extra year. It was supposed to be a four-year deal, but they were like, We'll give you five, and we'll bring the AAV down.

He never played as many games as he did last season. 55 starts is a huge jump from a guy who I think career high before that was like 30 something. So he's got to get acclimatized to that. Our sends weren't very good overall. So your goal tending is not going to be very good. Yeah. I don't know.

You waited out. Michael and Lauer's purchase of the Ottawa senators being delayed until October next year needs to be studied, I think, because it's a disaster. Last Last year. Excuse me, last year. Because if he had gotten control of the team, I think when he expected to, which was sometime in mid July, he would have been able to evaluate a lot of things. Like that first round pick they had to forfeit Pierre Dorian and several other things. Pierre Dorian summer last year was not great. Tarasanko and Corposalo are chief among some of the issues that they had, not being able to sign Pinto, gambling thing aside. If Anne Lauer had been able to get a hold of that organization beforehand, I think a lot of those mistakes probably don't happen because I don't think he was going to give Pierre Dorian a free hand to do these things the way that Pierre Dorian had in the last days of the Melnika State holding on Ottawa senators, and it might take them a couple of years to undo some of those things. Which is a bummer for Sense fans, but it's the reality of it, too.

Does the Chikrin deal... Does it happen? Not that Chikrin was... Not that they hadn't got them already, but do you know what I'm saying? Are they able to turn things around quicker? Are they able to have a little bit more flexibility?

They let a lame duck run the show, and it was detrimental to the team going forward. You're not wrong.

Time for a Who He Play For segment. Big Islanders contract. I just blew it. Kyle McClane. Adam. I know. I'm tired. If I had asked you, why did I say that? Tom is such an idiot.

That's an Alzheimer's. I'm tired.

I'm tired.

That's funny.

Who he played for the New York Island Festival.

Do you guys think you would have known if I'd asked you and not blown it?

No, you mentioned it beforehand. I have no idea who Kyle McClane played for.

I think I would have got there. You would have got there?

I will never know. We'll never know. We'll never know.

Johnny Goudreau will have his 10th coach in 10 years. I'm moving on from this because I'm embarrassed. Wait, no, you're not going to follow up on that? No, I'm moving up. I'm moving on. I'm moving on. Kyle McClane signed three. What happened? Signed three years. We don't know how much, though. We don't know. Oh, you don't know. It's the Islanders. We don't know.

He's played 32 games for the Islanders, by the way.

The fact that we even got in it last week. Like ever? Yes.

Ever.

Jeez.

He needed 25. Listen, he's lucky he didn't get a seven.

When was he drafted?

He was not.

He wasn't drafted.

He's from Livingston, New Jersey.

6'1.

Sorry, he's from Basking Ridge, New Jersey?

Okay. He has got wrong info.

According to the NHL, the islanders' NHL site.

Hockeydb says, Kiss my ass. This is why I know his name. He was a general. He was an Joshua general. That's why I know who Kyle McClane is.

He was the captain.

Well, there you go. That'll do it.

Captain of the Jennies.

There you go. That's a pretty big thing to be. Johnny Goudreau, 10 coaches in 10 years. Here are the head coaches, apparently in line for this deal. Okay? So we've got Are you listening the 10 coaches? I'm going to list... No, no. Oh, should I list the 10 coaches? I don't have- The Blue Jacket. I should have looked up. I should have looked up. Did I get it? I'm going to say... I could name a few of them. Paul Vincent, Mike Babcock, Sutter, Bill Peters, Boo. Bob Hartley. Bob Hartley, Glenn Galutsin. That's seven. I don't know who was before Glenn Galutsin.

You're missing Jeff Ward.

Oh, Wow. Jeff Ward, that's eight. And who are the two others?

Brent Sutter. Did you name him?

Yeah, I said Sutter.

What year did Goudro join?

I think 2012.

Wait, he had Brent and Darryl?

No, I think he just Darryl.

No, he had Brent.

Did Brent coach the Flames?

'09, '12, Brent Sutter was the coach. Bob Artley, 12 to '16.

When was Goudre's debut, though?

Adam said '12.

I think 2012.

We can look this up or we can move on.

No.

I was just saying that I think it's crazy that it's 10.

13, 14. There you go. We are incorrect about that starting. So 13, 14. I'll start. Bob Artley, Glenn Gulletson, Bill Peters, Jeff Ward, Darryl Sutter, and then Ryan Huska counts because in 2021, he filled in, I guess, in between Ward and Sutter, and then the ones in Columbus.

Babs and Vincent, and then this 10th coach will be his 10th coach.

That's not 10, though.

Well, it's nine, but his 10th coach is coming.

That's the whole- Babs and Sutter, and then the 10.

Babs and- I think we got there. Yeah, we got there. You know what?

It's worth noting because this looks terrible on Johnny Goudreau as a statistic, but almost everyone on that list is no longer a head coach in the NHL. Yes. Who's still? Like, Or is it all of them? Like Galutsin, I know, is an assistant.

Huska counts on the list, and he's there currently.

Yeah. Okay. So there's two.

He did two games for Goudreau in 2021. That doesn't even count.

Yeah, it counts. It counts. He's a head coach.

It doesn't count.

It counts. It's a two-game filling.

That's a rounding error.

But yeah, no. I mean, you're right. And I think it speaks to the fact that Bill Peters was a disaster hire for the Flames. I I don't know why they ever went after him. That's a question I would love to ask Brad for a living. Honestly, what were you thinking? We didn't know anything bad about Bill Peters other than his record at that time.

His record was terrible. We hated that signing from the moment it happened, and then we ended up being right for reasons unexpected.

Right. Yeah. He was a bad coach, and it turns out, a bad guy. Crazy. But the Portsey with the Athletic says this for potentially potential coaches coaches. Jeff Blaschel, Dean Everison. So Blaschel, I think Detroit. Dean Everison was in Minnesota for a while. Gerard Galant everywhere. Glenn Galutsin running the Oilers power play for six years. Dave Hacksdale Hacksdall, who is interesting because a bunch of Seattle players said, We are not coming back if Hacksdall is here. So not a well-liked guy in Seattle. Todd McClellan and Jay Woodcroft. And I don't know what the Blue Jackets intend to be. So it's difficult to go, What's Dawn Wendell going to do here? Because I don't know what their identity is supposed to be.

I think Woodcroft with the young team could be pretty good.

Yeah?

I'd like to see Woodcroft there. That's a good answer.

He still has a crazy win percentage. I wonder where the Oilers would be if they had just stuck it out with Woodcroft. I wonder. I mean, you don't want to take anything away from Nobloc, but would they have still made the playoffs? Would they have won a round? I don't know. We'll never know. He's got one of the craziest win percentages in League history. We'll never know.

No, we won't. But it's just like the Who He Play For segment. We'll just never know.

Never know if he had the answer.

I hope he gets to Coach Kyle McClane.

Biggest dummy out there. Sorry, guys.

I think Noblock has them playing a different type of defense that Woodcroft never would have got them to. I think that's a lot of the reason they struggled early on is the defense. I don't know if the system that Woodcroft tried to establish in the offseason in training camp would have worked if he just hard-headedly tried to continue with it. I think the Nobloc change was necessary.

I wonder, Jesse, what was the system that was so different that Woodcroft instituted from the previous year where you'd been so successful, that the oilers just could not execute on it. I would love an X as an O as person to just go through and go- I think they were going more of a traditional zone, where instead of...

Most of these teams now play a hybrid zone. I think that's what Noblek had them go back to. I think in the summer, I think, if I remember correctly, it was just a strictly zone defense that he tried to establish, and it just wasn't working. They also didn't have Echhol. We don't talk about that enough. He was injured early on and then came back, and then they were like, great. Mcdavid was injured early on. If we remember, he missed games, and then he came back, and they were great. Steve, maybe there's something there about maybe he's just stuck it out with Woodcroft, but I don't know. We'll never know. Noblocks the one who's got them Stanley Cup final is the only truth we know.

Woodcroft should be at the top of every damn list. I don't get it.

I don't I get it. I'd like to know how he feels right now.Horrible.You think so?

Fucking horrible.

Or do you feel good? Like, Hey, as much as this sucks, do you look at the positive side and go, But we were pretty close when I was there, too.

Does he get a ring?

No. There you go. Okay, there you go. All right, fair enough.

The worst story of that ever, or the best story of it ever, of a coach replacing another coach and then going on to be great and everything is Mark Jackson was the coach of the Golden State Warriors in the 2014 season, and then Steve Kerr took over in 2015, '16, and that's the year they won their first championship. Then he goes on to coach the record-breaking Warriors and all through that dynasty. And literally the year before, Steph and Clay take off as what they are, Mark Jackson was the head coach, and then he gets fired and Steve Kerr goes in there and makes them into the dynasty.

What does his whiteboard say?

Shoot? Have you considered shooting? The-chute from the logo. Jesse, can we bring up-It'll work. Can we bring up a couple last things here? Can we bring up very quickly the Ducks Nude jerseys? The Ducks are in Anaheim.

They play in Anaheim.

Sorry. Yes, that's right. I'm not having a strong back nine here. But let's have a look at the Ducks jerseys. What do we think? We got the original logo, but orange.

We don't know if they're real.

We don't know if they're real.

A lot of people are saying this was AI. Like somebody AI this, the AI box that make images. Okay. So I'm not sure if it's real.

New law.

It's going to be against AI, right?

No.

No? Okay. All right. Ai is fine. Okay.

People who abuse AI suck. So here's my rule. The first law I proposed was you get one legal punch.

Okay.

One legal punch. They got to really earn it. And if you use it up, it's gone. Every punch after that is illegal, you go to jail. Second law, if you use AI to lie, the whole community, I mean, everyone who lives on your block gets to come and kick you in the balls.

No, that's too far.

In the ball.

I think that's a little too far, Steve. In the ball. Everyone.

Steve will be the guy who presides over the purge being instituted in real life. But it'll just be legal kickings in the balls for 24 hours.

Legal kickings in the ball.

You're trying to kill people.

Somebody would die. I didn't say that. A kick in the balls isn't going to kill you.

By an entire community?

I think you'd probably be done.

I tell you what, don't lie with AI then.

Don't do the crime if you can't do the kicking in the balls. All I want to say is I hope these are not the jerseys because I think they're really ugly. I like the duck. I want the duck to be back. We know that it's been teased that it is going to be back. It better not be some shoulder patch. Have some balls and bring the actual duck back. But the orange thing, if this is real, I have to see it on the ice, too.

I really like this. I don't know.

I think because there's an orange county element, too, right? Yeah. Adam- Because it's nearby.

I'm not a part of the Californians. I'm not that in-depth.

You didn't get on the four. Five. Sorry. Go ahead, Steve.

You don't hate orange. You hate losing. Jerseys look better on a winning team.

Oh, yes. You know what I mean? Yeah, true. Should I be wearing the orange jersey today? Yes, 100%.

Yeah, to match the Dutch Dutch, you're a propagandist.

I really love the logo. I think the logo is sick. It's very cool. And orange is a different color. I feel like the flyers are the orange team, right? But I feel like if the ducks are able to incorporate little orange and a little yellow and a little black there. It'll look good. I don't mind these if they turn out to be real. They got the gold stripe on the bottom, too. It looks pretty nice. I don't mind these at all.

Okay.

Steve, what do you think?

Here's my thing. I look at it the way I look at the Knux when they went back to their blue and green. That's fine. Stick to it. Stick to it for a bit. You have too many primary colors, Anaheim. You have too many, this is our Jersey, now this is our jersey, now this is our profoundly different jersey. And you changed your name, which the Knux never did, unless you count the millionaires. That's enough. Cool Jersey, stick to it. None of this nonsense, right?

You could literally have three people or four people go to a game from different decades, and none of them would match, right? You do have to pick colors and stick to them. I agree with that. And along those lines of jerseys, first off, have you guys ever heard of the ECHL Savannah Ghost Pirates? No. No. So they are the new ECHL affiliate for the Florida Panthers. They used to be the ECHL affiliate for the Vegas Goldenights for the last couple of years. And when we talk about jerseys and we talk about team names, I wonder why the NHL can't get cool and have a name like Ghost Pirates I want you to have a look at the Ghost Pirate mascot for Savannah. We're going to bring it up here right there, Jesse, if you click on the green man. Is this not the coolest mascot you've ever seen in your entire life? He's a pirate and he's scary-looking, but he's also a ghost. What do we think?

Yeah. A winner of the 2024 mascot, most likely to make kids in attendance cry. For sure. I think a lot of people have cried because of the... What is the name?

Hang on. I'll find you. Arg? Is it Savannah?

Swashbuckling mascot has a name.

Name. Revealed name- His name is Davy, as in Davy Jones Locker, according to Yahoo Sports. It's Davy. Yeah. Davy, the scary pirate.

I love it. That is terrifying. Isn't it? Terrifying.

It's scary.

It's definitely, Hey, kids, you want to take a picture with Davy? Yeah. No, that's horrifying.

Still better than Utah, HC.

No, the worst mascot in the history of the world is the old mascot. I don't know if they still have him in North Bay, but the Brampton Battalions' mascot, Sarge, I think was his name.

Why didn't you like Sarge?

Sarge is Horrifying. Because Sarge is like, okay, Davy is like a ghost pirate man, and Hunter, as scary as he is, is an animal. Sarge is just a guy. He's just a scary-looking, deformed... What's the word? There's an uncanny valley about him. I hate Sarge. If Sarge gets near me, I'll kick him down the stairs. You get away from me, Sarge.

I like Sarge. I like him. Another trade to announce. Another trade to announce, by the way, this just happened. The San Jose Sharks have acquired Dallas's Tide to Landria for a big trade for a fourth round pick, which is originally a Winnipeg Jets selection. Tide to Landria, who's been a pretty valuable death piece for the Dallas stars, gets more of an opportunity in San Jose. San Jose- That's the whole trade? That's the A full trade. And it's a 2025 fourth round selection. It's not even this year, which is crazy. San Jose notably needs warm bodies, but this is a good warm body to have.

Because that's a heist. Yeah. What?

I wonder if it's a cap thing.

I guess. So Delandria, it's not like he's had an incredible tenure as a Dallas star. 42 points in 151 games. His career high is 28 points that he got last year in 82 games. This year on a very, very deep team. He had nine points in 42 games. He had one goal in the playoff run. But this is the guy you picked 13th overall in 2018.

Yeah. I'm shocked by that.

This guy, he's 6'2. He's going to turn 24 in July. Port Perry, Ontario's own. Wow. I think he's going to go to San Jose. He's going to put up numbers, and he's going to cash it out.

Wow, that's a great trade.

That's out of nowhere.

Dallas stars fans do not seem excited about this on the whole, at least initially. A lot of them feel like they were fleeced, which is crazy.

They're right. Wow. They're right.

You know what? Maybe part of the reason that he didn't get to the place that he maybe wanted to is Dallas is so deep. They're so deep up front. A hundred %. You need an opportunity elsewhere. And I think after this many years, it's probably Any time.

I'm sorry, I missed the part where it was just signing rights.

It is signing rights. Yeah, they'll sign.

He doesn't have a contract, and he's already a shark on CapFriendly. Com. These guys are not coasting at all in their final days publicly. That's crazy. I'm shocked by that.

I'm really shocked by that. I think a fourth-round pick for signing rights isn't too bad.

I don't think so.

Is that wild to say?

The only way it's not a fleecing for the sharks is if he doesn't sign. I think that's pretty bad. But if I'm him, I sign there in a heartbeat, I'm going to play on the top damn line.

Yeah, you're going to get so much time there. That'll be awesome.

Yeah, that's cool for Ty. He won't get Maclin Celabrini until year two. So make sure you sign at least. Not yet.

Not yet. Not confirmed.

Okay. Yeah, he did say it, but yeah, it doesn't matter.

It's weird. They're teasing that he wants to go to school. But I don't If I'm Maclin, just go to the NHL.

Make your money.

You don't think there's the same growth potential you have in playing in college? You can't get that in the NHL on a team like the Sharks. I think you could.

Well, I guess the fear would be You're going to get your ass handed to you every night. For an 18-year-old, as we all remember being 18 and our confidence not being as maybe perhaps steady as it is when you hit your mid-20s, that might be for development. That would be what his team would worry about.

Yeah, you go focus on your skills. Yes. You play hockey that's closer to your competition, I guess.

Yeah, I think so. But I don't think you can do that again. I think you get the one year and then that's it. You get in there and you play. But I'm curious about if Mike Greer wants to build a team that Maclin Celabrini feels like, Okay, maybe I can step into this role and not get killed. Because at least Chicago, like Conor Bedard, they knew he was going to play, and they're like, let's get a bunch of guys, and we'll pay too much for them. It was Dickinson and Perry and Bavillier. Not all those were free agent signings, but they were trades and whatever. And Felina was not worth 4 million. Perry was not worth 4 million, but they were worth that to the Blackhawks Sharks. The San Jose Sharks have a ton of cap space to spend. Do you do stuff like that?

It's underrated how much of a blank page the San Jose Sharks are. The San Jose Sharks could be a little better than they were last year. I'm not saying they're going to compete for the playouts or anything like that, but they have so little players signed through this season and next season. Their 2025, 2026 roster has 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, six guys. Six guys who aren't RFAs or UFAs. That's the entire roster. There might be a chance to compete fairly soon in San Jose. If they make some good trades, they make some good signings.

Yeah.

Go ahead.

Damn.

No San Jose shark is contract for the '27, '28 season.

It could be as simple as Delandria just told the stars, I'm not signing there. You just got through your entry-level deal. It's not like this next contract is going to go well for you because you haven't done anything to warrant getting a massive raise. So you're going to go to San Jose, you're going to get whatever they give you, basically. And hopefully, you light it up there, and then you can cash out. This is That's really what's best for his career.

It's not probably.

It is what's best for his career. You're not going to get a sniff in Dallas. They're too deep.

Yeah, for DeLandria, it's great. I guess for Dallas, you couldn't really fight for more because you're hands tied behind your back there. You get an asset for someone who wasn't really part of your team anyway. However, the fourth seems fair on both sides.

It does. It is a bit of a bummer that you're losing a guy for a fourth that you spent a first on, but I guess that can't be every time.

Adam, on that note, let's talk about what could have been. I'm looking at the 2018 draft.

I don't know. This is going to be painful for... Listen, Dallas has done a great job, okay?

No, of course. This is agony, though. So Delandria was picked 13th in 2018. You're Dallas. The ninth pick comes across the board. It's Vitali Kravsow. You go, Okay, Okay, there's three really good defense, or there's three really good players we could get. Hope we get them. Let's see how the next few picks drop. Tenth overall, Edmonton gets Evan Bouchard. 11th overall, the Islanders get Oliver Wallström. And then 12th, the Islanders pick again, Noah friggin' Dobson. Delandria goes 13th. Next pick, Flyers get Joel Farabe. Even he would have been a massive upgrade. Huge upgrade. And then later in the first round, you get Keandre Miller going 22nd to the Angels.

And didn't Lassie Thompson go 23rd? Lassie Thompson, guys. What about... Where's the Lassie Thompson?

Isaac Lundestrom going to the Ducks. It's an underrated pick. Rasmus Sandine went later. Joe Volano.

Where did you say Lassie Thompson went?

No, was he 2018?

This is 2019, isn't it? No, he It was 2019. You're thinking of Jacob Bernard Docker, who lost 26th.

Another guy I was told was going to be Gretzky.

The real mistake in that draft, Steve, if you want to tell it the class, it's the third overall pick.

Oh, Maron. First, you get Rasmus Dahlene. Second, you get Andre Svechnikow. Third, you get Jesperi Khakinyami. And behind Khakinyami, you went like, K'Chuck, right? Braided Chuck, and then Barrett Hayton.

Oh, wow.

And then Philip Zanina. That is a very up and down trap.

And Quinn Hughes, right?

Quinn Hughes went seventh. Yeah.

I checked on Phil Zanina, by the way, and he had 23 points with the Dallas Star or the San Jose Sharks last year. That's not bad. That's not bad for a guy that walked away from his big contract with Detroit.

You know what else? It isn't good.

Yeah. John Bucci-Gros said, he said, It's interesting this Delandria trade. Thirteen overall in 2019, hasn't been able to score after 151 games of the NHL, turns 24 next month. Dallas talked about him as Captain Material a couple of years ago.

Yeah, and now they're willing to part with him for a fourth. So what does that tell you?

Well, it tells me he's probably a good guy with a good attitude who probably needs more of an opportunity.

I think this is going to be great for him. Sometimes a guy just doesn't match a team's window. He doesn't match the stars window right now. He doesn't match what they need. He'll go to the Sharks. They play maybe middle six next season. I think he'll be good.

Also something you should throw this. I just want to throw your way. Elliott Freeman is reporting that Rich Clune could be, Rich Clune of the AHL Toronto, he's an assistant coach, could jump to the Anaheim Ducks for a role behind the bench, which I think is very interesting. Rich, who is Dickey Clune, who's one of the best leaders the Marlies have ever had. He's just an overall really good guy. We've all met him. A really good person. Can't say enough about just him as a guy. So very interesting that he could play some role on the Ducks bench. Not quite sure exactly what it would be, but maybe a role similar to what he's doing with the Marlies.

He's on track to be a head coach one day. Yeah. Wow.

I'm really happy for whatever store in Anaheim sells custom-made pants.

He's a big man.

He's quadzilla. He can probably deadlift more than any head or assistant coach in the league. He might be able to dead more than any active player. I'm not kidding. Go look up a video of Rich Clune deadlifting. That's one of the strongest men in hockey.

Zero hyperbole. None. Listen, do we want to do a press conference or do we want to wrap?

We're at hour 56. I guess we got to wrap. I don't know if you've been keeping track of that. We're going to wrap.

We're going to wrap this thing up. So let's wrap it up.

It's about time to wrap.

Steve might be back in studio on Friday. He might not. But one thing you can be sure about.

You sounded good today, Steve.

Yeah, you did. No, I feel fine. Okay, good. I feel fine. One thing you can be sure about is there will be a stream Friday night, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, Stanley Cout.

The Steve Dangle podcast.

Follow the guys on Twitter @steve_dangle@adam.

Com.e and @jesseblake.

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