Oilers, Miller, Blackhawks, and more ft. Greg Wyshynski & Tyler Johnson | The Sheet with Jeff Marek

[Music] Welcome to [Music] [Applause] Monumental offices, owners of the Washington Capitals. I’m in your old hood. Wish I’m in your old haunt right now. Washington. This is when you and I first got to know each other. You were living in Virginia, I believe, and uh couple on the regular back in. Yeah. I w So the the one of the origin stories of your boy is uh I I started I was working at a newspaper and uh doing high school sports, you know, running up and down the sidelines with a point-and-click camera during football games, hoping I got one good shot to use in the newspaper that week. And one of the reasons why I became a hockey writer is because uh in the early Ovetkin days, the Washington Capitals were the least covered team in Washington DC. They just did not have any people coming to the games fan-wise. The press box was pretty empty. They weren’t getting a lot of real estate in the Washington Post. So what Ted Leonus did and his genius is he created something called the blog box. and the and he started he started inviting bloggers who at the time were a burgeoning alternative media uh myself Japers rink other places like that and invited us to start covering the games like with cred as credentialed media and um a smart move by him one because it got his team more coverage direct to the people and not having to worry about the Washington Post gatekeeping hockey and then two I mean in a lot of cases he’s giving partisan audiences access to games and the players themselves. And I think that’s only going to curry favor in in many cases uh with some of the media that cover the team. But it it was great. It it’s where I cut my teeth in a press box and I’ll always be grateful to Ted for that. Great spot. Um and how can you leave out Ted’s take uh the owner of the Washington Capitals communicating directly uh with Caps fans and with hockey fans? Like remember like we would always wait. Okay. Okay. When’s Ted’s take coming out? When because it was so revolutionary and you and I would talk about Ted’s take on the uh the OG MBSW like with regularity. I would love it if there were owners that did like I don’t know. I’ll just pick an owner randomly. Franchesco’s take or whomever around the NHL. Love that. Which owner would you like to read the most? Franchesco is probably the one because I believe Yeah. He’s he’s already he’s already pretty active on on Twitter. Um doing stuff like Kates would be interesting I think, right? Or Kate would be great. Ryan Ryan Smith I think would be good too. Like I I get I get the feeling that somewhere down the road here as there’s a sort of new like it was really important for the NHL to bring in um Ryan Smith specifically one because he’s got deep pockets, loves the sport, can grow it in Utah, etc., etc., etc. Um, but that’s that new breed of sports owner um that grew up with the internet. You know, there’s like a demarcation for people like and listen like I was one of the I was one of the dinosaurs. Like I remember a world without the internet, but there’s like a whole generation of owners now that have grown up with the internet and the possibility of what the internet can bring. And I think that’s why somewhere down the road here, we will see someone else do Ted’s take. The answer is is just two answers. One is Tom Galardi with the Dallas Stars because every time I hear that guy on the radio, it’s always pretty interesting and and I feel like I I’d love to I’d love to read a blog from Tom Galardi the day after they lose in the conference final for like the fourth straight years. Like that’s that’s what I want to read. The other one obviously and and this is you know this is the the one I think we would probably most want to read uh would be the James Dolan blog uh for the New York Rangers. I think that’d be pretty pretty amazing. You know, he could structure it like a Mark Maron podcast where he begins with a monologue, then he plays a little a little guitar, then he interviews Henrik, you know, give me give me the James Dolan content. Um that’s good content for somewhere down the road. uh which are the owners you would much like to hear or read a TED’s take uh from. Let’s get right to it. We got a special guest coming up at the bottom of the hour. Let’s let you know what’s going on on the program today. Thanks so much for joining us here on the sheet and the blueprint as always is powered by FanDuel. Download the app today and play your game on FanDuel. Greg Oinsky is aboard. It is Thursday after all and Tuesdays and Thursdays we bring aboard our man from ESPN and ESPN.com. We will talk about oh I don’t know straight legging it in your own zone. We’ll talk about JT Miller and the New York Rangers. We’ll talk about Listen, everyone’s having a whack at this pinata. Why should we be any difference? We’ll talk about the Oilers. I was at the game last night. Got a couple of thoughts about both teams. Tyler Johnson, uh the recently retired Tyler Johnson who is kind of in a really unique club here. We’ll talk about the Bolts and Cooer off in Chicago and Bard with Tyler Johnson, his former teammates. He’s won everywhere. He won um uh the Memorial Cup when he played with the Western Hockey League with Spokane. He won the Calder Cup with Norfolk and he won the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning, not once but twice. And even as a Canadian, I’ve blocked this out of my memory, he also won the World Juniors with Team USA back in 2010, although in my mind that never existed and it never happened. Hm. Yes. You uh you’re treating it like it’s some sort of rarity that the Americans win a World Juniors when in actuality it’s become commonplace. It does happen. Although I do have a this I don’t appreciate you you talking about the Americans winning World Juniors like Latvia got one over on you. You know, we we stand toe-to-toe with you now as a hockey nation as we’ll see in Italy next year, sir. Yeah. you had your gizle left kiss moment stealing games and stealing championship from those good honest hardworking Canadian young men. Uh we shall see. So a couple of things like where do you want to begin on this one? Like we have a sort of full buffet of things to talk about. There’s action from last night. There’s the there’s the uh the the remains of the day from the uh from the the visuals of of JT Miller and the New York Rangers and everybody having a having a swing at this one. You want to just start there? Yeah. with like So, do we have the the the footage there, Zach, or or any of the footage? Because I don’t know if you’ve got the actual footage or the Shawn Avery commentary version of the footage. Uh when it comes to JT Miller, but the Rangers, give me give me the Avery because I think that covers both of it. So, this is Rangers uh blue uh Golden Knights the other night uh and JT Miller on the ice. All right, watch this [ __ ] show. Quick up. Igor Shasherkin to JT Miller. Follow the pointer stick. JT dump the puck in. No. Ma turnover. Kiss of death. Turnovers at the offensive blue line. Then we’re going to watch JT. Bottom of the screen. Eight white. Captain of the New York Rangers come in. All right. He’s the low guy responsible. Okay. Oh, and then stick check one over skate. Here we go. No man’s land. And then look at this. Look at the straight legging [ __ ] right there. Five hole goal. Look, I’m not I’m not an Avery fan, but you have to hand it to him sometimes. And I do love the little pointer bit that he does. I also love the fact that his uh pronunciation of Igor Sherkin was if as if he had never seen a Russian name before. I appreciated that. It was it was a fantastic pronunciation. But again, like you know, so Miller’s Miller’s getting it. And and listen, there’s a lot of guys in this league that eventually get the PlayStation controller unplugged moment where somebody captures it uh during a game and then it becomes a viral thing on social media calling out the player for a lack of effort. I think the issue here with JT Miller is twofold. One, he’s having a terrible season right now for the Rangers in so far as his offensive production. Nowhere near the levels like it was in the previous seasons. But two, as as Avery uh noted in a very sarcastic way, he’s the captain of the New York Rangers. He was given the C over a guy like Vincent Troche, for example, who would have been the guy I chose to be captain. I thought he earned the C in the way that he played for the Rangers. But Miller was given the captaincy, Merrick, because of the way he plays the game, the ferocity, the north south of it all, the way he competes. He’s the model. He’s the north star that we want all the ships to sail towards when it comes to the New York Rangers. And when you see the guy floating around straightlegged like that on a play in his own defensive zone, it becomes antithetical to all of the reasons why JT Miller is the captain of the New York Rangers. I want to swing back to the New Yorker of this all and the JT Miller of this all, but is this one of those trades in your opinion? Uh I was talking about this about a month ago with or a couple of weeks ago actually with on the Saras Price show. We hear so much about we’re making trades that are going to help both teams. Like whenever a trade is made, everyone on television is like, you know, this is this is smart. This is good for both teams. This is going to work out well. This is why it’s good for team X. This is why it’s good for team Y. It’s a good trade that’s going to help both teams. Is this a trade that’s been bad for both teams? Not good for both teams, but like bad for for both teams. And by the way, my thoughts, again, it might be a little bit conspiracy theoryesque here, but my thought on on JT Miller getting the captaincy. The this was twofold. one, jury brought him in and wants him to have that captaincy, but two, it’s also a rejection of what’s gone on with those Rangers and that room and the grumbling and the complaining and the backbiting towards management from the last two seasons and that is not going to get rewarded. To me, it’s like the indication of like, all right, you know what? There’s there’s a new leader and he’s come from the outside. So, we didn’t like guys discussed and openly how we handled the Barkley Gdro situation or the Jacob Trouba situation. That’s kind of how I saw it. I think that’s an interesting comment because being in that room and covering the Rangers a bit, I could see how Troche could be roped into that group of players predominantly led by Chris Krider who were very unhappy with Chris Drury, unhappy with the way that that Gdro and and and Trouba were forced out and now you know Crider’s not not there either. So, I I could see I could see your point that if that you want a clean break and if you’re if the whole point of it is to try to reshape your core in in the likeness of someone like JT Miller, then you might as well not give the captaincy to somebody that’s already there. That’s part of the quote unquote problem, right? I I get that. I think I think that’s that’s an interesting point. As far as the trade goes, I mean, we can’t erase the fact that JT Miller was a better point better than point per game player for the Rangers last year. Like, he was great for them last year. Um I I don’t know what the malfunction is this year other than to say that uh he he’s dealing with some different linemates and and and in the case of Mika Zabanagad, a guy that’s has kind of lost the threat a little bit. You talk about guys that probably need to be shipped out because of the uh the recent history of the team, it’s probably Zabanagad. Um but you know, somebody said this to me once and it stuck with me about JT Miller. I don’t even know, maybe it was you. Who knows? He he’s he’s the perfect guy that you want on a team that’s successful. Like he he when things are going well, he’s feeling good. He’s playing his heart out. He’s bleeding all over. You know, he’s he’s he’s the he’s the the give it 110% drive 80 down the freeway type player that you want on a successful team. And that’s the way he plays when the team is successful. When the team is not success successful, then he’s not the guy that you necessarily want. I you know I listen if the Vancouver Conucks were losing in the conference finals I don’t think that we have all that internal strife between those guys. It’s probably a personal beef but it probably never get never gets to the point of of toxicity with him and Patterson, right? Um but the team wasn’t good. And then he goes to this Ranger team and they’re you know they’re not good last year but but you know we expected him to be good this year but then they’re not very good again and uh and now all of a sudden you know he’s getting straightlegged in his own zone. So he’s I I guess the sum total of that comment, Merrick, is it’s a curious guy to make your captain if if he’s like if he’s like Mark Messier in the good times and just like the shittiest captain in the league on the bad times. But the thing is like that that’s why I think like putting the C on him in the first place was to signal that we will not stand for what you guys did. We will not stand for how you uh I don’t know caused a mutiny might be too strong, but I think you know what I’m going for here. And there was no way that anyone on that team, whether it was, you know, Vincent Troche or or anyone else, was going to get rewarded with that letter. Just like I’m with you. Like I thought Vincent Troche should have been the captain. I really do. But I don’t think that I don’t think that that Chris Jury was going to look at that team and say, “I saw everything and I’m going to reward you for it.” Not a chance. No way. This might be a question for Tyler. This might be a question for Tyler later, but I am I am Listen, you mentioned all the owners being born of the internet internet age that we’re having now. I mean, these guys that are playing in the league are born of the internet age. They all they see everything and whatever they don’t see, they get sent by their friends and by their their their uh former teammates and their colleagues. like they’re they’re aware of all the things that we are saying and all the videos that go viral and all the videos in which Shawn Avery is uh using a a a profession a prof a prof professorial pointer on his television. And so when something like this gets called out for a player like JT Miller, your captain, the the fiery competitor, and he’s straightlegged in his own zone, uh you know, basically spectating a goal by the Golden Knights. Like how does that play? Does anyone say anything to him in the Rangers room? Does he take it upon himself to say something? Um I I’ve always been curious about that because it’s not like they’re not a there’s there’s a zero someum possibility that the entirety of the Rangers locker room is unaware of this clip and then what happens when it does get noticed? I’m curious about that. Um also here’s what I wonder. Did Bill Simmons just do the Columbus Blue Jackets a solid? Oh, tell me why. Drawing attent all the whether it’s a fan base, whether it’s a hockey team, doesn’t matter what it is. You give a team or a fan base an issue to be a offended by and b inspired by. And the most recent example is Patrick Line talking about how everybody when he left Columbus from Montreal, how I think the comments were something along the lines of everybody there is just too comfortable with the losing. And then it’s like immediately after L makes those comments, then the Blue Jackets went on a heater. Um, Bill Simmons comments about the uh the Blue Jackets being the most irrelevant team in sports. Yes, that’s an issue that’s going to like that that’s going to go all through the room, all through the fan base, all of it. And now they have an issue. Like if I’m Dean Everson, I’m like, “Oh, I’m not going to send him a Christmas card, but Bill, thanks for doing us a solid year. Thanks for doing us a solid.” Bill Simmons had a mailbag episode, and one of the things that that was asked of him is who is the most irrelevant team in sports. And uh I believe that the mailbag questioner was in fact a Columbus fan and was wondering if it was in fact the Blue Jackets. And Bill Simmons said, and I quote, “I’ve never heard a single conversation about the Blue Jackets.” Now, granted, I don’t have a ton of hockey fans in my life, but I’ve never heard a single convo about them. And so, because he’s not heard conversations about them, that’s one thing. But what Simmons did, and this is why Simmons is Simmons, he then went through the litany of things that would make the Blue Jackets the most relevant team. Who is their best player in franchise history? It’s Rick Nash. Rick Nash is not a legendary player in this league. Rick Nash, is he is he a Hall of Famer? I Who’s to say? I probably not, right? But um so Rick Nash is is part of it. The playoff history is part of it. Simmons being Simmons of course said that the Blue Jackets swept the Florida Panthers and not the Tampa Bay Lightning, but that’s probably the seminal moment in franchise history. He did bring up Johnny Goodro uh and bring up some other things. Um, the team that got mentioned the most as sort of the counterpoint to the Columbus Blue Jackets being the most irrelevant team in sports was the Sacramento Kings. And I found that comparison interesting for one reason, Merrick. The thing that Simmons didn’t mention in his rant about Columbus was the thing that we all know best about the Blue Jackets, which is [Music] do we know best about the Blue? What is when I say blue jackets, what is the first thing you might think of? What is the thing that is the signature part of the Blue Jacket black blue jackets experience? The canon. The cannon. The cannon. Exactly. So, I find it interesting that the two arguably most irrelevant teams in sports, one of them has a giant cannon they shoot out off when they succeed. The other one has a giant purple laser beam that they shoot into the sky when the team succeeds. They both have a gimmick that might be more memorable than anything that these two teams do uh in their given leagues. Did I ever share with you uh what Doug Mlan told me about the cannon? Please do. He all he and he would always reject like the the Columbus Blue Jackets fans, booster clubs, like all these things would always like, “Hey, we got to have a cannon. Civil War got to have a cannon. Got to have a cannon. We’re going to the motif. We got to have a cannon after we score.” And he hated the idea. Couldn’t stand it. didn’t want it in the rink. Um, and always resisted. And when he realized he was about to be fired, I think it might have been his last official act as manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets, he approved the budget for the cannon. I think it was like a snarky thing to do to the other people in the organization that also didn’t want it. He approved the budget for the cannon. That was his final like peace out. Funny before he got fired. It’s really funny because one of our neighbors in our building is moving out and uh on their way out they’ve approved all the You have a can? No. No. They haven’t approved the can. Although I don’t know, man. In New York it might come in handy. They’re they approved all of the construction things that they’ve never approved when they were living here for other people’s apartments. They all signed off on it. It’s like walking away from an explosion basically. Uh good luck to the new tenants. Here is a giant deck blocking the sun from your apartment and so on. Um so anyways, uh the um I guess I guess let me let me ask you this. Do you think the Blue Jackets are the most irrelevant team in the NHL? Okay, first of all, I don’t want to get too semantic on this, but when you say irrelevant, what are you saying? Like what does that word represent? Are they a team that has a history of like playoff failure? Well, yeah. This has not been a playoff juggernaut team at all. They’ve had a hard time at the draft. They’ve had a hard time producing high level teams considering how long they’ve been in the NHL now. But I don’t know if that I have a hard time with the word with the word irrelevant. Let me let me define it as the qu let me define it as the mailbag questioner defined it. Okay. Okay. They’re too bad to make the playoffs, but not so bad they’re top in the news with their total dysfunction. So, they’re they’re they’re a mediocre team that doesn’t make the playoffs, but they’re not a a a messy team. It’s a team that’s usually in a small market. Bonus points if their location name is generic like Golden State or New England. It’s a team that makes you say, “Oh, yeah, they still exist.” when they’re picking eighth in the draft. So, here’s here’s here’s the thing. I am the absolute wrong person to ask this to because I’m too close to to all of it. Like, no team like there’s never a moment where I’m like, “Oh, yeah. I forgot the Columbus Blue Jack jackets exist.” So, I’m the absolute like this is more for a for a casual sports fan, which I think is maybe what Phil Simmons is going for. But yeah, as far as I’m concerned, like there are no irrelevant teams. But again, I’m like too close and and deep to it because I think about the Columbus Blue as much as I think about, you know, the Montreal Canadians, the Los Angeles Kings, the Chicago Blackhawks. So to me, they’re not irrelevant because this is my life. So they’re all your children. They’re all your children. Yeah. I mean, like I I could see a casual sports fan forgetting that Columbus exists because of how the the lack of a deep playoff run, the fact that they’ve not really been, you know, noteworthy off the ice outside of the Johnny Gro tragedy. I I could see a casual sports fan seeing them in the same way that they see the Sacramento Kings or see the Jacksonville Jaguars, for example, who I think are a team that certainly fits the bill for me of sometimes I turn on my television at 9:00 on a Sunday and I’m like, “Oh, wait, that’s right. Jacksonville is playing in London. You know, uh it’s it’s uh I I think in NHL terms, if you had to pick one, it’s probably them with the caveat, and I don’t mean to make these people angry at me again because we already worked through the they should rebuild conversation we had last month, the Seattle Kraken are probably more real. No, the Seattle Kraken are more irrelevant than the Columbus Blue Jackets, but they’re kind of new and so maybe give them a pass, but I kind of think that in and maybe this is East Coast bias, too. But I think I probably think about the Blue Jackets more than I do the Kraken, if I’m being honest. Uh, no. I keep going back to they’re all my children. I I I can’t like for me like there there there aren’t irrelevant teams in the NHL in my life or in my profession. So again, like I am the absolute wrong person to ask here. That is for that is for a casual hockey fan or a casual sports fan. Not for me because I’m just like too too deep into it. But by the way, relevance I do think this is this is like you I was talking to Zach before the show and he brought up a great point. This is kind of like when Don Sherry called the Carolina Hurricanes a bunch of jerks and they leaned into it. Yeah. I don’t know. Is this something is this something? I saw the Grantland bit from from the Columbus Blue Jackets social media administrator which was which got which got a chuckle as well. But like if I’m them if I’m them, I I create a Columbus Blue Jackets football jersey with Mr. Irelevant on the back and I give it out to the player of the game. Like I I lean into it that far. like just just do that stuff. You’re completely right. But what I was going to say, America, is that like the beauty of being irrelevant is that eventually you find relevance. And the beauty of being a losing team is that eventually, and I say this as a New York Jets fan, uh eventually you find you find success. And and when that moment comes, it it’s it feels so much more rewarding, I think, than if it’s a team that’s had constant success and then you jump up one year and you win. I I I think the the the highs and lows of sports are and the emotional swings of of being uh the the the welcome mat of the league and then finally winning is is much more rewarding than anything else. Uh okay, a couple of things here before we get to uh Tyler Johnson who’s stopping by in a couple of moments here. Um listen, I was there to watch it last night. Um the Oilers are like, no sugar coating this, like they’re in a bad way right now. Well, they’re having a hard time and they’re obviously like asking a lot of really difficult questions about a lot of key positions and a lot of key players on this team. 74, listen, it’s a pair of empty netters by Tom Wilson, but still 74 is the final score. But to me, the moment of the game where I went, “Oh man, this is bad.” Moment is the second Ryan Leonard goal. Oh my god, the Bousard play where But it’s not just Buchard like Okay, so so Leonard’s cutting across as a right-hand shot. He’s got he’s got some back pressure on him as well. It’s it it looks to me and again I’m not an NHL goalender, but it looks to me like a pretty easy read. He’s going backhand, but Skinner’s frozen. Skinner’s completely frozen. And it was at that moment where it’s like, okay, it’s not the only issue, but blue line and goalending. And the other issue is, you know, lap the lack of, you know, depth scoring. But again, I saw yesterday it’s almost like the entire Oilers team is just waiting for Conor and Leon to do something like remember this. This used to be the Oilers. This was kind of You know what this was? This was like the Oilers with Dave Tippet, right? You mentioned the other day it felt like a Dave Tippet team. Yeah. And it’s like this is like the Oilers like everybody on the bench are quite content to say, “Don’t worry, Connor and Leon are going to pull us out of this one.” that they’re going to do something in the third period and we’re going to win. Yay. I got that feeling last night watching this game. I don’t know if you watched it or how close you’ve watched the Oilers lately. Lost three other next four the three other last lost last last four. They got Tampa and Florida on the horizon to finish up this road trip. Um but that’s kind of how I I feel about the Oilers again. They’re back to that. Don’t worry, Connor and Leon are going to solve this. That’s why the Corey Perry loss, I think, is so much more significant than anything anything else that that happened in the offseason and then that many of us anticipated because honestly, when you watched them last year, he was one of the few guys in that team that didn’t feel like he was waiting for Connor and Leon. Like Cory was the guy that was going to make a play uh when they needed it. And and I don’t I think the loss of him really took away a huge part of that element. Um, and you wouldn’t expect that again. He’s like 105 years old, but he uh he certainly brought that to the team. Um, the thing I thought you were going to talk about was the fact that Ryan Leonard, uh, who can fit in your pocket like a talking mouse, muscled Evan Buchard off, uh, on on a break to the net. And it just like whenever I see Buchard in a situation like that, I just think about it brings up all the debates we’ve been having about this guy for the last several seasons about like what is he? You know, can we consider this guy elite when there are defensive deficiencies? people step up and be like, “It’s not as bad as you think.” And then you watch a game and you see a turnover or you see a moment like that where, you know, he’s getting out muscled by Ryan Leonard and you’re just like, I mean, we’re going to put that on the Olympic team. Like, like I understand the offense. I do. I understand the shot. He’s a very gifted player, but I mean, you know, for all of the the stereotypes that players like Quinn Hughes and Kale Mar have fought through as offensive defenseman to be like, “Hey, I’m not a one-trick pony.” That’s a onetrick pony. That man is a onetrick pony. That man is all O no D. And I think that we bend over backwards to try to afford him uh some grace defensively because of how much he gets called out. Um but you know, it’s not even an Eric Carlson situation from back in the day where his speed could help him overcome the mistakes that he made. I just think Buchard’s just a bad defender and and we saw it again last night on that Leonard goal. Yeah. Uh what’s more concerning because I go back and forth and and mainly I’m defaulting to the the goalending here, the goalending of the defense, right? Like there are times where Darnell Nurse looks overwhelmed as you mentioned. There are times where Evan Bushard looks overwhelmed. Well, but to me, so so much of what happens in a game is based on gh you can’t let that goal go in. Like that affects like the whole bench. To me, they got to do the goalending. It’s been this way for a while, but now it’s considering the gift that Conor McDavid just gave them, they got to goending now. I I think it’s the I mean, it’s clearly the goalending only because it’s been a problem constantly through the years. And and and I think the problem with the defense right now is that you’ve got some guys that traditionally are better than their playing um not playing well. I I look at I don’t think Wahman’s been good. I think Koulak’s been real bad for them this year. Um, and you don’t normally see that from those guys or or anticipate it from those guys in the case of Walman who’s still pretty new to the team. Um, so yeah, of course it’s the goalending. If they had some semblance of competency back there, it probably allows them to all exhale a little bit more on the bench, but it doesn’t excuse how porest that defense has been in front of them. Let me ask you something bluntly here, and again, this is not a report. This is just Greg and I on a Thursday afternoon throwing it around. And we’re going to get to Tyler Johnson one second after I have a look at the face of Greg Washinsky after I bring this up. You know what the New Jersey Devils have on their blue line? Yeah. What? Lot of right-handed shots. Mhm. Would you do Douggee Hamilton for Darnell Nurse? There is a background with nurse and Sheldon Keef going back to the susenry greyhounds of the OHL as well. So you’re you’re saying that would relieve the log jam, right? All I’m saying is a lot of right-handed shots on the New Jersey Devils blue line. I would say no to that for the simple fact as I check just one thing real quick here. for the simple fact that Darnell Nurse is signed for through 2030 whilst Douggee Hamilton is a free agent in 2028. I understand it complicates with our our favorite juicy topic in Vancouver. No, I’m not even talking about the Queen Hughes of it all. I’m just saying that that contractually I don’t think the two things fit. And honestly, like you know, I I think Douggee Hamilton serves you some utility still for this hockey team. Uh, and uh, the acquisition of somebody who everybody is basically trying to like run out of town uh, is not all that all inspiring. Okay. Well, let’s bracket. If I’m trading if I’m trading I’m trading Hamilton, I’m trading him for a winger. Let’s be honest. Park it for one second. Let’s bring aart Tyler Johnson. He is a a champion everywhere he’s gone. Even though I blanked it from my mind as a Canadian. He’s won the World Juniors in 2010. Uh, he’s won the Memorial Cup. U, he’s won the Calder Cup. He’s won the Stanley Cup. uh and he’s coming over to the dark side. He is a Tyler Johnson, exNHLer turned broadcaster here on the program. And we’re just as we bring you on Tyler and welcome aboard, Greg and I are having the conversation that every hockey player hates hearing about trades. How often when you when you played, you’re like, “Oh god.” Well, the media just shut up about trades already. We’re going to get your audio hot here. We got to fix your We got to fix your audio there, Tyler. Hang on one second. We’ll get We’ll get Tyler on. Yeah, I like the I like the background because it’s black it was black and white photos and and like then he pops and here it’s just like a mish mash of color behind me and with you it looks like you’re in a an aquarium uh right now she I’m in like a nice little nice little uh TV booth here at Monumental Sports Capital One Arena. No, it’s a nice little nice little spot for me. The thing with TJ, man, TJ’s wasn’t even like it was like trade rumors and then it was the necessity of trading him or removing him from the Lightning roster for cap purposes. That’s an even different that’s a different kind of stress than uh than than simple performance. Um that’s always tough because then you feel like all right well doesn’t matter what I do I I make too much money. That’s the uh listen, that’s been the the the the necess that was the necessity for the Tampa Bay Lightning for the longest time. Like that was that highwire act they had, which was uh how many guys can we remove Chicago went through this as well. How many guys can we remove from this roster for salary cap reasons and still win Stanley Cups and still be an elite level competitive team? Um, for me and I think a lot of other people that and a lot of it was like a bad dump by Thomas Panit, but like that series against the Montreal Canadians when he scores that goal with like a second left, that to me was like, okay, when I think Tyler Johnson, that’s like the signature goal. Um, Tyler, we got you back. What goal do you think I was just referencing there a second ago? No. No. Let’s get the audio going. We’ll try again. We’ll try. We’ll we’ll try again. We Maybe it’s just like my questions have been so stupid that the audio is like, “Yeah, we’re not.” My client’s not going to answer that question. I’m leaving open the possibility that I may have to just dub him like an old Japanese sam samurai film. Uh uh when he comes back, his lips are moving. I’ll just provide I’ll provide the audio myself. All right. Uh well, as we as we stand by here um for Tyler Johnson to to join the program, um a particular note um with him, a couple of the ex teams that he played for and most notably then recently the Chicago Blackhawks starting to make some noise here. I know we’re still, you know, not a quarter of the way into the uh into the NHL season. Um but feeling like we’re rounding that corner with eyes on next Thursday, US Thanksgiving, or as I guess you call it, Greg, Thanksgiving. Um, not that everything’s going to happen next Thursday, but next Thursday is the the first place where managers say, “Okay, I got a handle on my team.” But this year feels different because there are so many teams that are still technically in it even though some of the teams you can look at and look at underlying numbers and say it looks like they’re in it. It feels like they’re in it, but they’re not in it. How do you feel about Thanksgiving this year? I I think you’re right and I think I think where we’re going to really see it come to roost is in the Eastern Conference where I mean if you look at the standings right now, the wild card standings in the East among the teams not in a playoff spot right now are the Ottawa Senators, the Washington Capitals, the New York Rangers and the Florida Panthers and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now a few of those teams are going to be playoff teams, right? So like uh um you know it’s just going to be a matter of time before some of the teams that are currently holding down spots and especially in Atlantic I think fade fade a little bit. Um, to me, I’m I’m I’m curious about Chicago in the same way that I’m curious about the Ducks, but I think the difference is that the Ducks are deeper in the case that both of those teams have been propped up by goalending in a in such a spectacular way because of their underlying numbers defensively that you wonder if the dam’s ever going to break. I mean, even last night where, you know, Dostal gets the first star in a game where, you know, the offense does its job against Boston, but it’s still the goalender that gets the first star. Um, for a reason. And I think what Spencer Knight’s doing for Chicago right now is nothing short of revoly and you wonder how long that can continue. I just think that like I think a lot of us look at you know the future of the Western Conference and if you want to just go like goalie for goalie I think we’re going on the era and you know this is how goalies and goalie observers think of it we’re going to get into pretty soon here the dosal versus Spencer Knight era of the of the Western Conference and as much as we talk about Celibbrini and much we talk about Conor Badard we’re throwing Matthew Schaefer into that mix I think one of the the the the uh under the water topics as far as the next generation of kids that we’re not talking about are those two goalenders, right? Like we’re looking at like an era that is about to be dominated by those two goalenders. I think you’re missing one. I I think I think Ascarov should be in that conversation, too. With the way they’ve played in San Jose, it’s quite possible they’ve found their guy uh on a team that, you know, is is ascendant as Chicago is or ascendant as Anaheim is. And the unfortunate thing because the team around him isn’t that great. Although big win last night and he wasn’t in net. Um Calgary Flames with Dustin Wolf. Yeah. But it’s going to be well. By the way, that had to be really nice for Devin [ __ ] last night to beat the team to beat to beat the team though. I was like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. There’s no room for you here.” Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I beat it. You know, you’re going to be uh you’re going to be an AHL backup. I listen and has a has a great game and then delivers an even better interview after the game where he channels his we need to always be mindful of death. I can’t remember the last time or any time we’ve ever heard we ever heard an NHL player goalender otherwise paraphrase uh momento my be mindful of death just but if one position was going to do it it would be a goalender. Do you think that you think that the hole is too deep for them? By the way, that 341 points percentage roundabouts one week before American Thanksgiving. They’re they’re cooked, right? The Flames. They they should be. Maybe that’s one of the things we can talk to Tyler Johnson and his recovered audio about. You back. Sorry. I think so. This is why I played hockey. Listen, we got it. We got it. This is great. All right. First of all, well, TJ, I’m on so many TJ. I’m on so many damn Zoom calls with ESPN. Don’t feel bad. There’s always some guy that’s muted. Don’t worry about it. Well, yeah. It’s crazy. I I tested Zoom right before this and it was working. So, it was just when I came on to here, so I don’t know what it is, but I’m not an IT guy. Yeah. Well, listen, if if technology has failed you, Tyler, don’t feel special. Uh we’ve all had that exact same moment. So, so don’t feel we were just um before we uh before you you came on, we were talking about a couple of things and and one of them was um the Chicago Blackhawks, you know, looks to be, you know, making that turn now. You were there with with Bard. Uh you’ve seen the kid. There’s a lot of guys that are still on that team. Like when you look at the Hawks now, and you’re not that far removed from them, obviously, and thanks for joining the show, by the way. Uh what do you see? You know, what do you when you watch Hawks, what do you see right now as an ex NHLer? Well, I think the biggest thing is uh you know, Blash went there as a coach. I think he’s implementing some systems that’s working for the team and um you know, all the young guys are making that next step. The older guys are have been teaching. I know when I was there, Feligno was there kind of leading the guys. He’s still there. I know he expects a lot out of everybody. And you know, it’s great. Benzy’s getting a ton of points, doing extremely well, but I think he’s playing a more complete game. And I I think that’s coaching. I think that’s uh evolving as a player. And I think that’s uh kind of growing up a little bit and um it’s really cool to see he’s a hardworking player, hardworking guy. So, it’s nice to see him get rewarded. Uh Bard was interesting to me when he was younger because it it seemed like it seemed like he really took losing personally. Like it seemed like losing was not a thing that a he was used to or b that he he wanted to have to deal with uh as a professional. What What was he like back back then? you know, when you were on the team, as far as his his his comportment in the in the locker room. Gosh, you’re trying to age me even more than I am. Um, you know, it was it was one of those things that uh we didn’t want to lose in Chicago. Trust me, it was a it was a really really tough time. My three years there was um very difficult with the way things were and uh you know we were always trying to be better always trying to do different things but you know we were kind of limited in the way that things were working and what we could do and I think it was a lot of frustration. I think Bezi came into the league thinking you know he’s going to turn the ship around and in the NHL that’s not really the case. You need a lot of good players on the team. You need good coaching. You need everyone to kind of follow suit. So I think uh it was difficult. I think he did a really good job though. I mean, I’ve never seen a player come into this league and have so much pressure on him from game one. I mean, his first NHL faceoff was against Sydney Crosby. I mean, that’s a that’s a pretty big ass from an 18year-old. So, he’s done a tremendous job in that. Um, you know, and like I said, it’s great to see Chicago back in the picture. They’re an NHL franchise that needs to be in the playoffs and so fun playing in that building with everything that goes on. So, it’s exciting. Okay. I’m glad you brought up that face off. Um I remember asking Crosby about it, the NHL players tour that year specifically, and he kind of shrugged it off a little bit. Oh, it’s just going to be another draw. I know. Um there was, you know, this as a vet, there was no way that Sydney Crosby was going to lose that face off. And the way that he won it, like that was like a laser beam. like it it it it leaves the referee’s hand and he wins it so clean and so hard. Like he probably could have scored on his own goalender the way he won that face off back. Like are you you sitting there as a as a veteran? Is everybody on the bench on the ice looking at that saying good luck kid cuz if there’s a faceoff that you know Sydney Crosby is going to win it’s going to be against Bard tonight. Is that how everyone was thinking? Like good luck. Good luck. Yeah, definitely. I mean, we knew going into the game that uh Crosby’s not going to let, you know, 18-year-old kid beat him. Um, he’s just so competitive and that’s just not sid. And I I think that’s what makes him great. But no, we we knew that was going to happen and I think that was kind of a welcome to the league moment, but at the same time, at least he got it on the very first second of his, you know, ice down. He didn’t have to wait any time for it. So, it was great. I wanted to you you’ve played with some really really good players in your career and I wanted to ask you about one that I’ve always been curious about which is your former triplets linemate Nikita Cooerov. Uh we get to see certain sides of Cooch. I have a feeling that you boys got to see other sides of Cooch. What what is the Nikita Cooer that fans media don’t get to see that either makes him such an endearing teammate or or or makes him the guy that’s this successful in this league? Yeah, I mean I I know what he does in the media. I know a lot of media members don’t really like him, but um you know that’s not Cooch. Cooch is a guy that he’s goofy. He’s fun to be around. He’s um you know he’s just got that weird quirky sense of humor that you know, you’re just around him and you laugh. So he’s he’s a guy he’s a tremendous teammate. He’s always going to do everything he possibly can for you and he works extremely hard. So when you see how hard a guy like that’s working, one of the best players in the league, it makes you even work that much harder and he expects that from you and um he just elevates the team, elevates every part of the uh team aspect and uh he’s just a great guy to have around. But like I said, he’s he’s quirky. He’s funny. He uh he doesn’t get that out in the media too much unless after we win a Stanley Cup. I was gonna say that’s the only time we get to see it is when he’s pounding Bud Lights in the in in the press conference room afterwards or maybe he’s on one of the boats. That’s the only time we get to see it. But, uh, I had a feel I had a feeling he’s he’s a bit more of a lighter lighter spirit behind the scenes than we get to see normally. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, he’s definitely a little bit more reserved around people he doesn’t know or, you know, if there’s a lot of people around, but once you get into that, you know, little group, your team or whatever, he he’s funny. He’s a hilarious guy. He’s he’s a really really good guy. You know, he’s the um we’ve talked about this before, like he’s the one guy that if you ask players like who do you want to watch? like who when you watch them like they do things that even as an NHLer they they blow your mind and cooar’s that guy once upon a time that guy was Marian Hosa and I would one of the the skills that Hosa always had is it was you know there’s the old saying you can’t give a great play to a bad pass I would watch guys throw horrible passes to Hosa he would never break stride he would gobble it up and and just continue on it was amazing throw in his feet doesn’t matter he he’ll deal with it throw it behind doesn’t matter he’ll deal about it. Hosa had like that skill. Never saw him flub a pass. Incredible. Is there something that players watch about Nikita Cooerov like one individual skill where you guys all say I can’t believe that he did that or how is he just so good at this? Like he’s the master of deception first of all, but like is there a skill that he has where you go I’ve seen a lot of players but I’ve never seen a guy do that? I mean, I’ve probably said that a thousand times in my career playing with him, but I I think he has so many different skills, but the one thing that he’s just so good at is he’s so cerebral. He knows every every single thing that’s going on the ice. Like we used to say, you could basically blindfold him and he can play an entire shift, be able to find you back door, be able to find you through Sims when he’s not even looking. I don’t know how he does it. Um, every once in a while I get one of those lucky passes through and but for him it’s not luck. He’s just got that skill. He’s got that talent to be able to do it. And then he has a confidence. And I I think that’s just such an amazing quality that he’s had since uh you know, his first year there. And I mean, I can’t tell you how many times I scored a goal where the puck just hit my stick. Didn’t even see it coming. It went through about five different people. Probably curved around something. I don’t even know how he does it, but he’s just got that amazing amazing knack of being able to find people in the right uh right spots, and he just gives you gifts all the time. I wanted to ask you an inside the locker room question because I don’t know the answer to this. We were just talking about it before. I don’t know if you saw the clip of JT Miller that’s been going around this week of him going straightlegged in the defensive zone for the Rangers against Vegas. It it it you know people have focused on it. They’re passing it around. Sean Avery did a breakdown of it on Instagram. You know, it’s a whole thing. I don’t want to ask you about JT in particular, but I was curious like when somebody gets called out for their play and it and it becomes a thing, you know, uh that exists outside the room, but it gets inside the room. What’s the reaction of the boys? Like, do you guys will go up to somebody and be like, “Hey, you know, this is [ __ ] You know, we know kind of player you are. Do you not talk about it?” Like, what what is the reaction when when one of you uh gets uh gets called out for for for their play? Well, I think it depends on the situation. I think it depends on the player. Um, is this something that’s happened a lot? Is it something that the coaches, the players have addressed already? I mean, a lot of these times before it actually gets out into the public, it’s something that, you know, the players have talked about. We have our own meetings. Uh, the coaches have been harped on. Um, you know, there’s so many times I I remember in the past that uh, you know, you do one thing wrong and Coupe might put it on a loop just through practice the entire day. You end up seeing it about 500 times while you’re getting dressed. So, I mean, it’s it’s just one of those things that you you kind of everyone knows what’s happening and um, you know, if you have that good team, the good teammates, a lot of guys come up to you and just say, “Hey, it’s pretty funny. Just don’t let it happen again.” You know, you almost make a joke out of it. But if it’s something that keeps happening, then that’s when you really have to address it. Um, that was a game against Vegas. Uh, there’s one player on Vegas that I that I that I always wondered about with you and Joel Faraby and most recently Brendan Dylan as well. Um, you you had ADR surgery um as opposed to like a a spinal fusion which a lot of other players have had. Listen, Jack Eel was the champion of that, right? And that was like a a rift between him and the Buffalo Sabres. Buffalo did obviously didn’t want to be the team that had the first ADR surgery in the in their room, even though NFLers Chris Weidman, MMA, all had it done, too. When um when Eichel was going through that and really dug in his heels about ADR versus um versus Fusion, um like how closely were you watching that? How closely was were other players looking at that and saying like this could affect me here. I I need to pay attention to how this is this is going to play itself out like essentially how much of a how much of a how much of a factor was Jack Eel in your decision to have ADR? Yeah. I mean when it was first happening with him I really wasn’t paying much attention to it just because I mean I didn’t have that problem. I didn’t need to have surgery at that point anyways. And um you know thankfully for me once he did it I think it was about a week before I even started looking into it. So it was relatively new. But uh we had the same agent. So uh we were able to connect. I was able to talk to him. He told me about all the research, everything that he’s gone through to figure out um just how confident he was in the surgery and what was going to happen. And then also my agent did a lot of research as well. So, uh, you know, once I heard all of that, it was a pretty much straightforward thing for me. I I knew I was going to have disc replacement. I knew I wasn’t going to do the fusion just based off, you know, previous um, injuries that other people had experienced and what they said, the problems with the fusion that they’ve had. So, I just kind of had to find uh, you know, the right doctor to be able to do that. I was able to go see a couple different guys, find someone that was really good um, and Dr. Bray there. And you know, once I got there, it just felt uh so normal. I’m so thankful that Jack was able to kind of go through it, kind of pioneer that, work hard to kind of allowing everyone to see that, you know, this is the best thing for us because I can tell you right now that uh you know, I’m I’m way better than what I was even before I had the surgery. I mean, I was dealing with those problems probably for about 5 years leading up to the point of surgery, but I didn’t realize exactly how bad it actually had gotten to until after I was able to get that surgery. And now I can do everyday activities. I never have to feel it. I never worry about it. It’s just an amazing amazing thing. And uh, you know, I’m really thankful that Jack did. I’m glad that more players are, you know, kind of going outside the box and seeing different things cuz you know, these surgeries are uh new every single day and uh you know, it’s going to help players down the road. Yeah. Imagine if Buffalo let him have the surgery. What could have been? Um I think before all this, but I don’t think it made it any better between him. I don’t think it made I don’t think it helped. I don’t think it helped. Didn’t help him. Didn’t I want I wanted to ask you about another former teammate of yours, which is Steven Samos. I mean, there’s been so much discussion about what his future might look like with the way that Nashville has has gotten off the blocks early as a team, but Stammer in particular, I mean, this is a guy who’s been one of the best goal scorers of the last 30 years, doesn’t seem to be putting the puck in the net with as much frequency as in the past. From from your vantage point, what what do you think about Stammer post post Lightning and and just where he is right now in his career? Yeah, I mean, Stammer is a guy that works extremely hard. He’s such a good teammate. He’s a good leader. He’s a guy that I would want on my team. And let’s be honest, you don’t just lose your goal scoring ability. He He can still shoot the puck. He can score some goals. So, I know he’s going through a tough stretch right now. I think a lot of guys in Nashville are. I know that uh what was it last year they signed all those guys expecting big things and obviously it hasn’t really turned out that way. But, I mean, that’s just the NHL. Sometimes chemistry clicks, sometimes it doesn’t. Um, I haven’t talked to Stammer as far as, you know, if he’s wanting to stay there or move or whatever he wants to do, but I know that, uh, wherever Stammer’s at, it’s a team that, uh, you know, desperately going to need him. That’s he’s a guy that every one of the team every one of the teams in the NHL should have on my roster. Do you want to text him now so we can break the news whether he wants to stay in? We get some breaking news. He wants to go to Montreal, boys. No. Um, but before you before you came on, um, we were sort of sort of running through a couple of highlight moments from your career. Um, man, and I know it was like a it’s a bad dump in by Thomas Panets and it bounces off patch ready and there’s 5 seconds left. Tampa Bay, Montreal, game three, 2015. Palot with an easy zone entry. Oh, I think it was over to Hedman and then Heedman fed it to you with one second left in what’s one of the biggest goals of your career. Uh, did you know that at at that moment when it went in, because it goes in and the buzzer goes like almost at the exact same time, did you know for sure that it was a goal? And in your mind, was that the biggest goal you ever scored? Well, you know what’s actually really funny about this goal is when I scored it, I didn’t know that we were even down to the last 10 seconds or anything like that. I thought there was minutes on the clock. I had no idea. So, that was probably a dumb move by me. So, I I thought it was a goal no matter what. But, um I was uh I was pretty thankful once we kind of figured out. I was like, “Oh, shoot. That really was that close.” So, um yeah. No, it was definitely one of the biggest goals. I I think if I really had to look back, I think uh probably one of the bigger ones in my mind was against Detroit in that OT game because if we would have lost that game, we would have been down in the series. Uh and then we got swept the year before. So people were already a little upset from everything and then going into that, who knows if we would have lost that series if we would have traded a bunch of guys trying to get different things. And you know, if that would have happened, I think my career, everyone’s career would have been a lot different. So pretty thankful that we’re able to get that win and get the playoff series there and just keep on rolling, you know. Mark, I’m sorry. Jump in real quick on on on that sweep uh because that was like one of the most stunning things of this generation. Um, every everybody was was shocked and there was, you know, I can still recall like there were the rumors of, you know, Cooer off for Dry Cidle and Edmonton and Tampa are talking and they’ve had it and and it nothing happened, right? Like they it’s it’s a tough pill to swallow, but it was essentially come back with the same team. What did you guys think was going to happen in the summer? Because I’m sure you heard all the same rumors that that that we all did, too. What did you think was going to happen that off season after that Columbus series? Yeah, so I I think what was a really good thing about um you know, Steve and Julian is they pretty much just told us that nothing was going to happen and kind of squashed all the rumors to us right away, so we didn’t have to worry about it. But uh we knew we were going to have to be better. I mean, I we had such an unbelievable season, but going into that playoffs, we knew that we weren’t playing our best hockey. And if you were to ask Coupe, he was uh pretty upset with us for a big majority of that. We just weren’t playing team defense. We weren’t playingoff hockey. And you know that year Columbus, they start stacking up right for the playoffs. They’re playing life or death hockey since you know the uh trade deadline. So, it was kind of a big difference for us was that we were coasting and they were already playing that playoff hockey and unfortunately it took us too long to figure it out and um you know it was a big lesson for us to learn and uh the next couple years we really focused on the fact that you know what we have to focus on our team defense. We got to focus on the way we play. We don’t care about points. We’re not trying to get 150 points. We’re not trying to break records. What we’re trying to do is play the best hockey possible coming in the playoffs. Yeah. Um, last one and thanks for your time. I hope we we figured out the audio thing because this has been great. Um, your first year was 2012 2013 and it’s kind of crazy to think about what hockey looked like then and what hockey looks like now because in the span of just over a decade, man, it a lot’s changed. What from your vantage point, what do you think is is the most different thing now about the game than when you came up with the lightning? Oh, it’s 100% speed. Um, I remember coming in to the league, you’d have, you know, two lines, maybe three lines that can skate, uh, you know, top four D man that can skate, but then after that it got, you know, a little bit slower. And, uh, nowadays, if you’re on the roster, you can fly. I mean, every single player. And that just makes it so difficult because you can’t clutch and grab anymore. I mean, I remember one of my first uh practices up in Tampa, we had Eric Brewer, who’s an awesome awesome guy, but he just basically made me like go skiing all the way down the ice just because that was the rules back then a little bit, right? Uh so, I mean, it’s it’s definitely different. Uh you need to have that speed, you need to have that team speed, and uh I think it’s made the game a lot more interesting, a lot more fun to watch, and you know, it was uh it was really fun to play, especially being a smaller guy. Okay, let me let me let me ask one last last quick one. As um I believe the term is fresh meat or new meat, when you decided to call it a career, how many of your buddies beer league teams called you to be a ringer? How many? Uh actually, actually not too many. I I think the one big one is uh back home in Spokane, they have a thing called the classic and it’s like 64 teams and I think they bring in about 300 kegs. So, they’re trying to get me to play in that tournament, but I I don’t know if I can do that. I I played in it once when I was like 14 years old just trying to, you know, play some hockey and it just it’s not my kind of hockey. Listen, it’s great to have you on the on the evil side of the uh of the equator now. Uh, listen, congrats on on on a wonderful career. Man, were you fun to watch. And I go back to your Memorial Cup in in in Kitchener and even that World Junior in 2010 and Norfolk and Tampa and Chicago. All of it. Like just a delightful career. Really well done. Um, thanks for doing this. Hope to do it again soon. Thanks, guys. Yeah, anytime you want me. Always available now. There’s not too much going on. Thanks, bud. Just be like us. Just watch hockey games every night. What do you do for a living? I watch hockey games and I talk about them. You’ll be good. Yeah, it’s beat’s working, bud. Beat’s working. Thanks, B. You’ll be good. Yeah. All right. Love it, guys. Thank you. There’s Tyler Jackson, former NHLer. Yeah, the fresh meat phenomenon is is always a fun one. Say, “Hey, do you hear who retired? Think we can get him? We’re like a D division beer league. He’s not if he’s going to play anything, he’s going to play top division.” Oh my. It’s kind of funny think about like when he came into the league, he was probably I mean, he was considered undersized. I mean, that’s that’s shifted, I think. And then we were like we were talking about before that the the reason he was no longer with the Lightning was because of he was a cap casualty much like you know Blake Blake Coleman was and Bartley Gudro was like all those grunts that they had on the lineup they had to clear him out so they can sign the the tippy top guys and that’s changed because now everybody just resigns Adam Lowry add him to the list his stuff is there like no one’s leaving there’s no reason to cut anybody anymore because the cap is so damn high. So, it’s kind of kind a sc few years after Tyler Johnson was basically evicted from Tampa Bay because he made too much money. Uh, now now nobody nobody has to be traded. Nobody nobody leaves. Everybody every everybody now is just protecting their assets. Like that that’s all of it. Like there’s room now to just making sure that nobody leaves. Like that that’s that that that’s what it is. This is just like accumulating jewels. That’s just put put as put as you know grab grab as many jewels, grab as many coins as you can, stuff them in a bag and say like we’re not let these guys. But it’s also the the known versus the unknown. I mean, let’s be honest. I mean, most of these teams, even if they’re like 80% happy with a guy and they believe the grass could be greener elsewhere, 80% is still pretty happy. And and you know, if they have the financial wherewithal to keep them and not have to go find a replacement for for, you know, guys in their bottom six, for example, they’re just going to keep the guys they have. Not untrue. Not untrue. Uh, all right. We got to get hustling here. Um, Greg, what do you have available for us? uh at the moment ATM. Dude, I’ve I’ve written a lot of stuff on ESPN the last couple days, man. Yeah, yesterday was the uh NHL bubble watch in which we used stats to give us the playoff probabilities for all 32 teams. Uh and that was really interesting in the sense of trying there are teams that are very high in the standings that underneath the hood the analytics don’t speak to them being playoff teams. Looking at you, Chicago. Uh, and then today was a really fun exercise that we do around about this time of year every year, which is I go back to my 32 bold predictions for each team before the season, and I give a confidence rating as to how confident I am that I that they will come to pass now that we’re a quarter into the season. Now, that does mean that some of the predictions have finality to them. For example, Merrick, I regret to inform you that I don’t believe Jack Hughes will play 82 games this year. That prediction ended up being bold as it was incorrect. That being said, your boy did predict, not only would Kyle Connor resign with the Winnipeg Jets, Kyle Connor would resign with the Winnipeg Jets for Mitch Mner money. And by God to the penny, that man resigned for Mitch Martner money. So, a tomahawk slam dunk from the foul line on the Connor prediction. A giant steaming pile of dung with a Jack Hughes prediction. who I didn’t know he was going to go to a steakhouse in Chicago. Uh but you can go and read the rest of the bold predictions and what I’ve gotten right and gotten wrong and and where they’re all trending uh on ESPN right now. No more steakous, no more barbecues for NHS. Bubble wrap your boys when they get off the ice. If only there was a common denominator between a steakhouse and a barbecue. What What do you find there? Obviously just meat. Meat is the thing that you you find in both. Nothing else that would be common between a steak house. Come over to the green side. Keep it nice and safe. Come on over to the green side here with your boy and eat boring for the rest of your life like me. Um, you’ll be good. We’ll talk on Tuesday, soldier. Bye. Greg from ESPN and ESPN.com. I got to hustle to wrap up the program today because I got a flight to catch. Uh, stat of the day is a presentation of Uber Eatats and Zach has a good one. Uh Uber Eatats is enabling fans to maximize their fandom all season long with exclusive game day deals on the app. From game day eats to paper plates and napkins if you’re hosting to all the ingredients you need to make your favorite game day dip. Before, during, and after the game, Uber Eats is assisting every hockey fans experience all season long and making better parents out of me and maybe you as well. Uh Zach, how are you today, buddy? What do you got for us? Uh I’m good. I’ve got one here today for us. Uh, this one dates back a while. This one goes to 1934 on November 20th. Busher Jackson. If nothing else in the stat or anything, the name is pretty unreal. Busher Jackson. That comes from an insult. That comes from an insult cuz he was too much of a primadana to help the trainer pick up sticks. So, the premer said, “You’re such the trainer said, “You’re such a busher. I have no idea what a busher is.” Or we got a nickname. Actually, true story. Uh, it’s like the hoser. poser where it’s like what the hell does that mean? It’s actually pretty good. I like it. But uh Busher Jackson of the Toronto Maple Leafs scored four goals in a single period. It was in the third period in a 52 win over the St. Louis Eagles. Second time in I think three weeks here the St. Louis Eagles being brought up. He was the first player in NHL history to achieve that accomplishment of four goals in a single period. Uh so he was on the kid line with Charlie Kiker and Joe Primo. one of the best lines in the the early days of uh of the NHL. First thing, a thought on the St. Louis Eagles as you mentioned this, they’ve come up a couple of times. So, uh the St. Louis Eagles have their origins with the Ottawa Senators. That’s where that organization moved and after which it was mothball, although there was some talk, we talked a lot about Ohio today about moving them to Cleveland. That didn’t go anywhere. There was talk about taking them back to Ottawa. That didn’t go anywhere either. And just so listen, it’s a it’s a matter of NHL history. Um that rink, the old St. Louis Arena where the Eagles played for one season was the only, to my knowledge, and I hope I’m not incorrect on this because I’d hate for there to be two. That was the only racially segregated arena in NHL history. Eagles were only there for one year, but the St. those blues had the only racially segregated rink in the NHL. Here’s the thing you got to know about Busher Jackson. Busher Jackson partied hard. Busher Jackson off the ice lived really really hard. And that’s why he essentially passed away in squalor. He uh he lived hard, he drank hard, all of it to the point where I mean, listen, he was one of the best players in the NHL and for a significant amount of time, too. But bluntly, he drank it all away. And he spent all of his money on booze. And teammates, fans, like everybody tried to encourage him to stick money away. Like, save it for a rainy day. Save it for your future. Hockey is not going to last. How many times have you heard me say this one, Zach? Hockey will never love you back. Stick money away. got like so bad that Khan Smite, the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, offered to match dollar for dollar anything that Busher saved and he still said no and he still just continued to party his face off. That was unfortunately the sad story about Harvey Busher Jackson who in his day to your point earlier Zach was just one of the best players in the NHL on probably the best line in the NHL with Coner and Primo the kid line for your Toronto Maple Leafs. So essentially what I’m saying is Busher Jackson, although he was a better skilled player than Derrick Sanderson, he was the original Derek Sanderson, who essentially did the exact same thing in the 70s off the ice, to which Busher Jackson did off the ice in the 30s. Essentially, it’s a long-winded way of me saying the guy partied and partied. That was Busher Jack. Uh we’re going to finish up with uh with you again, Zacharoo. Uh the sheet is powered by FanDuel. Play your game with FanDuel. The PWHL finally returns this Friday, November 21st, and FanDuel is your home for all the action on the ice until the Walter Cup is lifted. Minnesota’s in action, by the way. Speaking of which, against Toronto, uh Seattle faces off against Vancouver. From Blue Line to Betslip, FanDuel has you covered with PWHL feature markets, game and player props, same game parlays, live betting, and novelties. Download the FanDuel sports book today and play your game. Please play responsibly, 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact Ontario at 1866531-2600 to speak to an adviser free of charge. What are we wrapping up with today, Zach? So, as you just said there, uh PWHL is back and I just wanted to highlight this over on FanDuel right now. Um, obviously games return tomorrow and then continue on throughout the weekend. So, FanDuel’s got odds listed for those games. You can see uh the games for Friday night here up on screen as of right now. Uh, Toronto at Minnesota plus 108 for the Scepters minus 130 there for Minnesota. Seattle and Vancouver showdown. Uh, in Vancouver, Vancouver favored minus 128. Seattle plus 106. Uh, but it’s not just the games that are listed as well. I wanted to bring attention to some other stuff there, Jeff. Uh, you can bet on the MVP as of right now, the defender of the year, the goalender of the year, the forward of the year. They have all different markets listed. They have Olympic stuff. It’s all up there for women’s hockey. So, if you want to get involved that way, FanDuel is the place to do it. We might see an expansion team win the Walter Cup. Like, Vancouver’s stack, dude. Well, you and I talked about it the day they announced it. The two favorite teams was uh to win this year was Vancouver and Seattle. Like the day they were announced the who was on the team. You thought the Vegas expansion draft was kind to the expansion team. Look the PWHL just did. They may have handed their ultimate trophy to an expansion team. We’ll see. A lot of hockey obviously and glad to see it get underway. Uh tomorrow we’ll do more coverage as the uh the games continue and then we’ll uh cover both the women’s and the men’s side as it relates to the Olympics when that gets closer and closer. Great stuff, Zach. Um, all right. I got to hustle. Uh, thanks so much for joining me here today. I know we had the day off yesterday. Uh, was a busy one for your boy trying to sort out paperwork. I had a paperwork day yesterday. Um, so thanks for hanging in there and coming back today. We’re back on the air tomorrow at 1:00 as well, 1:00 Eastern here at our Daily Face Off YouTube channel. So, uh, from the Monumental Studios in downtown Washington, uh, bidding you good afternoon. Thanks to Tyler Johnson for stopping by. Thanks to Greg Washinsky for stopping by as well. Thanks to you for listening. Thanks to you for watching. Thanks to you for uh paying attention, even if it’s only for a couple of moments. I understand that I cannot be consistently interesting for that long. Uh but thanks for hanging in there. Uh please subscribe to our Daily Face Off YouTube channel. Uh subscribe to our offerings on audio, on video, and all of it. We will join you again tomorrow 1:00 Eastern for the sheet. We’ll talk to you then. Jeff Merrick along with you. Hope you enjoyed the program today. if you did, or maybe even if you didn’t, they can’t all be gems, folks. Uh, please hit the subscribe button. Also, a reminder, every morning, 9:00 a.m. Eastern, Johnny Lazarus, Colobby Cohen, I call them the impact players. You might know them as a tandem that makes up the Morning Cup of Hockey. Also, DFO Live at noon Eastern this year, your host, Tyler Yurmchuk, alongside Carter Hutton. Full days worth of programming right here on Daily Face Off, your favorite YouTube hockey channel. And as a reminder as well, Zach Phillips, our producer here for The Sheet, said if you subscribe, he’ll buy you a puppy. It’s true.

Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski deliver a packed episode of The Sheet, starting with the wild week around the New York Rangers and the viral J.T. Miller clip that had the hockey world talking. They dig into the Rangers’ captaincy dynamics, the fallout from Sean Avery’s breakdown, and whether this roster shakeup traces back to Chris Drury’s decisions. The guys also get into the Columbus Blue Jackets becoming a national talking point after Bill Simmons called them “the most irrelevant team in sports,” before comparing Blue Jackets history, the cannon, and whether casual fans underrate the franchise. From there, they break down the ongoing Edmonton Oilers crisis — Ryan Leonard beating Evan Bouchard wide, Stuart Skinner freezing on a backhand, and why the entire team feels stuck waiting for McDavid and Draisaitl to bail them out. They move into the goaltending future of the Western Conference, touching on Dustin Wolf, Spencer Knight, Askarov, Dostal and the next era of elite NHL netminders.

At 1:30 ET, Tyler Johnson joins the show to talk about Bedard’s growth in Chicago, how Jeff Blashill has changed the Hawks’ structure, and what it’s like watching young players handle losing. Johnson also breaks down Nikita Kucherov’s real personality behind the scenes, the truth behind his elite hockey IQ, how the ADR neck surgery changed his life, and why Jack Eichel paved the way for other players to avoid fusion. He reflects on his biggest goals with Tampa Bay, the infamous sweep against Columbus, Tampa’s need to evolve defensively, and shares insight on Steven Stamkos’ transition to Nashville. A full episode loaded with stories, deep-cut analysis, and candid conversations from two of the best minds in hockey.

Chapters:
00:00 – Opening / Wyshynski on Caps days & Ovechkin era
04:58 – What’s coming up on today’s show
05:20 – Rangers, J.T. Miller clip & captaincy fallout
07:20 – Avery breakdown, accountability & leadership
09:40 – Was the Miller trade bad for both teams?
10:48 – Rangers room dynamics & Drury decisions
15:50 – Bill Simmons calls Blue Jackets “irrelevant”
17:12 – Are the Blue Jackets actually irrelevant?
20:20 – Which NHL teams casual fans forget exist
24:15 – How teams can lean into being “irrelevant”
25:06 – Oilers vs. Caps breakdown
25:48 – Leonard beats Bouchard / Skinner freezes
27:07 – Oilers waiting for McDavid & Draisaitl
28:38 – Bouchard’s defensive issues
29:48 – Goaltending vs. blue line blame
30:48 – Hypothetical: Dougie Hamilton for Darnell Nurse?
32:12 – Tyler Johnson joins the show
33:11 – Blackhawks improvement & Bedard’s evolution
40:02 – Bedard’s mentality & handling losing
43:46 – Kucherov stories & what fans don’t see
46:15 – Kucherov’s unbelievable vision and deception
47:40 – How players react to viral criticism in the room
49:20 – ADR surgery vs fusion & Jack Eichel influence
52:27 – Steven Stamkos in Nashville
54:00 – Johnson’s biggest career goals
57:16 – How the NHL has changed since 2013

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