Jeff Marek: Early optimism around Demko, Cootes, Chytil etc… this episode also gets a little silly

Can I embarrass myself off the uh the start of this conversation like that? We’ve already done that. As as as Blake wonders about Eye of the Tiger and Survivor um first year university 1990 University of Galf, your boy Jeff Merik every day in the gym on his Sony Walkman had a 90minute Maxel tape. One side Eye of the Tiger, other side theme for Rocky. every single day. So it was it was 90 minutes of Eye of the Tiger, 90 minutes of theme from Rocky. Just I mean just looping the same song. Correct. That’s how embarrassing I was. Now that’s how embarrassing I was. In fairness, the film and the song were only what, like 15 years old at that point. So Oh yeah, it was still kind of cool. But then like two weeks later, Nirvana happened and this exploded the whole music scene and no one was listening to Survivor or Whitney Houston or Huey Lewis or anything like that. It was all about grunge rock. The other thing that I want to point out to you guys quick hijacking your show, you guys sent me down a rabbit hole yesterday that I’m still pulling out of from your last pod. I’m trying to figure out what happened to Akido Harros and why he went to Germany because normally no like I you know I love stuff like this. I think I just sort of mentioned it in passing and I’m like hey you know what that’s a really good question and so you sort of and he’s he was the victims of a victim of a number crunch and he kind of got in the spot where you know he was in a sort of a mix of three different defenders and if you had a bad game you were out and it was tough to get back in. Um but normally I mean you win a Calder Cup uh and you’re on the roster like he had a really good final. Yeah. As well. Um normally you can parlay that into another contract at least with another American hockey league. Right. You think and the the the other thing about it is too is he still doesn’t qualify as a veteran. And in the American Hockey League the way because there’s all different types of vet rules. Um, you have to have 12 players on the roster that have played less than 260 games in either the NHL, American League, or European Elite League, not the ECHL. So, it’s not as if he was going to be victim of a number crunch. Oh, we already have all of our veteran spots taken. He still wouldn’t have qualified as a veteran. I’m having I’m talking to someone later on this afternoon to try to figure out like did anybody else call? Were other teams available? he could help a team on a on a power play in the American Hockey League. You got a ring coming along with it. Like I I think that it was just like sort of an aside comment um that you guys, you know, talked about yesterday, but now this has sent me down this uh and I love doing stuff like this goofy little heros rabbit hole. Aita Harros insider joins us and uh everything you’ve always wanted to know about Aikido but were afraid to ask on SNP. Let let me just uh add a couple of uh well one correction, one piece of context because our audience is much younger now. They’re on YouTube. Jeff uh Survivor is the artist who sang Eye of the Tiger. You’re unfamiliar. And I actually forgot Surv Eye of the Tiger was not around the first film. It was on later Rock. He was released 1922. So So 8 years old when you were listening. Yeah, I was still I was I was still reasonably contemporary. My mom thought I was cool. I don’t know if my mom thought it was pretty cool hearing their son in the garage doing incline bench incline. Some of the uh G co-eds were like look at that going on and listening to you know who one of them was a very young Cassie Campbell soon to be Cassie Campell you’ve told us that before. Yes. She was she was the star on campus. He’s got Luke Hughes info that I’d at some point like to get to Jack. Okay. Sorry. I want to talk about the other defenseman the guy’s playing in the de and you guys want fine okay fine whatever your show because he text me this morning I want to talk about Luke I got something on Luke please let’s get into it Luke here here here here’s what I wonder I was talking to James Nichols about this from NJD now the other day and one of the things that I think we’re all sort of wondering about here is on the one hand this is about the Hughes and the New Jersey Devils in this contract absolutely there’s all the sidebar stuff and conversation about Quinn and the Devils and Jack and bring them here and play with brothers and all that, but let’s let’s let’s wonder here for a second if some of this doesn’t have to do with what’s happening at the agent side as well. And I’ll bring up Jack Hughes and I’ll bring up Nathan McKinnon, two players both represented by CIA and Pat Bisson, who what have we said about the contracts? Man, those are value deals for those teams. those players are quote unquote leaving money on the table. Like how many times we talk about the luxury that the Avalanche had having Nathan McKinnon under a deal where he was making in the neighborhood of $6 million and how much money he had left on the table. And I I do wonder if now with the salary cap going up as significantly as it is. Um, I wonder if part of this is we want to make sure here at CA that our players don’t leave significant amounts of money on the table. We don’t want our guys to be the quote unquote best value contract in the league. I wonder if that is part of this. I really Yeah, I think you’re probably right. I’m also trying to understand this from the New Jersey and Tom Fitzgerald uh side of things, Jeff, because this one over here believes, and I would like your take on this, the Canucks should make New Jersey a godfather offer for Luke Hughes. Wholly overpay to get the second Hughes brother here, which they might hang up the phone anyhow. They might just say absolutely not. Tom Fitzgerald must understand that having Luke with Jack is worth more than what you would give contractwise to a kid named Luke Smith. Yes. So why don’t you just bite the bullet, overpay on Luke Hughes, knowing when you have the two Hughes brothers, you’re going to be able or should be able to lure in the third Hughes brother at some point. like why would you nickel dime the Hughes family is my question here. Uh I I I don’t disagree. I think that this one is a really given how much the cap is going up like this is a really tricky needle to thread knowing that on the on the one hand one the kid needs to be adequately compensated but you’re not just compensating for what he’s already done. You’re still projecting right? Like this is still a there’s gold in them hills out there type contract right? you’re a you’re you’re a speculator now um when when when you’re doing this contract. The other is keeping Jack happy too. I I really think like this is a situation not unlike the Kachucks. I remember talking to Matthew Kachchuck at the NHL players tour a few years ago and this is when Brady Kachchuck was going through his contract situation with Peter Dorian Eugene Melnick and the Ottawa Senators and he said like look like you have to remember when you negotiate with one Kachchuck you negotiate with all of us. you negotiate with with Brady, you negotiate with with the agent, you negotiate with me, you negotiate with um with my dad, you know, and I think what what Matthew was trying to say is like I will go out there actively and lobby for my brother and and and lobby for his rights. And I don’t I think the Hughes brothers do it in a in more of a minor key than the Kachchucks do it. Like the Kachchucks do it with the volume on 11, but I think the Hughes family is the exact same way. like you’re doing a deal with one of us, you’re doing a deal with all of us. And I think like you guys saw the reaction at the draft when New Jersey took Luke Hughes and had the camera on Jack. Like you you saw like it was the cork just popped out of a champagne bottle. Like this is the most amaz So I think there’s a there’s a couple of different dynamics at play here with this Luke Hughes deal. I’ll tell you what, I misread this situation completely. I thought of all of of all deals like this is going to be a restricted free agent deal that was going to get done before a training camp. You have, you know, a player who grew up in a hockey household. You have a father who’s one of the, you know, the the wisest people in hockey period, works at CIA, uh, New Jersey understands exactly what’s at stake here and the value of this player and how much they have invested in that family. And yes, we can even have the sidebar conversation about another family member joining and you don’t want to you don’t want to soil that water. So maybe as I He’s also a 102C Jeff, he can’t even be off. So there’s not even that drama. Like it’s just straightforward. And there’s no hurt feelings now cuz you’ve only missed one maybe two preseason games. But the minute he misses a regular season game, don’t you start to risk hurt feelings if you’re Fitzgerald? Well, because he’s missing paychecks at that point, too. Yeah. I I again like it’s not good for the situation is not good for anybody especially like like older players. Okay, you can kind of understand it. You know, you your skin is a little bit thicker, you’re a little bit more cynical, uh more going to, you know, dig in for your rights. There’s no and you’ve been in the NHL for a number of years. There’s no value in young players missing training camp time. Like I I I understand this is a negotiation. That’s a very sophisticated dance for a very elite level player in the NHL, but this does this does nobody any good. Nobody any good whatsoever. But then I keep coming back to okay, so like what’s the number given where the cap is at and all the other variables that come into this thing? Because you’re not just you’re not just negotiating just a number here. You are negotiating and massaging relationships at the same time. And Matt, to your point, um, hurt feelings are very much a thing when it comes to to negotiations and when you’re dealing with not just a player, but a family. That’s right. Let’s move on. Um, can I can I get into Filipedal? Do you you’ve probably seen a a bunch of Eastern Conference Filipedal games. Do you think it has ever been said preeason or otherwise Philip Pedle was the best player on the ice? because we had that the other night and that you know if you’re looking for all you know the the smallest of branches to hold on to for Conucks fans that they might have a 2C. Do you think that’s ever been uttered about Philip Heedle at the NHL level? I mean there there were there were times on the on the on the kid line where it’s like wow maned just had an awesome game. Like there there were times where that line was the best line on the ice for the New York Rangers. Full stop. Um, but right now the the bar, it’s kind of like when we first saw Jack Eel coming off ADR surgery playing for Vegas and you’re like, “Okay, let’s see the first hit. Okay, he’s all right. Oh, there’s another hit. Okay, he’s okay. He’s not going to the bench.” Like, right now it’s just, and you guys had an interesting conversation about this about how many how many games is too many games in the preseason. Um, right now it’s just get through a game and then get through another game. And like I know I don’t think anyone’s comfortable quite yet given the concussion history. I think they want to see more of a they want to see more of a runway here until they start to feel comfortable. But in these these scant these scant couple of games that we that we’ve seen Heedle so far he’s performed like you want, right? A healthy made it through the games. B looked impressive. I get that it’s training. I get that it’s preseason. We understand all of that. But all you can do is play the game that’s before you. And he’s played the game that’s before you. He played well and he made it through the games. Awesome. Great. First first hurdle jumped over. Great. Check one, two. I want to ask him about Braden Coots because we may not have occasion next year. And Jeff so loves his junior. I love him and I love this guy. I love this guy. Tell me about him then. I I I I love him. Um he’s fast. It’s It’s funny too. There’s there’s there’s one person who uh who coached him internationally who said he’s the right shot Rashnney. He’s the right shot. Cole Rashnney. He said like Calgary and Vancouver both got similar players. One shoots left and one shoots right and they both got really good guys here. Um I like him a lot. Um he’s a really smart player. He thinks quick. Um I I I if this were another team I would maybe see more value. I would see the value of of giving him the nineame experience and giving him the taste. The only thing about Coots, he’s going to be a Vancouver Canuck for a for a really long time. The only thing is like every game is crucial out of the gate for the Vancouver Conucks. I don’t know that right now, this season specifically, you want to break in kids given how high the stakes are in Vancouver. I I think in in a in another incarnation of the Vancouver Conucks are on a different team that’s in a different place with their in their win cycle, you might look at them and say, “Ah, yeah, you know what? Let’s like like um uh like the Flyers did with Jet Luchenko, right? Or the Bruins did with with Matthew Matthew.” Like, “Okay, yeah, we can we we can see if we can break a kid in here early.” I don’t think if you’re Vancouver, you can you can afford that. I really don’t. Different in 19, right? Different in 19 like a year from now, would it be a different Absol Absolutely. I will absolutely Jeff. Yeah, they’re three and four se are atu ratu and teddy bluger. I understand that but these are but these are still professionals too like you’re Adam foot you tap someone on the shoulder you want to know what they are going like you know what you know what is going to do you have a pretty good idea of you know what what Ratu is going to do now do they have as high a ceiling in their careers as um as righty has um no Braden Coots is going to be a much superior skilled player than these two but if you’re Adam foot and you know like right out of the gate you need wins you need to start piling it up you need to know what everybody’s is doing when they hit the ice. There’s no time for guessing, but listen, great player. Great player. We have uh we have reached the Easter egg. Uh is it about her? I have on this one. I’ve been simmering on this one for three weeks cuz Oh, jeez. Uh in fact, I have to go back to the 300page notebook uh that I was using. Okay. Up until a couple of weeks ago to find my notes on this. So the great the theme is uh Canucks who went on to be captains and do you want the easy do you want the moderate or do you want the difficult question here? Do we have time to do all three? We have time to do all three. Uh easy and moderate sort of overlap. So I give you one you will know. Go moderate. If he gets it then we go to hard. Come on. Okay. All right. Let’s get on with it. Okay. How many Vancouver Canucks went on to captain other NHL teams? The easy would have been give me five Vancouver Conucks who went on to So, I’m going to I’m going to say Gez, we’re going back to 1970 here, boys. I’m gonna say 10. Blake. Uh, I I’ll I’ll take the under. I’ll go eight. Okay. The answer after JT Miller, 13. Really? 13? Hey. Mhm. Now, here’s the degree of difficulty. Okay. Three former Vancouver Conucks went on to captain two different NHL teams. Did Lyndon ever captain the Lyndon captain the New York Islanders and New York Islanders but uh the New York Islanders fe I don’t want to screw up the Easter egg the New York Islanders feature amongst the three who went on to captain two NHL teams. Oh, that is Wow. And in fact, I’ll give you another hint. Okay. The Florida Panthers feature with two of these gentlemen who went on to captain two different NHL teams. So, Vancouver first and then the other and then they went on to captain two separate NHL teams. Two of these guys went on to captain the Florida Panthers. Two of these guys went on to captain the New York Islanders. Was Roberto Lango Was Roberto Lwango ever captain of the Florida? None of them are none of them are named Trevor Lindon or Pavl Bur either. That that one now has got me completely flubbed because what former kuck was a captain of the Florida Panthers? I I I was I was believe it or not, there are there are four former Vancouver Conucks who went on to captain the Florida Panthers. It It’s staggering. I know. The C not the C in Florida. Mind blown. I’m out. I like my brain doesn’t work. I don’t know. Who is it? Okay. Michael Pekka went on to captain the Buffalo Sabres and the New York Islanders. Okay. Yeah. Brian McCabe went on to captain the New York Islanders and the Florida Panthers. But he wasn’t a captain here. Didn’t he have to be a captain here? That wasn’t criteria. Oh. Oh, hang on. I thought you had to c I thought you had to captain the Vancouver. Vancouver Conucks went on to captain. I did not say former Canucks. I was I was just going through the roster of Vancouver Conucks captains and going that doesn’t Mike. We’ll check the tape, but this one isn’t on me. I I don’t believe I believe I was clear. And Ed Joanoski went on to captain see I would have said briefly the Arizona Coyotes because Shane Don was suspended and then the Florida Panthers. I would have said that because that was the first thing that came to my mind was drove a bit. I’m like he never captained the Vancouver Conucks. That’s that’s that’s where I that’s where I got Did I make another Easter? He may have been just shaking his head. I think the egg I think that egg was was a little bit cracked. I think perhaps there was a little bit of yolk spilled. Okay. On on on this one. Great question though. Yeah. Uh Pavlbury Willie Mitchell, the other Vancouver Conucks who captained the Florida Panthers. Wow. Willie Longstick Mitchell and the full list. Pat Quinn, Don Lever, the original captain of the New Jersey Devils. called coach Rick Vive the captain in Toronto before he was stripped uh G Butcher in St. Louis Messier after Vancouver back to the Rangers to captain them Pavar Bur in Florida Adrien O’Coin in Chicago then Jovo Willie Mitchell and of course the most recent that’s why I asked you about Lynon because I was just thinking former captains. No was it okay here’s here’s my question and I asked legitimately maybe you guys know was Adrien Acoin the last player in the NHL to use a wooden stick. Oh, good question. Or or or was it Jason Spettza? Or was Spetsza as a two-piece? I think I that’s a trivia question that I’ve heard within the last few years and I don’t think it was either of them. So, my first year covering the league was 01 02 and there were the composites were like brush fire going through dressing rooms. Um, and no one could take a no one could take a pass with them. They bounced off every blade. I want to say Dimmitrike Skevich was on a wood stick, but I’m Google AI says it is widely accepted. No one knows it, but is widely accepted that it is Adriana coin. Okay. Oh, it is that stands to Henrik Lungfest as a goal. Mike’s chiming in on this. Of course, for he’s from the island. They do logging there. It was a big hit for many years that they could claim the wood in NHL sticks and then it destroyed an industry. What are you saying? He He was the last to use a full wooden stick. Others use blades. And yes, we had the largest hockey stick in the world on the island. That’s right. Don’t you? I just remember that’s where my sister lives. Um I just remember watching a coin. There was that there was that stretch where he was like a shootout specialist, right? You remember that? Like he was like a eight for eight on the stretch where like Adrien Acoin turned into Jussi Yoken. He just like could not miss on the on the shootouts. Great shot. And well he would do the Brian Rollston, right? He would come in and like just above the hash marks, scratch his back with the blade and let one rip. Oh yeah, he was wild to watch on the shootouts. It was fun. Uh, does he not still hold the Canucks record for goals in a season by a defenseman? 20 28 23. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Adrien Aoin appreciation podcast here. It turned into today. Well, he was a good player. Started. We started talking about Aikido and now got to Adrian Coin. You guys have the best show going. This is like this show is tailor made for me. It’s like you designed this show for my ears. Like her rose in a coin. Sign me up. We ain’t answer place her ro a coin. Don Lever first Hamilton Hamilton Bulldogs Calder Cup champion coach Don Lever. Yeah, we even worked in Vibe for you in Toronto and Butcher for him. All right. Yeah, have a great week. Okay, hang on. Who from that St. Louis Blues team? Uh, you know what? I’m gonna I’m gonna I’m gonna do this next. I have an Easter egg for you guys based on based on what we just said. I got one for we do rotate rotating Easter eggs, Merrick, where you get after us every second week. I’m dead. Well, Blake just Blake just tweaked me to something. So, next week I got the Easter egg. Okay. Thanks. Thanks, boys.

The Sheet’s Jeff Marek joins us for a hilarious segment ranging from Rocky theme music to an Akito Hirose deep dive to former Canucks that captained other teams. In between all of that Jeff also waxes on the early signs of optimism from Filip Chytil, Thatcher Demko and Cootes.

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1 comment

  1. That two C ex Canucks drew complete blanks from me. Glad I wasn't alone on that. And I did think of Jovo as well.
    Funny that Jeff and Blake both tried to get a semantics Mulligan. Lol.

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