There was a conversation. Kevin Weeks reported that there is a deal in place. Now, he can't sign this until July first. Technically speaking, they're not even supposed to be talking about it until July first.

No, and they never.

They never would. There was a rumor about Joseph Wall earlier this week from Kevin Weeks. I think what's notable about Joseph Wall is the extension is supposed to be three to four years at three and a half to $4 million. It's notable that not a single other insider corroborated that.

It is.

I checked, and from what is being said, no one else can confirm it.

Weeksy might have jumped the gun.

So potential jumping of the gun. You said Weeksy.

You said Weekes might have jumped the gun. I thought you said Steve might have jumped.

I was like, Hey, I didn't see anything.

I said Weeksy. Weeksy might have jumped the gun. Weeksy might have jumped the gun there.

But here's what Brad Troll living had to say about it, because I think it's one of those things that it's rare to get one insider saying something, and none of the others even tweet about it.

Yeah.

Like a Major League.

Three on three league.

Let's play the clip.

You weren't wrong just early.

We feel we got a real good goalie to talk about at the end of the year, Joe Wall. Like a really good goalie. We also talked at the end of the year about he's had some unfortunities in the sense of getting injured. Now, you study that. Is there a pattern? And again, now, touch wood. Sometimes with goal tenders, I look at it a little bit. Is it hips? Is it groins? Is it toes? He's had some things that just have happened, that sometimes you get injured. So certainly we want to help him stay upright, but no question. I don't see an internal candidate right now that we're going to promote with Joe. Whether that be the trademark, whether that be through free agency, we've certainly got to look at the goal timing.

Okay, let's pause it there. Now, this is a player who has started 34 games.

Is that regular season and playoff?

No, that's just regular season. Okay. Playoff's actually surprisingly high. He started four games in the playoff, but he's played seven. He has played in 36 NHL games. Joe Walsh is 24 years old. People forget this. Sorry, he's not 24. He's going to be 26 by the time the season starts.

He's a 2016 draft pick.

A lot of people Will forget that he's 24. Because he's not.

Because that was two years ago. That's why they forgot. That's why they forgot. Now, this guy's numbers are great. Even last year, where his numbers dipped down, 276 goals against average and a 9-12 save percentage. But at 36 games played in, 34 started. His entire career to this point encapsulates a pretty good backup goal tender's stats over one season. I understand there have been injuries. Listen, I was the one saying after seven games last year, this is the goalie of the future. I think that he is. But I have a real problem, and it goes back to your cap thing, I have a real problem signing this guy before he's made them do it. Because if, and you remember Brad Treliving with Keith Pelley and Brandon Shanahan, and Brad said, Listen, we got to find ways to keep this guy healthy. Is it training? Is it this? Is it that? At the end of the day, whatever it is, they could resign him if this report is true from Kevin, and I have no reason to believe it's not. If this is true, this is a player that's played 34 career games. This is a player that could go into camp, strain a ham string or a groin, and we don't see him until December.

Or just not be very good.

I don't understand why- I don't think that's going to happen.

I think he is good.

What would be the rush here? Why can't you wait till November? You waited till December for Neylander.

Adam, it sounds like-Make them pay you. It sounds like an obsession. Everything comes back to the core for. The Leifs can't afford, literally can't afford a scenario where Joseph Wall is a $6 million goal team. Comes into this season, is a top 10 goalie in the league up until Christmas, and then they got to pay him, not seven, that'd be too high, but like five, six million. When you have a salary structure like the Toronto Maple leaves, you have to take risks. You have to take risks and hope this guy's a unicorn. You're basically trying to fool the kid. You're giving him security See? Hey, you know how you're injured all the time? Yeah. We're going to give you way too much money for the amount of games you've played, a preposterous amount of money for the amount of games you played. But we think you're going to be good, but it's in the back of our mind, and I know it's in the back of your mind, that you're hurt a lot. So we're going to give you probably less than you would earn at the end of this season, if it's a good one, but a lot more than you would earn at the end of the season if you end up getting hurt again.

So this is my issue with that. I almost called him Serge Samsonoff. When Sammie got the least to the second round, when Sammie was non-tendered by the Washington Capitals, then Then becomes the starter over Matt Murray. Oh, my God. What a bleak time. I don't even think we realized. Sammie becomes the starter over Matt Murray. It has a banger year, backstops them through the Tampa Bay Lightning, who were better than the Leifs in four or five games. They were better than the least most of that series. Six games. Six games, excuse me. They were better than four. I think the least were the better team two games in that series.

Yeah, they kick their ass in one game.

You go back and you look.

Game six, especially, Sammie was the number one star of that game.

Absolutely. And then he gets injured in the second round. The least extend him one year, and they pay him how much?

3.5..

3.55. 3.55..

After going to arbitration.

Why?

After going Why?

After getting the Leaps to the second round for the first time in 19 years, the Leaps only had to pay Sammie 355. Why are we going to extend this goalie who And again, he was great in the playoffs. He was great in the playoffs against the Panthers. He was great in Boston. He was great when Sammie was awful last year, unplayable last year. And then what happened? Wall got injured once in the regular season when he was doing well, came back, wasn't great, and then somehow drew in in the playoffs and was fantastic again until what? He got injured. What are we doing? You're going to pay him more than you paid Sammie? Sammie got you to the second round. And I'm not saying they should bring back Sammie. I'm just saying that number is completely out of whack. And the best comparable I can give is Jake Sanderson. And Jake Sanderson's big deal last year, which we all freaking laughed at. Jake had a really good year in Ottawa. He's one of the only players on that roster with a plus on this plus minus. That was a terrible team. He played two more minutes a game.

He scored double-digit goals, and that team was atrocious. They couldn't score, they couldn't move the buck, they couldn't do anything. The Jake Sanderson bet is understandable, and they don't have a bazillion dollars at the top end of their cap. What are we doing? I love Joseph Wall. I want him to be the starter. Learn it.

There are guys who... Well, no, Adam. No. Because starting... Okay, what do you think Joseph Wall could be?

I think he could be a top 10 goal tender in the league. That's how I feel about Joseph Wall. I am that confident in this guy.

I think he can be a starting goal tender. The Toronto Mapleies think he can be a starting goal tender. He thinks he can be a starting goal tender. Starting goal tenders don't make the amount of money that you want him to make. That's why you lock him up now.

But he's not yet. He's not.

Okay.

You aren't until you are.

But you pay him three or $4 million now because if he actually gets to where you and he and everyone seems to think he could get to, he's going to make more. You're looking at Sanderson, and Kaprizov is another guy who played no games and then got this huge extension. You got to look at goalies. Kaprizov had a fucking banger. I know. That's why forwards don't work here.

I'm thinking, show me a goalie that this has ever worked for.

Well, the only one I can think of is Jordan Bennington, who played no games, but also won a Stanley Cup. But he got a lot more. He got, I think it was 5.6..

And has been iffy and so so ever since. It's weird.

He's been unusable and elite. It depends on how he's feeling or how many fights he's I've tried to start. The Lefs have to take this risk or feel like they have to take this risk because of the dumb ass donkey complexion of their salary cap.

If Joe Wall plays 34 games again next year, even if his numbers are the same, something terrible has gone wrong. And that is he's gotten injured and missed 20. And if that's the case, that contract's a disaster. If that continues.

If that's the case, then the contract doesn't matter because he'll be on LTIR and get the cap space back.

I suppose.

Am I the only one who doesn't think if- What was Weeks' extension? What did he propose?

Between 3.5 and 4 million, and between three and four years.

Let's say it's 3.5 million dollars or even like 4 million. I don't think that it's that much. It's a good contract.

I just can't- People are getting lost in the game.

I cannot stand-I think it's a good contract. These guys, not earn it first, please. I have no problem with Neelander. I have no problem with Neelander earning the money he got. He He earned it. Yeah, I agree. He earned it. He earned it on the first contract. People forget, when the Leifs sign, Mitch Marty's coming off a 94-point season, when the Lefs sign, Matthews is coming off a 60 goals season, whatever. I get it. But we need to We need to earn this. We need to earn this.

Here's what I'm... I'm going to make some assumptions. The educated guess is here. So Sam Sanoff signs for 3.55 after going to salary arbitration. You go, Well, he signed for that after getting the Lefs to the second round. And Sam, he probably went, What the hell? I got you to the second round. And what the leaves probably did was go, Yeah, but the majority of your track record before joining us, sucked ass, and we made you good. We want to bring you back, but we made you good. You can extrapolate that maybe that hurt his confidence going forward after that arbitration hearing and that affected the first three, four months of his season.

I don't think it was that. Alan and I talked about arbitration. By the way, it's not like that anymore. It's not like that anymore. It's not combative at all. They've stopped doing that. Okay. Yeah. Alan has a really good take on arbitration in one of our episodes. Well, either way, Samsonov's problem was he had a track record. Yeah, of being up and down.

Mostly down.

We got a goalie who's a track record of being injured.

Yeah, but when I'm in net, when I'm in net.

He's great.

I love Wolf. Wolf also has leverage.

Yeah, who you got? Because Trio Living just said, We got nobody. He showed his hand.

But I think Hildebi is going to be an NHL goalie. I think Artur Akhtimov is going to be an NHL goalie. They're not yet. They're not yet. Those guys are five years younger than Wall. Four or five years younger than Woll. They don't have anyone coming up immediately. They literally don't have anyone else. They have to sign free agents. Woll has so much leverage here. The cons are, yeah, I got hurt sometimes. The pros are, I'm really good, and you have no one else, so pony up, or I can wait and charge you more. The Leaps have put themselves in a position of perpetual extortion, and it's going to It's going to be really difficult for them to win with the way things are built.

I think you make a really good point there.

Joseph Wall gets paid $4 million. Currently, he would be the 25th highest goal tender in the National Hockey League. It's not a disaster. He'd be tied with Jonas Cope Rosallo and Jake Oettinger, who will also make $4 million. Wow.

So maybe we just got to adjust our expectations. And not everyone can be signed to the Igor Shisterkin contract. Can you put an agent in prison for signing a contract? You probably ought to be able to.

If you tell me going into the 25, 26 season, that'd be next season, right?

After this. Yeah.

That following season, when his RFA deal kicks in, this new one that he's going to sign, Joseph Wall is the 25th highest goaltender in the National Hockey League, I'd say, Sounds about right.

That number is going to go down probably, right?

Yeah, because guys are going to get signed in between that, all the free agent deals that will be signed this offseason and next offseason. With the cap going up, I'd be like, 25th highest paid goaltender is about the right area Joseph Wall should be.

Okay. Adam's reservations are valid. They are. But I have enough- No, I'm stupid.

Just read the comments.

No, your reservation is about this deal.

I understand where you're coming from, where He's proven nothing. But why are the Lefs so eager to give out contracts to guys who have proven nothing? That's 100% a thing that happens in Toronto very often.

It's not that they've proven nothing, but Marner, Matthews, Nylander, and Tavares, when they signed their contracts, what had they done? They'd won nothing. They'd won nothing. That's a vicious, real fact. And what's still the case?

They've won nothing.

Listen, I'm struggling with this.

It's like a movie with a really good trailer. That's Joseph Wall right now. Listen, the movie might suck. Damn, the trailer looks good. And the trailer is going to make me- The trailer looks great. The trailer makes me want to watch the movie.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Outside of the context of him not really having accomplished anything in the National Hockey League, I think where he would slot in would be correct in what we've seen in terms of his playoff performance when he's been healthy. It's been good. That's okay. And it's also, they haven't done this yet.

Yeah. You know what, Jesse? And you know what?

Who knows what it actually comes in? Because as you started this conversation, it's like no other inside has corroborated his report, Kevin Weekes. We'll see what it actually comes out.

Now, if the Leifs could score anything, and they were dumbied by the Bruins on that side of it. And I understand that Nielander had his head thing. I understand Matthews was hurt or sick. Injuries happen. Injuries happen. But let me just run you through the three games, but two that he started. This is what's so tantalizing about this player. I know. Do you know what Wolf's stats were when he was playing?

He probably made 76 out of 78 saves.

I'll just give you the stat. Two wins, right? Three games. Goals against average of a 0.86, say, percentage of a 9, 6, 4 in the play. Wow. So even with the Lefs and their absolute anemic trash power play, their bullshit five on five, their terrible zone entries. It should be good.

All their money is spending four guys.

They're absolute... If you go back and you watch those games, and I do agree to do nothing burger, just crap when it comes to the offensive side, which is so embarrassing because that's where all their money is. They still could have won that series if they got numbers like that from the goal tender. How good does your defense really need to be if your goal just won't let anything in?

Yeah, just simply won't.

Maybe that's the defenseman up. That's the defensive upgrade that they're looking for.

The problem is the forwards. Extend all of them and add more. Yes, exactly. And make Morgan Reilly play with Mailman.