NHL Teams Falling Off, Preds Turmoil & Canucks Rumors ft. Greg Wyshynski | The Sheet with Jeff Marek

NHL Teams Falling Off, Preds Turmoil & Canucks Rumors ft. Greg Wyshynski | The Sheet with Jeff Marek

[Music] Okay, first of all, apologies for my voice. It started Greg at the end of yesterday’s show and then I had a a spot to read for one of our sponsors and by the end of it fried as come back. See the thing is I don’t know if I’m sick or I’m just losing my voice cuz I don’t feel sick even though I couldn’t sleep last night. I’ve been up since about 2:30 3:00. Haven’t gone back to bed. So it’s going to be a tough one for your boy today. I don’t feel I don’t feel sick but I have lost my voice before. You you’ve got yourself a verbose co-host today as per usual. Uh I’ll be in fine form because it is American Thanksgiving uh this Thursday. So no MVSW uh twice a week, just once a week. Uh I will be discussing American Thanksgiving later in the program for those who want to stay tuned. It’s very exciting. I’m interested. Um little Willie Styles by the way saying Jeff going through puberty again on the chat. So not yet Willie. Soon though. One of these days. You know, whenever I hear you with a froggy voice, you know, you know which broadcaster I think of, and I don’t know if this is anybody in Canada even knows who this cat is. Who’s that? Scott Farel. Yeah, Scotty Farel. I know. I used to go on I used to go on Scotty’s show all the time. So, Scotty Farel, for those that don’t know, Scotty Farrell’s got a great hockey side to him. So, Scotty Farrell was a radio play-by-play voice of the Atlanta Thrashers. And do you know the story? He got in trouble for making up plays. No, I tell this story because I I honestly don’t know this story. I just know I just know I just know the short strokes of it that I’m trying to think. Was Billy Jaffy his color commentator with the Thrashers? You know what, Ben Wright? Ben Wright, if you’re listening, Ben was like the uh the the social media uh manager of the Atlanta Thrashers and listens to the program. If you’re listening right now, text me, Ben, and let me let me know. Was Billy Jaffy the color analyst? But um Scotty Farel was as my voice leaves me was the play radio playbyplay voice of the Atlanta Thrashers and I believe like when he was bored he just made up plays. No one no one could see it. So like what the hell gives the pack to passes all the way back to lightning. I used to go on his I I used to go on his um Sirius XM show all the time. I love going on with Scotty. Yeah. For those that like Scotty Frill was like a was shake it up was a syndicated uh sports talk radio host in the states but maybe maybe you guys heard him in Canada too. Um a lot of I think overnights was a was big time that’s when I would listen to him. Yeah. Between him and Art Bell I would bounce back and forth and when I was I’ve always been a huge radio geek. So Art Bell and Scotty Fel. Those are my two. What was the year John Carlson beat the Canadians and World Juniors? You remember that year? You probably that never that never happened in let’s say hypothetically your third I think that was that the year that I was in Saskatoon I think okay the year that was whatever year it was it’s it was my favorite uh guest spot I ever did on Fel’s show. I remember I was in my basement on my phone talking to Scott Fel. We’re just chatting about the league. What do you think about the thrashes? What do you think about the do you think the Oilers think Ryan Smith’s going to help? And um and he was he was watching the World Junior game. Yeah. And then uh we were just chatting and in the middle of my answer I just remember Scott Frell going we got him Johnny Carlson and then he starts going you Canada. Yay Canada 2010. I’m not and but I I just I just did a Google search. I just did a Google search for it. 2010. I’m not going to watch the video again. I just got my hate on for giving up twoon ones and and Martin Jones. Picture picture picture me in a basement standing next to a stone fireplace on a cell phone with with the phone out here listening to Scott Frell just scream about Canadian junior hockey for the better part of 25 minutes. It felt like tremendous. That’s that’s that’s lovely. Hey, you’ve heard me um you’ve heard me go on before about how I think Adam Foot belongs in the Hall of Fame because one of the places in the Hall of Fame where they always fall down, well, two places, goalenders and defensive defenseman. They’re cleaning up the goalie category now in the hall. Uh defensive defenseman not so much even though they put Kevin Loen a few years ago. Um I want to change why I want Adam Foot in the Hall of Fame. And I don’t know what the category maybe builder. Uh maybe if one day they have a podcast wing in the hockey hall of fame. I want him in for giving us the best name for a potential hockey podcast out there to the point where I want to rebrand this entire outfit. Cigarettes and cashews. Cigarettes and cashews. My friend down goes Brown said that that would have been a Kucks blog within five minutes of that quote hitting the internet. And that is absolutely true because back in the day, uh boy, we needed more Kucks blogs, didn’t we? Um, it was an epic quote. It it it a it asks some questions that I don’t think have been answered sufficiently for me yet, which is that was he referencing Russian content farms and saying that they are responsible for the majority of hockey analytics? Was he referencing Dimmitri Filipovich who sounds Russian and assuming that he is in the basement and and developing hockey analytics? But more important, Demet hang on. Pause on that. Dimmitri worked for Calgary. Yeah, I think so. Upon time, right? It was the Flames. It wasn’t the Conucks. It was the Flames. Correct. Yeah. Okay. I I think you might be right on that. I’m not I’m not positive. And then the last thing and and here here’s here’s a little thing about Greg. I have never smoked a cigarette in my life. I I have not smoked a cigarette in my life because my my parents smoked when I was growing up, right? and I saw their absolute struggle with quitting and and the hold it had on their lives and the damage it did to their bodies. Does Greg smoke cigars at least twice a month? Maybe three times, maybe four times. Of course he does. Does this seem hypocritical? Probably because I feel like a cigar is like 25 cigarettes rubber banded together and then you smoke it. Um, all of this preamble leads me to my point, which is that I have never had cashews whilst smoking tobacco. And I one want to know where the combination came from, and two, want to know if I’m missing out. Am I missing out? Oh, does cashews do cashews enhance the tobacco flavor? Do tobacco does tobacco enhance the cashew flavor? Is it like a wine pairing? And I’m just not hip to it because I don’t live in Adam foot’s social circles. I don’t know. You know what’s really good? Like cashew eyes wise, speaking as the vegan of the combination here, cashew milk. Cashew cheese. Cashew cheese is amazing. It’s almost identical without all the dairy stuff. It’s fantastic. But it was such a But you’re right. Like it’s such a weird combination. Like is he thinking like Russianbot farm implying that analytics are some like conspiracy fueled by Russian propaganda in order to uh to influence the young hockey minds but are completely fraudulent to deceive coaches and general managers into making bad. Zach on the digital show wrote right now asking are cashews and cigarettes an underrated pairing. I I think honestly it’s a great question and we need Adam to answer it. Uh his whole rant was obviously the 90th variation of an anti-analytics rant for a team that uh obviously has has bigger fish to fry. So here’s my theory on uh on Jim Rutherford or whomever Patrick Alvi, whoever sending out a memo to all the other teams about the Vancouver Conucks listening on their veterans. My theory is this. Jim Rutherford woke up yesterday morning. He saw the story on The Athletic about it being the one-year anniversary of Chris Drury sending a memo around the league saying that players like Jacob Trouba and Chris Crowder were available. And Jim Rutherford said, “Uh, draft me a fax. I’ve got to tell the folks I’ve got a great idea on how to motivate the team. I got I got I got to get me some of that. That’s worked out so great for the Rangers. I got to I got to hop in that pool. Not the shallow end either. I’m going off the deep I’m going in the deep end. Not the 3 meter spring. I’m going way up to the top there. That’s how I’m diving in. We can get to that out in a second. But like I I think transparently this is a motivating factor. I think the fact that the language was specific to listening on veterans rather than shopping veterans, rather than negotiating with the agents of veterans, I think is a telltale sign that this is one of those uh let’s start having them having having some people freak out about trying to tell their families they might have to move across the the the continent. I I don’t think I mean I think it could probably get to that point, but more to the point though, Merrick, like it’s really hard to take this seriously when there is so much trade protection on this roster right now that the only people to be nervous I think are like what Evander Kane and Kefir Sherwood at this point. Hang on, hang on. I I I have a thought on this one. Please, but I want to get to the opening here. I’m going to I’m going to let you know where my I was It’s funny. I was going to mention this on the show yesterday. but we didn’t get to it. So, I’m going to mention it today with you where there will probably be fertile ground. So, the blueprint is powered by FanDuel. Download the app today and play your game on FanDuel. Coming up on the program, he’s already here just having a sip of a tin right now. Um is Greg Washinsky from ESPN and ESPN.com. Joins us every Tuesday and Thursday, but not this week, but he going to be stuffing himself for US Thanksgiving, or as he calls it, state side, Thanksgiving. We’ll talk about the Nashville Predators, Greg writing extensively about them at ESPN.com and Barry Trots. Glad Greg by the way that you asked about him coaching. Uh we’ll talk about the Vancouver Conucks a little bit more coming up after I start stop rambling here. Uh teams falling off. We already did a little bit on weird interviews. More of that coming up. I do want to talk about if we get a chance to reminisce about um who was it? Mark Borvietky’s interview with Eugene Melnik, which as far as cringe goes. Maybe the cringiest thing I may have ever seen in hockey. And thanks thanksgiving trivia. This is what you’re bringing today. You’re bringing tea giving trivia. All right. For those who do like a good game show Friday, uh there is going to be a little bit of a quiz for for Mr. Merrick. I’ll I’ll handle the quiz master duties cuz we have to preserve those golden pipes. But uh but yeah, Merrick will be answering some American Thanksgiving questions. Uh folks, with a hockey twist. With a hockey twist. Okay, so back to my thought on Vancouver and what and what they’re doing now. Okay. Uh, a lot of this is always a sort of semantic dance of we’re not trying to trade these players, but we’ll always listen. Teams will always say that because they don’t want other teams to know they’re shopping players. But what do you think happens in these conversations with general managers? Just one side listens and doesn’t play along and doesn’t, you know, advance conversations. Okay. Um, here’s what I I I I wonder about this because I first started hearing about this on the weekend and if it cuz your I think your point is the right one about trade protection all up and down the Vancouver Conucks lineup. What it again, I’m not reporting this. I’m saying it feels this way to your boy Jeffy. It feels like he’s trying to figure out or him and Patrick Alvine are trying to figure out where he can get the most either from someone like Connor Garland, Evander Kane or Kefir Sherwood. Now Kane is on an expiring contract. Sherwood’s on an expiring contract. Sherwood’s been a darling to kick off the season. And everybody with playoff aspirations looks at him and says, “Man, we need a guy like that for the postseason.” and Connor Garland. Yeah. And Connor Garland’s got uh six years. Um that starts next even started yet at But the thing is his no trade protection doesn’t kick in until July 1st. So if you’re going to do something into the Vancouver Conucks, do it now. And like teams do this all the time. Like okay, I need to know what the marketplace is for these players. Like this isn’t shocking news. This isn’t like some re revelation. Teams do this all the time. There comes a certain point in in the season where they say, “Okay, I need to know what’s out there. I need to know what I can get if I pull the trigger on this player, that player, or a combination of these players.” I think that’s all Vancouver’s doing. But team Buts don’t even have to do this. They just get called. You think Craig Conroy needed to to send a fax to the other general managers to let him know that uh he’ll accept calls to see how much he can get for Raspus Anderson? like like like obviously if a team is struggling, other GMs are going to try to circle the the vultures like they did in in in Nashville already to see if they can pry something away. Okay. Well, but but hold on, Merrick. What makes this ridiculous is like you said, um Person, no move clause. De Brusk, no move clause. Ronic, no move clause. And they said they’re not looking to trade him to when Elliot did his report last night. Marcus Person, no move clause. Tyler Meyers, no move clause. Um, uh, Evander Kane stinks. Uh, Kefir Sherwood is is is shooting 28% this season. Do you really think that there’s going to be a gigantic market for someone who is not on the cliff of regression at any point? When when it when it comes to Sherwood, the goals are the bonus. Teams just love the way this guy plays. Like, no one’s saying like, “Oh, wow. this guy’s got this guy’s going to like he’s going to turn into Yari Curry in the playoffs. So, no one’s saying that about Kefir Sherard. What they’re saying is we need that style of player in the postseason regardless of the goals. What is trading that veteran do for you other than save you some money on his next contract assuming that you want to bring him back? My point is that J like like Brock B 7.25 25 million for the next what seven or eight years or seven years. If anyone wanted him, they would have signed him or tried to sign him in the offseason. He wanted to stay in Vancouver, fine. Who’s going to take on that contract? Connor Garland, like you said, isn’t even on his new contract yet. Like, they’re in such a they’re in such a pickle right now. Like, you can go out and announce to the league, come trade for our veterans. How many of these guys actually can move? How many of these guys will move with the contracts you’ve given them? the the the thing about Okay, I’m I’m glad you brought up the point about teams calling because yes, that happens, but it’s not all general managers that talk to every other general manager every day. There are some and I’m going to I’ll bring up a name. I just had this conversation with someone on the weekend because on Friday’s show I was talking to Dave Penod and we were talking about the Ottawa senators and I got a text from someone who is in a position to know. Let’s use it that way. In a position to know who said, “Here’s the thing you need to know about Steveos. He calls managers relentlessly, even about things that he might not even be interested in, but just to get the lay of the land because you never know what you can get. Stoos is really aggressive. And also, and not all guys like this, Steve Stos loves the grind. Not every, but not every general manager loves that grind. And don’t you just think, oh, just make it a phone call. These phone calls are uh complicated and interesting and at times uh angry and confrontational. Stoos loves that. Like if you’re an Ottawa Senators fan, you should know this. You have a GM that’s really aggressive, that’s in on a lot of conversations and loves grinding other general managers and maybe even sometimes over things that eh he’s not really interested in. But you never know what can fall into your lap. But there aren’t 32 general managers like that. There’s a lot of managers that’ll just check in and go like, “Hey, you know what? Just keep me in mind. Hey, you know what? Just yeah, if something happens, like, hey, circle back here.” Because you don’t want you don’t want to be in a situation where like when the Boston Bruins were trading Joe Thornton and the deal was consummated with the San Jose Sharks and all of a sudden all these other managers were calling Michael Connell and saying, “We would have given you more. What are you What are you doing? Why did you narrow this?” Like I remember Keenan telling me like the the the deal that they were working on was Lango for Thornton one for one. And then at the end of the day, the Florida Panthers owner Alan Cohen said, “We’re not taking any money back.” And all of a sudden, what could have completely changed the course of history, Joe Thornton goes to the Florida Panthers and Roberto Lewango ends up a member of the Boston Bruins. Therefore, we never get our Tim Thomas versus Roberto Lwango pumping tires line. Goes goes by the wayside. But not every manager is like that. That’s why I think like putting things like that out it can it can bring more bring more GMs under the tent to make phone calls who otherwise might might not. I do I do understand it. Sure. That’s fine. But I mean like bringing bring us back to the reality of of the Canucks roster. It’s it’s great to say that your veterans are available. That’s another thing that to to to actually get trades on the table for some of these guys where one they’re going to wave for them and two uh the value coming back is commiserate to the player leaving wherein you know look maybe there’s somebody out there that sees Connor Garland on one year and then four others at or with five others at 6 million and says that is the deal of the century. I’m glad he’s locked up. Bring him on. But I I also think there’s a lot of managers that are just like I’d rather not be locked into a player I didn’t even sign. You know, so I I think this this roster is fraught with problems, obviously looking at their record. Yeah, totally. But it’s also fraugh it’s also fraught with contractual obligations to players that the Canucks have put on these guys by bringing them back and and and agreeing to conditions that makes the majority of this like 80% of this roster untradeable. Does it not the and the other sidebar to all of this by making it known that veterans are available, does that not just sort of usher in or speed up or accelerate a Quinn Hughes move? Like if you’re Quinn Hughes and you’re saying, “Oh, and and and you’re going to and you’re going to get rid of all the the vets around here.” Thanks for making this easy or making this easier unless the decision’s already been made and it just hasn’t been public. Well, I just I just don’t think they’re going to ever rebuild. I mean, I just don’t I think they’re going to try to retool and retool and retool and I agree with that and go and go with with the younger guys and try to sell Quinn on the idea that he’s he’s the franchise pillar of a of a of a team that’s pivoting into something different and something better and they’re going to throw a ton of money at him and hope that he stays like but but at the same time like if I don’t think that they have the assets to do anything dramatic to really change the course of the franchise that doesn’t involve trading Quinn Hughes because that would change the course of the franchise. the bounty you’d get back for him could be the foundation for the next phase of this team, right? And it starts it start it starts with Simon Neb. I mean, it does talking about the Devils. I mean, I I was I was I was texting I was texting I was I was messaging back and forth on Twitter with somebody this morning who was like, “Wouldn’t it make the most sense for Quinn Hughes to get traded to Detroit?” I’m like, “Yeah, it would.” And and every Devil’s fan’s nightmare right now is that he goes to Detroit, Jack leaves in 2030, and then and they need to trade for Luke, and now all the Hughes boys are where they want to be, which is in Michigan. In Michigan where they live. Yeah, exactly. So that sucks. Don’t trade him to Detroit. But that’s the But listen, I mean, that’s the team that missed out on him on the draft, taking Zadena over him. Now the Vancouver Canucks and then Jack’s closer to Canada where Tate McCrae lives and the whole, you know, it all makes sense. I guess a a little bit, but I mean, does does Jack Hughes not want to get traded to Calgary? Is that is that what we’re doing here? The number of Tate McCrae fans, by the way, that are on Twitter who um are are discovering Jack Hughes through their dinner date. We assume it’s a date. Uh and then discovering that there are two other Hughes brothers that both play in the NHL with Jack. It It’s It’s like a Taylor Swift fan discovering Jason Kelsey. Like it it’s it’s crazy that we are now educating uh an entirely new fan base about the Quinn the the Hughes brothers. Did you guys see the one about Hughes? They I I have to bring this up. Sorry. They said uh it was a quote about a picture of Quinn Hughes and it said, “This brother is cute, but he looks like he’s experiencing an existential crisis.” Well, wow. I mean, yeah. you know, or he’s just come back from ser serving two tours with a thousand yards there. No, no, no one can accuse Tate McCrae fans of not being perceptive. Um, that’s really funny. Uh, by the way, I should say my daughter my daughter Vivian is a huge Jack Hughes fan and also a big Tate McCrae fan. So, like I asked her, I’m like, “Wow, your worlds are colliding right now. How do you feel about this?” And she’s like, “I’m not sure, but I’m kind of happy.” I’m like, are you prepared for Tate McCrae to be the Taylor Swift of the New Jersey Devils, unless she’s she’s in the owner suite during the the playoffs? And uh I don’t I don’t know. I I don’t think she had really a response to that. I don’t think she wrapped her brain around that idea yet. Oh man. Um the NHL has its own. The NHL has its own. Taylor Swift. Okay. Um well, let’s let’s talk Nashville, right? I want to do Nashville with you. So your piece was interesting. And by the way, thank you for asking Barry Trotz about the idea of him going behind the bench. What did you think of his answer? So, so the beautiful thing about doing this show with you again is that um we cook up so many ideas on this show and 90% of the time if I get a chance to run those ideas past the principles in real life, I’m going to do it. Yeah. Good. Just just to test the theory. So, one of them obviously that we’ve talked about a bunch of times is Andrew Brunette has uh this year and next year on his contract. Barry Trotz slides in, takes over the bench, and uh on top of trying to salvage the season is trying to prove that the team he built is good enough to succeed and they just needed a different coach. Mhm. So on the one hand I said, “Hey, like are you going behind the bench again?” And he said, “Look, the the the thing about me you got to know is that when I commit to something, I turn the page on what came before.” So when he decided to become a general manager, he said he turned the page on his coaching career. The example he gave was he had a house and a home and a life in in Nashville. And then when he when he signed with Washington to take over as head coach, he sold everything in Nashville. He didn’t keep a house there because he wanted to make a clean break to dedicate his entire life to his new team and his new community. And so that’s the example he gives. And and I’ll take his word on on the idea that he’s not a coach anymore until, you know, as long as he’s he’s a general manager, he’s not a coach anymore. Does he miss it? He misses it. But I also asked him, you know, the brunette thing, like he’s got this year and then and then next year on his contract, does that play into the thinking that you don’t want to pay someone not to coach? And Barry said that’s not that’s not a factor in any decision we make. And the decision they make, by the way, on brunette, and this is important, is is there’s a like three factors. One, Barry’s an ex- coach. He’s going to give this guy as much leeway as he possibly can because he truly believes it’s not the coach or his staff, it’s the players that are causing the Predators to be the worst team at hockey. The second is that David Puyle gave Barry Trotz a century basically behind the bench to figure out his stuff and uh and had, you know, years and years and years of of of job security. And the third thing, and I was concerned about this story coming out today because I do wonder if this condition has changed. Barry told me before the Florida game that no one in the organization above him had pressured him to think about making a coaching change. Now they get absolutely curb stomped last night. That was Hang on. That was so bad last night. Yeah, it was terrible. Lifeless, positionless. That was I don’t know like how much statue practice can one team do in one game? Well, that was it. That was a Nashville Predators and Brunette said it last night like they lost the game in the first 11 seconds. Like AJ Greer scores in the first 11 seconds of that game and now everybody’s shoulders are are are slouching. Now everybody’s by the way at home. Yeah. That’s not lost on up top. That’s not lost on Bill Hasslam. That’s not lost on like the the office above the manager. Nor should it be. So Trotz told me before the Florida game that that they had about eight or nine games to try to show some upward mobility, show a little flicker of hope, and if that doesn’t manifest in the next like eight or nine games, then then maybe some tough conversations need to be had. He said he hasn’t talked to any of the veterans himself about their future. He he told me he has talked to their agents about what could be coming down the pike eventually. But like if if you want to say that the Predators are open for business, I don’t I don’t think that’s accurate right now. But like two weeks from now, it it could maybe even less than that. It could be very accurate. And and the brunette thing, who knows? I mean, like I think Barry said if anything come down comes down from above, he’s going to have to start really considering it. So who knows what happened after that Florida debacle. I don’t think there’s any YouTube shows coming around anytime soon that can that can help salvage said. Sorry, it’s the obvious joke. No YouTube shows coming around that can salvage the season for the for the Nashville Predators. Like honestly, I I don’t know how much you how much more you need to see. Yeah. If if you’re Nashville and and if you’re Barry Trots, like here’s the thing. When you’re a veteran player like that, like it’s not really going to change in this environment. If it’s a younger player, you say to yourself, “Hold on, you know, there’s still a ceiling here. There’s still room for growth and learning and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.” But we’re talking about Steven Stamos and Jonathan Marsheso and Brady Shay and Jussi Sorrowos who got pulled last night. Like this is a veteran team. There’s only so much that you can expect a veteran team like this to change during the regular season. Yeah. I don’t I mean I don’t know I don’t know why you need to wait another couple of weeks. Like what’s another couple of weeks going to do? Just can completely put you behind the eightball? And maybe that’s the strategy at this point all along. Like listen, if if the idea is to go get a first overall draft pick, don’t do anything. Don’t do anything cuz what you’re doing is taking you there. If the idea is to have eyes to the future, then then maybe do something. I once I once talked to a GM about the idea that you want a lame duck coach behind the bench because you just want to be as bad as possible. Yeah. And it’s he told me, “It’s not that I want to be as bad as possible. I just want to be terrible by the end. Like you just the la like from April 1st on, you just want to lose everything, right? Because then it doesn’t matter anymore and it’s the end of the season. But but you know the you know who our favorite do you remember who our favorite was for that? Who? Tim Murray. Oh yeah. GM of the Buffalo Sabres trying to get Conor McDavid. Every goalie that made a save traded, waved, sent away. That’s not what you’re here for. So I’m a goalie. Stop. stopping pucks. We’re trying to get Conor McDavid. Enough with the saves. Get out there and be hard to hit. By game 81, the the Buffalo Sabres were starting a wet piece of tissue paper uh in goal uh in the in the hopes starting thought you going to say to Tarosujimoto in that. But in the end, Merrick, it wasn’t McDavid. It was Jack Eel who they drafted. In the words of Tim Murray famously, but again, stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Philip Forsber, no move clause. Steven Stamco, no move clause. Jonathan Marsheso, no move clause. Eric Wallala, uh, limited, no trade clause. Roman Yosi, no move clause. Brady Shay, no move clause. Yoshi Soros, no move clause. Um, now granted, I do think that a few of these guys will want to move. Uh, I I’m sure Jonathano would love to move. I’m I I wouldn’t be shocked if Brady Sheay wanted to move. Um, the Stamco part is is intriguing to me because one, you got to find somebody that’s that wants to believe that he is better than four goals in 22 games. Uh, you you need the Predators to take a part of that $8 million annual salary to get any return back of of of of some note. But like, we know how close this guy is with his family. We know that, you know, they they’ve relocated there in the hopes that it was going to be a new home. it’s a place he chose because he liked to live there. I I do ultimately wonder like how much of that is going to play into him executing the clause that was given to him in his contract if if they come to him and say we want to move you. I’ll give you one more complication. So he’s signed this deal playing in a no tax state. Is he going to wave to go to a high tax state? It’s a great question. Essentially saying, “Yeah, I’ll agree to wave this this this no move clause and take a pay cut because that’s what you’re doing.” Like I always think back to Ryan Ellis and how like Ryan Ellis when he got traded to the uh to the Philadelphia Flyers, like that was a that was a haircut. Like that was a pretty big haircut that he took going going from Nashville to Philadelphia. And it was always told to me like if you sign a deal in a in a no tax state, specifically Nashville, you need to get trade protection because generally guys would sign for a little bit less knowing that it’s a no tax state. All of a sudden, if you’re traded to like Pennsylvania or New York, all of a sudden, if you don’t have trade protection, you’re off to these places. You’re taking less money. Your trade is making you poor and the team can’t compensate you. To which is why I always come back and say like what the NHL and PA need to do, I I don’t know, my need to do should do is get together and figure out a way to compensate players for waving no move clauses. The only way you’re going to get around this is to compensate players for waving it. Hey, Steve. Uh, this the standard going rate for waving a no move is $500,000 or depending on, you know, how high the salary is, a million dollars. If you agree to wave your no trade, you get a million dollars. That’s the only way. Otherwise, if you’re Stam Coast and say, “Hey, Montreal wants you half my check. Why am I going to do that?” It may it doesn’t make sense. That’s the other complicating factor in all of this. would you give the players the ability to then wave the fee if they really want out or do you have to buy out the no move clause? What do you mean? Like, no. If if you’re going if you’re going to trade, if he has a if he has a no move clause, first of all, you ask the player, like, listen, let’s say for sake of argument, I just said Montreal Canadians want Steven Stamco. You go to Stamco and you say, “Hey, uh, Montreal is interested. We have this deal. Are you interested in going to Montreal?” Uh, and if you do, if you accept, uh, the trigger for the $1 million bonus or whatever it is kicks in automatically and you get compensated for waving your no trade. Well, let me Okay, so this is my question to you. Yeah. Barry Trotz goes to Jonathan Marshes. Johnny, we got some great news. The Vegas Golden Knights The Vegas Golden Knights want you back. You can get your own your old house back. They love you. You can you can play with Riley Smith again. Problem is, I don’t know if you noticed, our team blows. So, we haven’t sold enough hot dogs uh this year to the fans. So, we can’t afford the money that it takes for you to wave your no move clause. So, we can send you to Vegas where you’ll have a chance to win a cup and play with Riley Smith again, but we need you to wave your no move clause and your no move clause uh fee and then we can make this happen. What say you? Uh, I think the best case, first of all, the answer is a hard no. Uh, second of all, the best case scenario for that because otherwise it’s give me something in exchange for nothing, which is not business, that’s charity. Last time the last time I checked, the NHL was not a charity. Uh, I think the the best he can do is is okay, you know what? if you’re up against it right now because you haven’t sold enough hot dogs, you haven’t sold enough jumbo Cokes, uh we will not wave it, but we will we will park it in the future. Okay? It will become a balloon payment somewhere down the road. And it won’t, by the way, Barry, it won’t be a million dollars. It’ll be Jonathan, I just want to let you know, like, have you ever seen the movie Titanic? Now, remember when the ship hit the iceberg? Now, imagine the iceberg is made of It’s just a giant iceberg and we’re about to slam into it and the entire deck will be covered in That’s the predators right now. I’m telling you, I can get you back to Vegas. Wave your fee. Wave your fear. I’m not doing the deal. So, you hang over them. Wave your fear. I’m going to send you somewhere. I’m going to You’re just going to ride. Would they have the ability to then wave their fee or is the PA going to be like, “You can never wave your fee.” I don’t know. No. The PA would be Yeah. The the best thing the PA would say is, “We’ll defer it. we’ll defer it a year or we’ll defer it two years. Yeah, I I I I can’t see that. But anyhow, I I just think that that’s another complicating factor and when you’re trading players away from places like Tampa, especially recently signed players like Marsheso and Steven Stamos. The other thing to all of this is too whether it’s Philip Forsber, whether it’s Jussi Sorrowos with the no trades, you say you say to these guys like look, we’re going through a rebuild. Go look at your birth certificate. Do you have the patience for this? Do you really want to go through this? I know we had our one Stanley Cup run and we’ve fizzled out against the Pittsburgh Penguins and we’re at the end of the line here now. And do you want to go through a rebuild? I know you’ve been here forever because if you don’t, we can find a market for you. The only thing I didn’t ask Barry because I I was kind of like running out of time. Yeah. I didn’t ask him about Askarof. Now, I think his answer will be we made a judgment based on Jussi Soros resigning and and there’d be no room for him to take the job. I and I I think probably the subtext is also attitudinally they weren’t in love with Ascarov. But I mean, on top of everything else this season to look over at San Jose and see the rough outlines of a franchise goalie that you’ve given up. Listen, at the at at the Nashville draft, that was a rumor on the floor in the first round that Nashville was trying to get up to four to get Will Smith. And one of the players in the deal was Yoslavas Scarov. That was pretty well known around around everybody. That’s what they were trying. They wanted to make the big splash with the draft in Nashville. And now Scarough and Will Smith are playing together. Yeah. on a team that’s right there maybe making the playoffs as we talked about with Drew Amanda last week. Stupid. It’s just like like like one one headache after another. But you know I I I do think I listen I think the sell the selling will start pretty soon. And I I imagine O’Reilly will be the first one out the door because he doesn’t have any trade protection because quite frankly um it’s the easiest move to make and and a guy with only a year left on his contract after this one. And and what team that believes they’ve got the makings of a cup contender isn’t going to try to trade for Ryan O’Reilly to be on their third line. I mean, come on. It’s an obvious move. So, we’ll see what happens there. The Buffalo Sabres, they’re going to make the playoffs. They’ve won three of their last four. He’s going back to Buffalo. Going back to Buffalo. Yes. Yeah. They got a little heartbeat now, don’t they? Their their playoff odds of three of the last four, baby. Yeah. Look at him go. Look. Amazing what happens when Bill Garren’s in the building. Looking at Thompson and Alex Tuck. Look at these performances. You mean you mean you mean how like Baddard is going to win the Salty based on how he played against McKinnon the other night? Yeah. Going up against Ethan McKinnon. All of a sudden he’s Bob Gayy. Yeah. Jesus. because the team Canada brass from the building. It’s insane. That’s awesome. Yeah, that uh that’s the thing that that uh that that happens. Hey, one of the things I wanted to mention with you is is this we talked about at the beginning of the year and my answer glibly was the Los Angeles Kings. And so far I’m wrong. And this is every year in the NHL there’s a team that has 100 points that the following season doesn’t make the playoffs. Mhm. Happens. Last year we looked at the Boston Bruins for example. Um I don’t know if Zach has the the graphic built but last year the Hunterpoint teams okay were this at Winnipeg Washington Vegas Toronto Dallas Kings Bolts ABS and Oilers missing this year based on their trend and where they are at. Toronto Winnipeg and the Edmonton Oilers. I don’t know. And again, we’re a quarter this quarter way into the season. I don’t know many who would have picked those three. And by the way, I’m a little disappointed in you right now. Why is that? Because we’ve talked now for 38 minutes and you haven’t once pointed out that if the playoff started today, there’d only be one Canadian team in the postseason. That’s the Normally Normally have a nice little chuckle about things like that. I don’t buy I don’t buy the Thanksgiving voodoo this year. I think there’s going to be a ton of teams that are on the outside looking that are going to jump back in the picture this year. I I agree with that. I agree with that. I do agree with that. But anyhow, does any of that The only thing that surprises me again so far are the Los Angeles Kings. It wasn’t looking good for Tampa early, but they’re at like 12 and three in their last 15, something like that. And they look fantastic. But I don’t know that I would have looked at this and saw Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton. Now Winnipeg, it gets even worse because of Connor Halabuk. And that’s why I think that, you know, listen, knees are really, listen, this is just your your buddy Jeff concerned here. Um, listen, knees are really important to a goalender. I think the best thing that Connor Halabuk can do is take a pass at the Olympics as well. I really think that Connor Halabuk, even if he’s healthy to go, because, you know, the NH the NHL team is the one that pays his check. And I’m not just saying this as a Canadian hockey fan. I’m just saying this as someone who’s concerned about Connor Halabuk’s health. I really do think that he should should take a pass. No, that makes a to makes a lot of sense. Italy J gotten too. Maybe Jay Gottener, too, because Dallas has big plans this year. Maybe Austin Matthews might want to just You know what? You know what? Too dangerous. Too dangerous. There’s a lot There’s a lot of churches in Italy. A lot of stained glass might want to keep Jack Hughes away from the Olympics. Charlie Makavoy should be aware of there’s they’re going to use pucks I believe in the hockey tournament. Are they allowed? I don’t I haven’t looked at the double IHF rules lately. Are they allowed to shoot high or is there no raisies in the tournament this year? Okay, there’s I think there’s a lot of wine glasses and stuff in Italy as well. Jack Hughes might want to avoid that. They got to keep away. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah. So, I understand what you’re saying. I I do worry about the Jets. Um, I I’m actually pleasantly surprised that offensively they’re they’re not they didn’t take as much of a tumble as I thought without Eers, but they’re still not great. But, you know, losing losing hell’s a big deal. They’re they’re the NHL’s oldest team. That’s why I always worry about the oldest team in injuries because you got a bunch of guys in their 30s and all of a sudden like two to four turns into four to six. The team I mean the team that that the the team that you thought the Kings were going to be are probably the Leafs, right? Yeah. But I didn’t think the LA Kings would be as bad as the Leafs are right now. Like I didn’t think like I didn’t think like first overall in the draft bad. But that’s where the Toronto Maple Leafs are. Like poor Zack. We’re keeping him off we’re keeping him off balconies. We’re keeping him off bridges. He’s playing that like draft simulator non-stop. His mother and I are very worried about him. He needs to go touch grass and go have a walk and put the laptop down. Like it’s awful. It’s bad. So, the deal with their the deal with their first round pick, top five, they can keep it, right? Can Zack, can they keep their first round pick if it’s top five? Yep. Top five protected. Okay. So, like again, I don’t understand I don’t understand why everybody’s like super worried. They’ll go to the draft, they’ll be in the lottery, they’ll miss the playoffs, they they don’t have Marner. Oh my god, what are we going to do? You draft Gavin McKenna there. Problem solved. Another winger coming in. Solved. I don’t think anyone thinks for one second that that means problem solved. I’m saying it problemolved and that’s and that’s fine and and and that’s fine. Um, a couple of things I want to get your thoughts on as well. Um, include but are not exclusive to we haven’t talked about this yet on the program and I don’t know again like one of the things like if you ask managers candidly the answer is always like yeah of course. Um, would you lie to protect your team? And the answer is always, yeah, of course you would. Totally you would. They always do. No, I know that. They’ll never say that. No, we always try to be transparent. We’re the most transparent organization in the NHL. After all, we make ourselves available and blah blah blah. And that’s fine. Um, the Don Maloney comments about no rebuild here in Calgary. When I see that coming from someone like Don Maloney, what I think is that’s really coming from Murray Edwards, like that’s really coming from ownership. Like Jim Rutherford can talk about no rebuild, no rebuild, not going to happen. And we all know where that’s coming from, right? Just like Don Maloney, it’s the exact same thing. He’s not calling that shot. Marie Edwards is calling that shot. Jim Rutherford isn’t calling that shot. Franchesco Aqualini is calling that shot. Do you see it the same way? Because I think Maloney is just sort of there to to be the the the face of the message of ownership. That’s not his grand idea. So you don’t think that Jim Rutherford has more autonomy than that? I always thought based on his track record, he was more in the Larillo camp of you you you take a step back and let that guy cook. But you think he’s just a proxy for the ownership in in No, I think I think for some that’s a good question because I think for some decisions I think Jim has complete autonomy. But as far as like massive sea change decisions for the Vancouver Conucks, that still goes that still goes to the owner. That’s why we keep talking about the best the best the best quality you can have as a manager now in the NHL is not how to manage down, it’s how to manage up and how to manage your owner and and how to manage those those messages. That’s why I look at that and say like, okay, that is that is coming from above. That’s not Don Maloney saying there will be no rebuild here. That’s an ownership decision. I’m I really Thank you for bringing up the flames. I’ve completely forgot what my hobby was going to be this year, which is to go back to last season and see how many people were writing stories about them turning the corner and being on the right track and they’ve got it all figured out. Uh that are now writing stories about uh the team being in the absolute dumpster. I’m sure there was there’s probably some shared uh by lines between those two genres. I just haven’t gone back and looked at who as we all knew where this was heading than that fool’s gold last season. Overpraising the team to now uh shanking them in the side. It’s all right. Happens. That uh that happens. Um who is your favorite? I want to I want to circle back to um I want to circle back to Adam foot cigarettes and cashews because I threw this out. Do you have a couple lined up here, Zach? I threw this out uh on Twitter X earlier today. Actually, I should just call it Twitter because that’s the name it was assigned at birth. And I’m told that that’s how it has to stay if it’s assigned at at birth that that’s So, I’m going to still call it Twitter. um uh with and and the the one that that that I keep coming back to like do you have like your absolute cringe moment because mine was a Mark Borvietki interview with the late owner of the Ottawa Senators, Eugene Melnik. Zach, do we have that? Do we have any piece of that? Yep, we do. Okay, let’s revisit some of this love. Yeah. What’s the plan here? Well, I think there’s a few things that we’re hoping to to accomplish. Um, I think what our fans are looking forward to and I’m looking forward to is a season that’s like fresh and brand new, something that we can look forward to with young players coming in. And I think we can jel them into something, you know, a very, very serious team, much bigger than a lot of people, I think, believe. You know, right now we’re kind of in a dumpster. You know, everybody says, “Ah, they’re not going to do anything.” And I don’t believe that. I think that um you know with character in a dressing room and people working very very hard we can accomplish more than a lot of people believe and it’s um uh you know a lot of people said things in the last year I think when I signed up for an owner um I really didn’t expect going through something like we did last year and it was a tough tough year for us everywhere in the offices on the ice and now we’re starting ing off fresh. A lot of things have been changed and I think that this year is going to become one of those uh watershed years for us. Yeah, I agree. I mean, we’re pretty excited, I think. How’s the dressing room? Uh you know what? I think that was kind of a question that I was going to ask you, too. Uh you know, we’ve got some characters in there. It’s professional hockey. You know, there’s a lot of unique uh unique personalities, unique people, strong personalities, right? And I think we need to find a way to gel to kind of make some chemistry. All right. All right. All right. I think I think we got I think we got enough of that one. Had you forgotten how great that was? Talk about like the awkward moment of interviewing your boss when the questions are going to revolve around two things. Are things great or really great? I know. I I saw we took it from Facebook that that that had real uh uh Mark Zuckerberg being uh interviewed by one of his uh his underlings vibes. By the by the way, I people on the listening to the podcast didn’t see it, but like Eugene Melnik um is wearing an Ottawa Senator’s jersey. You know what? That’s fine. If you’re an owner and you want to wear a jersey, that’s fine. But for God’s sakes, don’t wear it over a button-down. What do you guys do? I know that we call it a sweater, but it’s not a quarter zip. you any any owner that wants to wear a jersey over a button-down, you look like an So, don’t do it. Oh, yeah. You know what? Yeah. You know, for everyone watching on YouTube right now, Zach has fired this back up without audio. Yeah, that’s a tough look. It’s It’s a classic company has season tickets. I don’t want to look like a corporate stoogge, so I’m going to wear this ill-fitting jersey over my button-down at the game. Uh and and and it just is it’s a terrible look. You know what it is though? You know what the golden rule is? What? He who has the gold makes the rules. That’s it. Oh, that’s true. I mean, yeah, you can wear whatever you want. Yeah, wear whatever you want. You own the team. You could have Mark Borv interview you. You could force all the players to wear buttond downs under their jerseys on the ice. You can do whatever the hell you want. Good idea, boss. Every two weeks, thank you. Every two weeks, they say thank you. And I’m I’m really happy. Um, do you remember the uh roast beef sandwich line from John Tortoella in Vancouver 2013 when he was asked about players on on Twitter and he said something about Oh god, I wish I had the quote. Um, you know what? It’s funny. Someone sent someone uh well, it was Joey Kenward, our buddy from Vancouver, uh, sent me sent me the quote. Do you want to uh hang on just filibuster for once? Oh, here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Okay, here it is. I don’t have to filibuster. Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Here it Here it is. Here it is. Um, I think Twitter, this is Imagine me doing John Tordella’s voice. Okay. I think Twitter is stupid. It’s tremendous for charity work and our dog walk in New York raised a ton of money, but not for quote, “Here I am having a roast beef sandwich and saying hello to my fans.” That’s ridiculous. It’s funny because back in the day before the rise of Instagram, that’s what Twitter the Twitter was like literally checking in and taking pictures of your lunch. That’s what it was. And then Yeah. And then Instagram kind of like market corrected that. Um that’s really Instagram said, “No, no, no. We’ll take the we’ll take the pictures of the plates. We’ll take We’ll make the pictures look even better.” Yeah. Yeah. Make the pictures and then there was no more pictures of food. And the Nazis were like, “Oh, great. More room for us.” And they all hopped on Twitter. Great. And that’s the story of Twitter X. Right. There you go. Yes. Uh well done. Okay. So, one more thing here I do want to I I do want to mention and that is this segment. Greg Washinsky is a presentation. Oh, is this the one we have? Yeah, it is. Okay. This segment is a presentation of Prime Monday Night Hockey. Prime Monday Night Hockey streams all national regular season Monday night NHL games on Prime Video in Canada and is available free to Prime members in Canada. Prime. I really hope I’m going to make it through this read. Here we go. Stream Prime Monday Night Hockey exclusively on Prime Video and experience thrilling goals and dramatic plays from the NHL. Monday nights are hockey nights. Don’t miss a moment of the action. Monday, December 1st, the Winnipeg Jets head to the Key Bank Center to take on the Buffalo Sabres. Uh puck drop at 7:30 Eastern. Check out the link in our description. We call that the Howard Truck Bowl. Check out the link in our description for the Prime Monday Night Hockey schedule on Prime Video or go to primevideo.com/nhl. Also on Prime Video, Face Off inside the NHL season 2. Subscribe with a 30-day free trial to Prime Video to watch Monday Night Hockey and the new season of Faceoff. Download the app or go to primevideo.com. Also on Prime Video, also on Prime Video, a a station that plays uh the Japanese version of Iron Chef 247. That is a station that I have had on the house many many times while I’m up late with a newborn just watching some old Iron Chef. You can get behind that. All right. What’s this Thanksgiving? Uh you have that’s going to torture the uh Thursday is American Thanksgiving. There are many traditions in American Thanksgiving. Many of them shared with Canadian Thanksgiving. I think we’re all very precious. Can I ask you a question? Have you been in hockey long enough that you always call your Thanksgiving American Thanksgiving? I don’t always I do it within the context of talking to a Canadian. Okay. Like when I’m talking to an American, we’re just like Thanksgiving. When I’m talking to a kuck, I got to be like I better specify before they yell at me. You know what else is exclus I was thinking about this the other day. You know what else is exclusive? And maybe you can tell me otherwise cuz you follow a lot more sports than I do. But you know the expression um he hasn’t pissed a drop all game. Is that just hockey? I’ve never heard any other sport use that. Am I missing something? How was he last night? A I didn’t piss a drop. He was awful. Yeah, I’m I’m pretty sure that’s hockey. I’m pretty sure that’s hockey. That’s just hockey, right? Okay. Yeah, that’s hockey or hockey or the Westminster dog show. One of the two those are the two venues in which you hear that phrase the most. Okay, that’s a good vibe. I like that. That’s a good We we we share a lot of, you know, dishes, I think, on on Thanksgiving. Um, we share a lot of traditions, family time, all of it. But the one thing I think that we have that you don’t have, Yes. is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Correct me if I’m wrong. Like, is there a Thanksgiving Day parade somewhere in Canada I’m not aware of? Uh, the balloons and There’s always a Santa Claus parade. That’s different. That’s I know that’s different. I don’t know that I’ve No, I’ve never been to a a Thanksgiving Day parade. I’ve been to plenty of talking about Santa Claus parades this morning with my son. Remind me to tell you a story about Santa Claus parade when we’re done here. I shall. So, as you know, the uh the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade takes place in New York City every Thanksgiving morning. Giant balloons and also lots of floats. Now, you guys may or may not know this, but the National Hockey League on several occasions has had its own float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade alongside, you know, this Jolly Green Giant and all these other floats. Like, they have a float there in the parade. So, what I’ve done here, Merrick, is I have seven National Hockey League Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade floats, and there some of them are real and some of them I’ve made up. And it’s your job to tell me is it real or turkey? No. You know what it should be called? A little shot at your buddy. Turkey or turkey or toeky? Is it real or fake? Or you just say real or fake? I don’t give a All right, here we go. A float titled NHL’s Most Valuable Hockey Dad sponsored by Miller Highife. Was that an actual NHL float? [Music] Ultimate Hockey Dad. I’ll say yes. Uh the answer is it was a turkey. Uh no, it is a fake float. The real one was actually the NHL’s most valuable hockey mom in 2019. Ah, okay. There was a a a valuable hockey parent float, but it wasn’t for dads, and it certainly wasn’t sponsored by Miller Highife. For God’s sakes, Merrick, there are children at this parade. All right. Very good. Uh, all right. So, 0 for one. Question number two. A float fe featuring W Cleffan of the Fujis singing What Happened to Love? Is that a real or fake NHL float? It’s real. It’s true. That is correct. W Cleft John, one of several musicians that have uh been on NHL Floats, including American Idol contestant Kelly Pickler and CEO Green uh who of course performed uh with on part as part of Nurles Barkley sang Crazy if memory serves. What? So you’re one for two. Question three, a a float on which kids took shots at a 12ft tall turkey goalie. That totally sounds true. I think um Charles Wong tried to get that turkey to dress for the Islanders too once upon a time when he owned New York. So I’m gonna say yes. That is correct. It was in fact a a 12ft tall turkey goalie used on several incarnations of the NHL Thanksgiving Day parade floats. So now you are 243. Very exciting. I know my hockey parade. Question four. an NHL float that honored the 1967 expansion that featured surviving members of the California Golden Seals. Wait, Jill Malashsh was on a uh was was was on a float. I’m going to say no. That is correct. Uh that is not true at all. I know that you have such a heart on for the 1967 expansion and also the California Gold. So Craig Patrick Craig Patrick would have been on that float. Jill Malashsh would have been on that float float. Rick Mccleas would have been on that float. I mean, wouldn’t what Thanksgiving isn’t complete without Rick McQu they all say. Fair enough. Fair enough. Yeah. So, you’re killing it. So, you’re you’re one, two, three, right? Or you’re three for four. Question five. A float titled Future Hockey in which kids dressed as NHL players with laser sticks. [Music] I’m going to say no. That is correct. You You’ve snipped it out again. Uh there were no laser sticks. There was no future thinking in hockey. In fact, most of these floats involved uh all sorts of old people. By the way, Reggie Lee Reggie Leech, not Rick Mcclesich forever, including some former players. So, we get to our next question, Eric. Hang on. I’m I’m uh what am I here? I’m one for four. One for five. You’re you’re gotten only one wrong. You’re killing it. Oh, dude. I’m This game’s awesome. I love this game. Was there an NHL Macy’s Day parade float featuring Flyers goalie Bernie Perant? This sounds totally like a Bernie Pant thing. I’m going to say yes. That’s correct. 19 I’m sorry, 2018. What the NHL did on these floats, ladies and gentlemen, was they paired up a couple of retired players. Obviously, active players couldn’t be in the parade. They’re going to be playing hockey the next day for God’s sakes. So, uh, Bernie Pant, Mike Richter, uh, Eric Lindros, and Adam Graves, Mark and Marty, how these are some of the big names that have, uh, floated along in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in one of the Stanley Cup parades. Speaking of Bernie Pant, the late, I’ve always maintained the best angle goalender of all time. I still maintain of all those goalies in the 70s, Bernie was the best. One of my favorite parade stories of Bernie, I don’t know which cup it was, the first or the second, Bernie had to um midway through the parade drop the kids off at the pool. So left the parade and knocked on a random’s door to go use the washroom. Really amazing. It’s a great story. Whoop! Nature’s calling. Bernie’s got to go. No, the the story that I wanted to tell, I don’t know if I’ve ever shared that when I used to do open. We have one more question. Oh, we got another one. One more question. How many questions? You can tell your your Santa Claus parade story. Okay. It’s a bad one. Finally, uh, a float collaboration between the National Hockey League and Hostess Cupcakes called the salute to ice. That is a Greg Rashid. That’s totally Greg. Not a chance. No way. No how. Last call. No, that is correct. You got six out of seven on that quiz. One of your best quiz performances, I think, in the history of NBSW. Very impressed. I I will note that Zach decided to put underneath the quiz uh band deliverance banjo music. It sounds odd choice. Odd choice, which I would say nothing to do with the Native Americans and the pilgrims. Nothing to do with New York City where it is. No, nothing. Nothing whatsoever to do with Thanksgiving. We have a music library to be able to select from for the show. And I searched Thanksgiving and that song was called Thanksgiving Turkey Shoot. And I was like, “This works.” That works. Oh. Oh. So, did you accidentally hit Ned Ned Batty squealing like a pig and then play that track? Uh, that was um You tell Aml that uh that to stop payment on that check. We are not paying for this library. If that’s what Thanksgiving music is coming up, Eric, not not to get all wrestling, but let’s remember one of the most iconic themes in the history of wrestling. The nWo theme was royalty-free music that Eric Bishoff discovered. So, you never know what’s lurking. Is that true? I didn’t know that. Yeah, that was like a temp track. No way. Yeah, it was like a funk temp track that that he selected and it ended up being the song that everybody remembers from the NWL. Yeah, that’s amazing. Uh, you want to hear you want me to wreck the Santa Claus parade for you? By all means, everybody watching and listening, you ready for me to wreck the Santa Claus parade for you? What am I hearing? Okay, here we go. Close your ears if you don’t want the Santa Claus parade ruined. Now, this may be exclusive to the Santa Claus parade in Toronto, but this is years ago. Years before you and I met, I was hosting an open line show 7 to 8 or 7 to 9 Monday to Friday. Jeff Mer640. That’s right. Call with your with your marital problems and the single guy. We’ll solve it. Um, hilarious. Was a It was a station that’s aimed at middle-aged men. Nobody was married on the whole like on the whole It was amaz except for the morning show. Everybody else was like has like three or four divorces. It was It was called uh Mojo Radio Talk Radio for guys. The all new AM640. Everybody was divorced. Weather together on the eights. Uh on the ones. Yes. Uh okay. So anyway, so I had um this producer who would always bring be like really cool guests like offthe-wall people from I like I want people from the city like give me people from Toronto like that don’t get a voice for platform. And so one day he brought in a sex trade worker. Yep. And I remember talking to her and asking her towards the end of the interview and it was only like 20 minutes. I said, “Every industry has like a all hands- on deck time, a day, a week, a month, or whatever where it’s like the busiest time. What is it for your profession?” And I would have figured like Valentine’s Day, like days that can be lonely for New Year’s, right? And she said, “Santa Claus parade.” I said, “What?” She goes, “Dad drops the family off and then goes to look for parking.” and I couldn’t find parking anywhere. I had to drive and drive and so we we make more money faster on Santa Claus parade day than we all know like rest up the night before because Santa Claus parade day is where we make a lot of money and really fast too. Dad goes to look for parking. I just Santa Claus. Next time you see the Santa Claus parade, just imagine. I think your what your your boy Jeffy here told you. That is just a lot of people on the naughty list, ladies and gentlemen. Right away, right? Dad’s got to find parking. There’s no parking anywhere. Sorry, hun. I’m like, yeah, 45 minutes an open garage. Couldn’t couldn’t find parking anywhere. Yeah. Anyh who, you got anything else before I wrap up for the show today that I’ve wrecked that? No, man. You know, uh give a give Arita the national thing. I think it’s good. I think it’s insight into the team and where it’s at. And then um everybody have a good good rest of the week. I I have uh we we’ve decided to host Thanksgiving this Thursday. Yeah. Nice. In our two-bedroom Brooklyn apartment um because we need home home ice advantage for the the kids and naps and everything. Yeah. And uh I will I will tell you Yes. that uh my brother-in-law and I are going to try to deep fry a turkey for the first time. So I thought you’ve done that before. Have you never deep fried? I’ve No, I’ve never deep fried a turkey before. or I’ve deep fried many other things, but never a turkey. So, I just want to say that there is I thought you probably like a 15% chance of this being the last time you hear from me. Does it come with paddles? I just I I just uh I just I I love you all. I appreciate you all and thanks for for supporting the show. All right. And as Zach mentions on the uh on the digital show, uh the article is uh pinned on our chat, so you can go check it out right from there. Uh, it’s excellent. Um, listen, I wish you and your arteries all the best. Uh, I wish you and your family and all of all of my neighbors all the best on Thanksgiving on Thursday. We will not see you, Greg. Um, but please be kind to yourself. And make good choices. I’ll make good choices. By the way, I’m less concerned about the artery of it all than I am the explosion of a propane filled tank of oil. That’s kind of what I was referring to. I don’t I’ve never done this before. Have you done anybody has any tips, please send them my way for I’m a little nervous about I mean best case scenario we shoot this thing into the into orbit like it just somehow fires into Lisa style. Yeah, but uh but worst case scenario I blow up Brooklyn. It’s one of the two. Uh we’ll figure it out. All the best. Godspeed. We’ll uh we’ll talk to you in seven days. Be well. Bye. There is Greg Washensky from ESPN and ESPN.com. Hey, Zach. Hey, Zach. He bellowed. Did I just ruin Santa Claus parade for you? Um, I walked by it on Sunday, so it’s kind of disturbing how coincidental that is. You’ll never ever look at Santa Claus Parade the same. My jaw I was just like I’m running through all these like different days where I’m thinking like, okay, it’s all hands on deck. She’s like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Santa Claus. Pretty shocking discovery, I must say, to find out that that’s the most uh cuz I’m on I was on the same page as you like Valentine’s Day. Yeah. Like a lonely day, like single guys, you know, maybe Christmas if you’re lonely and she’s like Yeah. Or like the day after or something. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Seasons change. The parade. The parade. I also didn’t like how you threw in there and obviously you’re relaying information but uh make a lot of money and then the money part. Uh and quickly quickly quickly. Great. Yeah. Got to move on. No, we’re not we’re not sticking around the chat. Got to go. Other guys are trying to find parking. Yeah, the other dads. They’re looking for parking. They’re looking for parking. I gotta I gotta help them out. I got to straighten some things out with those guys. All right. Uh I think we’re done here. I think we’re done here. I think I think we’re done here. I think we’re done with I would agree. I got to save my voice for Dell Manor tonight. Looking forward to this tonight. It’s going to be a lot of fun. We’ll talk about it tomorrow. We’ve had a lot of fun with these people at Del Manor. Uh we’ll fill you in tomorrow. Uh Philly, you’re going to be there tonight, right? Oh, I will. Oh, wait a minute. You want me to do it for you? I am not done. No, I’m going to You know what? I said I was going to do it. I’m going to power through all of it. Uh, the sheet is powered by FanDuel. I’m going to hand the recreation over to you in two seconds, though. The sheet is powered by FanDuel. Play your game with FanDuel. It’s the NHL season, and FanDuel is your home for all the action on the ice. From blue line to bet slip, we’ve got you covered all season with unique promos, live offerings, and more features to let you play your game. Missed puck drop? No sweat. With a live same game parlay, you can build your bets up until the final buzzer. Download FanDuel Sportsbook 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. Zack, keep this one simple. Uh, the NHL knew we have a busy night. They knew you were under the weather, Jeff, so they did this accordingly. Get you some rest, get you to bed early. Should be a good game, though. We obviously have something else between. We have one game on the schedule tonight. Dallas at Edmonton. The Dallas Stars plus 114. The Edmonton Oilers minus 137 at home here tonight. Um I mean that’s kind of all we all we got here. Just keeping it simple for today with the one game. And by the way, it was as pointed out in the chat yesterday or the comments. Uh I gave out that point parlay. Yeah. Nobody got points. So, no one I think got points of that. So, uh yeah, I might just like leave these guys alone right now and you know like go for it maybe and then come back. Yeah, go for it. But that’s what I mean. Tonight breather one game, right? Come back tomorrow. One NHL game. A couple of other games you might want to have a peek at. Uh PWL back in action tonight is the home opener for the Montreal Victtoire and our favorite around here, Aaron Ambrose at Plast Bell. Uh the Victori coming off a two nothing loss Sunday uh in Boston and the sire uh the sirens blanked Ottawa on Saturday for Cobb. So Montreal opening up tonight and the Canada USA Prospect Challenge as well. Man, we had fun at this last year. Uh game one tonight in Calgary tomorrow in Lethbridge 6:00 Mountain 8:00 Eastern. So three games to keep your eyeballs on tonight. Uh thanks to Greg Washinsky as always for stopping by as he does uh Tuesdays and Thursdays here on the program. And with that, I’ll take my whatever is left of my voice uh up to get a cup of tea upstairs here. Uh hope you have a great rest of your day. Thanks for the buns and the use of the hall as we like to say around these parts. We’ll talk to you tomorrow. It is Wednesday, so that means let’s get ready to grumble with Brian Burke. And then we’ll do something after Brian. Not quite sure yet. Oh, I know what we’re going to do with Brian. We’re going to talk to Brian about something that Gabby and I talked about on the hockey lifers and that is who’s allowed to talk to players on the ice. Is it only the players? Is it the coaches as well? Yes or no? We’ll talk to Brian about that tomorrow amongst other topics from the GM perspective with Brian Burke. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your evening. Enjoy the hockey tonight. We will talk tomorrow at 1:00 Eastern on the sheet. 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, Colby 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 Yurchuk, 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.

Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski team up for a special MvsW edition of The Sheet, breaking down the biggest NHL stories heading into American Thanksgiving. They open with Jeff’s shredded voice and Greg’s radio nostalgia before diving into a wild discussion on strange hockey interviews, including the infamous Eugene Melnyk moment. From there, they move into the Vancouver Canucks memo circulating around the league, which veterans could realistically be moved, and why trade protection continues to complicate their roster. The guys go deep on the collapsing Nashville Predators, Barry Trotz’s honesty about the situation, Andrew Brunette’s job security, who might be first out the door, and what the next two weeks could mean for the franchise. They also examine which 100-point teams from last year have fallen off, why the playoff picture feels unusually chaotic, and who should actually be worried. To wrap it up, Greg hits Jeff with a batch of Thanksgiving-themed NHL trivia, covering real and fake parade floats, mascots, and some perfectly strange league history.

Chapters:
00:00 – Jeff’s voice is cooked & Greg brings the energy
02:00 – Scotty Ferrell memories & chaotic radio play-by-play stories
07:50 – “Cigarettes and Cashews,” Adam Foote lore & weird interviews
08:20 – Canucks memo: who’s actually tradable and why the roster is stuck
10:00 – No-move clauses everywhere & the Quinn Hughes implications
12:15 – What Vancouver really wants for Garland, Sherwood, and Kane
21:55 – Nashville Predators spiral, Brunette’s future & Barry Trotz’s mindset
24:58 – How bad the Florida loss was and the 8–9 game window to show hope
27:30 – Who Nashville might move first and which stars could want out
36:05 – Buffalo heartbeat? Sabres trending up with scouts in the building
37:20 – 100-point teams falling off: Leafs, Oilers, Jets and surprise Kings
40:30 – Hellebuyck, injuries, aging cores and Olympic decisions
41:58 – Flames ownership, no-rebuild stance & who’s making the real calls
45:00 – Revisiting the most awkward NHL interviews ever
51:55 – Thanksgiving Trivia: Real or Fake NHL Parade Floats?

#NHL #TheSheet #JeffMarek #GregWyshynski #Hockey #NHLNews #NashvillePredators #VancouverCanucks #ThanksgivingTrivia #DailyFaceoff #MvsW

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