Transcript of Anonymous | The Steve Dangle Podcast

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

When was the last time you had a gander at Jesse Blake's package.Oh.

Man.oh, no. This isn't a manscaped app.

I just wonder when was the last time you saw Jesse's package, Steve?

When was it? I mean, you don't really look at it. It looks at you.

Right. Well, Jessie said, I need to start the show with my package. I said, Okay, well, you have to. We all have to look at Jessie and Blake's package together. What is it, Jessie?

A listener by the name of Eric Williams is a comic book collector. Eric has the ability to obtain the most rare items because it's what he does for his hobby. Eric sent us a package to the Sdpn Studios. Thank you, Eric. It's very nice. I Adam should do the honors since Adam's so skeptical about Eric's package that he sent.

I was told it was your package. Now it's Eric's package.

That he sent to us.

I think it's a yellow sweater.

Yellow sweater.

Adam, Eric was able to obtain the most rare item in the universe.

In the entire universe.

Why don't you open it and tell the audience what we received?

No.

That is most beautiful people. Oh, my God. He was able to track down the May 2016 edition of Hello Canada, which happens to be the edition where Adam Wild was named One of Canada's Most Beautiful People. Here's the problem. It's a little taped down.

Is this from one of the VIP episodes?

I can't remember. No, we started one of the regular shows with it. It was a very VIP conversation, but it happened off the top of one of our shows a few days ago. Oh, my Adam said in our conversation that he doesn't own a copy. He was embarrassed by it, and he never kept a copy of it.

It doesn't make sense, ultimately.

Yeah, but it's a good keepsake to have. Yes. And please don't ever get rid of it. I'm going to maybe we'll have to frame it. We'll frame it and we'll put it in the office so I know you don't go home and throw it out. Okay.

Well, I will never throw it out. I'm worried here because I don't want to...

No, you don't want to damage it at all.

It's actually in incredible shape, but I know I'm in here.

Adam doesn't want to damage it. Yeah, open it. I have tuberculosis. Open it. All right.

Here we go. Here we go.

Do you know what page it's on?

No. You should.

I don't think you've ever read it.

No, I don't think I ever... I don't even know if I ever held a copy. Okay. Beautiful people. Beautiful people.

Look in the glossary under Hotties.

Like The Weekend, Ryan Reynolds, Ryan Gossling, Justin Trudeau.

Justin Trudeau.

Sophie Trudeau.

Let's get to Adam Weil. Liz Sagrello.

Let's get to the good ones.

Oh, gosh. Are you okay? Yeah.

Do you want the day off?

You guys keep talking and I'll find this.

You want me to do it?

No, I'll find it.

Okay. Well, Jessie.

It's not like it's easy. There's 50 of them.

No, Steve, you go. What do you got?

On a scale of one to hot, how do we think Adam's profile is going to be in this magazine?

Definitely hot. He's named one of Canada's hottest people.

Come on, guys. Tap dance a little bit.

No, this is much more fun watching you try and find this.

Here we go. Do you think nick Robertson did it on purpose? Let's talk about that. I'm on the side if he did.

Here's my co-host, Tanya Kim. Okay. See? Makes sense. Beautiful. She's in the middle there in the leather jumps.

Oh, thank you.

I was like, Which one is Tanya Kim? She belongs in this magazine.

Sure.

Now, remember, this is 10 years ago. I cannot believe someone found this. This is unbelievable. I'm just going to find-I thought you were going to turn the page and you were there.

No, not yet.

It was Jonathan Bernier, Sophie, Gregoire, Trudeau, Justin Trudeau. Oh, good. They put me right next to like, Yeah, there I am. Yeah!

Finally, that was excruciating.

That was actually terrible.

That was awful.

What are we talking about here, guys?

Okay, here we go. There's Adam Wild. Read what the description says.

Description says, Into the microphone if possible. Toronto, age 28, can be heard on the radio station, Kiss 92.5, and TV's, Roger's your World this week. Entertainment City and Breakfast Television. Confidence comes down to how you eat, how at ease you are in a situation.

So I guess I'm confident. Is that a quote from you?

Apparently.

Hold on. What did you give to Hello Canada? What quote did you say?

Can I I'm going to read it so that people can hear it.

Let Steve do it.

You can barely talk. It doesn't sound like me.

H hometown, Toronto, age 28. Multimedia. He can be heard on radio station, Kiss 92.5. What?

I'm doing it, but better. And Seen on TV's, Roger's Your World This Week, Entertainment City on Breakfast Television. Casual wear. Confidence comes down to how at ease you are in a situation. So I guess I'm most confident on a Sunday morning drinking coffee in my pajamas. Fresh-cut. Nothing beats the feeling of putting on a brand new suit. Yeah, Adam? Nothing beats the feeling of... How about bacon?

I don't know if you ever said this. You said this? I don't think I did. You did. There was no way.

If this was a Bachelor bio, I'd be like, Get him off the show first week.

Yeah, it's rough.

Fresh Cut. Oh, no, we just did that. Rock on. Adam's go-to concert companion is his mom, TV and radio star, Marilyn Dennis.

That is actually true.

That is true. No, you're missing one quote from Adam.

Oh, dear. The closest thing I can compare celebrity reporting to is going on a first date. That's from Adam Wild.

That's also true.

You did.

These are your quotes, Adam. I don't think I said that. I don't think I said nothing compares to putting on a fresh suit. I don't know. All of my clothes for TV were borrowed.

Yeah, but you're in a suit.

No, I never was. I was wearing jeans.

The picture is literally of you in a suit.

I know. It's a suit jacket. I still was wearing jeans. I remember that jacket, too. But yeah, that's what I used to look like. Anyway, look at chest. That's crazy. What a find. How do you even locate something I don't know.

You got to be in Eric's world where you're a comic book collector.

You almost tore it. I almost did. I put it down.

Dad, take it.

We got to frame the page, I guess.

I think we can frame the page. They can flatten it.

We got to flatten it. We'll damage it a little bit. Who cares? It's about the page, right? Yes. Maybe we'll take out the cover or we'll take out the staples and we'll do the cover.

They'll do that at the framing place. Yeah, not us. No, I wouldn't trust us.

We'll do the cover and the page. Without a week, we'll hang that in the office.Thank you so much.Hilarious. That is incredible. How do you track down something like that?

What a fine. It's unbelievable.

This person may or may not have reached out to me on Instagram, and I was like, Please send that to us immediately.

Oh, my God. That's so funny. It's so funny. I guess two people collect Hello Canada magazines.

I don't know.

That's weird, right?

Maybe they're huge Adam Wilde fans or Jay Barishell fans. Because he was right next to you.

It could be. Now, I wanted to start this show with this video. I'm not sure if you've seen it. I'm going to send this to Jessie. This is the Markham Royals. Before Steve asks, because he does this every time, even though I vet it, yes, we can use it on YouTube, Steve. It's a social media video.

Sometimes you don't vet it.

I do vet it. No, the one where- Don't play it with any audio, okay? All right?

When we were like, Hey, does that have any music in it? And then the first note was a piano. I was like, Oh, okay. I was like, three episodes ago, Adam.

Probably royalty for you, but anyway.

When has Adam ever been wrong, aside from the times he's been wrong?

So watch this. Now, remember Steve getting nailed at hockey? Yes. Steve was blindsided. This is a Markham Royals' captain stepping out on the ice for the first time. He's excited. He's ready to go. He's a young man in the prime of his life. Press play, Jesse.

Get in there, kid. Get in there.

And he absolutely clobbers one of his teammates.

Man, that should be... I would send that to teams as part of my highlight package. Absolutely. So he steps onto the ice. He does not... Dude, the teammate that runs into him at Full speed. I would say at least half speed does not affect him at all. It's just shoulder into the chest and he's dead.

Yeah. You could see why this guy's capped. He's also like half a foot taller.

He's huge. That's a Vladdy Constantinov hit.

That's a big- Monster, yeah.

Throwback. But, man, he flattened some of the flyers.

A heck of a promo video. The other thing I wanted to bring up before we get into news and notes around the league and the Leifs and everything. Jesse, I'll just say you another thing there. Oakland played their last game at what was Oakland Alameda County Stadium. Has been there since, I believe, 1968. Stadium is falling apart. A couple of years. There are a ton of great TikToks from people that actually work there that are like, Here's what I love about the stadium. And the stadium is just a shithole now. It was not well kept. It's too bad.

I posted a video and someone's like, It looks like a great place to bring your kids to a park.

Yeah, honestly. And there were people like, seats out of the stadium and the seats were all rusted underneath. It really does show like, Man, we're a little spoiled here in Toronto with our sports.

Well, they also just... I mean, they abandoned it.

Yes.

For years. While using it.

Yeah. So what was weird about the goodbye video was the Abruzizi Toronto Maple leaves Justin Bieber video- Jersey. Jersey that showed up. Why are you wearing an Abruzizi Jersey?

It's It's the black Leifs Jersey 26 Abrazizi. Some Leifs fans right now are like, Who's that? Why are you simply sharing a video of a guy wearing a Leifs Jersey with his name on the back? No. Nick Abrazizi has played 11 NHL games for the Toronto Maple.

And he is on their B squad this morning.

Adam, do you know our special connection to nick Abruzizi?

Other than the fact that every time we say his name, a bunch of people reach out, It's Abruzizi. And he's like, No, it's Abruzizi.

There's also Abruzizi, some people say. Oh.

Yeah. Well, and I'm sure everyone called him Bates Patalia when he was a leaf, right? Yeah. Let's calm down, everyone. No, our connection is you and I were in the building for his first and so far only NHL goal. Really? Yes. In that shitty game 82 against Boston where no one played. No one was in the lineup, basically, and he scored.

That's so incredibly random.

It's random. It's almost as random as remember we used to talk about Roughrider fans, Saskatchewan Roughrider fans, and how you could find them literally anywhere?

Great Wall of China.

Yeah. They got the Rough Riders gear on. This is years and years ago. That felt like that to me. I just don't know why you're wearing a leaf jersey to the Oakland game.

I'm sure that guy, he must have heard an episode of the show at least once.

If you're him and you wore that, please reach out to us.

I was definitely like, man, that's a fan.

He must. If you're a leaf fan, you've at least heard of it.

What's with that? If I see someone being difficult about a jersey, my instinct is they listen.

Well, no, that's not what I'm saying. But I'm like, Lee Fandem, as much as it's huge, it's a small town. Everybody knows everybody. And so it's like, Hey, if you know this person, even if you know this person, I would love to know. I'd love to have them on and figure out why the hell they were wearing it.

What's the context here with the Oakland A's and wearing a Leef's jersey?

And then I look it up because I'm like, I bet Abrazizi's from Oakland, and this is a relative, and he's from New York. Okay, so guess not.

When I went and saw a Tampa Bay game against Nashville in 2017, and somebody was wearing a Dave Steckle leafs jersey. Hell, I'm like, You have to be related to Dave Steckle. Who's going to have a Dave Steckle leefs jersey?

There was a Leifs fan in Sweden when I was there last year wearing a Leaps Dennis Malkin Jersey.

And I was just like-Relative.

What is up with that? And he's like, No, I'm a big Dennis Malkin fan. He was just a big Dennis Malkin fan.

Good for Malkinhive.

The Malkinhive, rise up. I found the leader. I found the Queen B.

So last night, the Leaps won their first game in the preseason. Nobody cares about the score, but there was one storyline. Nick Robertson, the best of times and the worst of times.

Game-winning goal. That's what everyone was talking about.

Yes, but he also took out a member of the core for, and as of this morning, it means Matthews, Neilander, and Tavares are not skating or have light injuries already.

Leifs PR sent out a tweet this morning listing injuries, and they didn't list Willy.

No, they didn't. And Barubei did say he would be okay.

Yeah, Willy seems like he's fine.

They're being extra cautious. He makes eleven and a half million dollars. He's one of their best players, and he missed playoff games. Why, boys and girls? Migraines. So they want to make sure he doesn't get those. But They listed a few injuries. Yarn Croke, lower body. Alex Steves, lower body. John Tavares, lower body. The following players will not... I'm reading it in reverse order for some stupid reason. It's Friday. They're not skating today because they have day-to-day injuries. Matthews was on the ice.

Yeah.

And Dakota Mermis is actually undergoing surgery for his jaw.

He's crazy.

Listed as week-to-week. That sucks. The jaw is a very long and shitty recovery. And that's a guy who has a somewhat okay chance of playing games, at least this season. I'm not worried. If he was listed and they said, Oh, you It's a terrible word, terrifying word, especially this time of year, reevaluation. You never want to hear reevaluated. He's got to get reevaluated. Oh, no. No, I don't want to hear that.

Everybody's wondering, too, how's this all going to fit? At least you're going to have to make a change before the end of preseason to fit everybody and sign patch already or whatever. With Yarn Croke not skating for now three or four days, I don't know that they're going to have to figure that out for a while. It seems like he might to actually be hurt.

Well, so it's... I was talking about this about a month ago, a few weeks ago. Hey, they actually have cap space going into the season and they're going to be able to accrue it. Every passing day, it appears that will not be the plan. I'm fairly confident they're going to LTIR Connor Duhre, and it looks like that could be a possibility Lee with Yarn Croke, although he's listed as day to day and the season doesn't begin for another two weeks. I have no idea what they're doing. No idea cap-wise. It feels like I think Lawrence is going to be a leaf.

He looked good. I liked him last week.

I love that player for the role. I think Patch ready is going to be a leaf on account of that's what everyone is saying. I think it was CJ was saying it'll be like the, who was it? Zack Aston-Reese deal, where he signed for a very weird amount of money, and the reason was to maximize the LTIR. I think he got them down to zero dollars or something like that. I think that's what they're going to try to finagle with these guys. Even then, I still don't understand. Like, Kiprios, yesterday was like, Yeah, Patcherade, he's He's going to get like 1 mil, 1.1, 1.2. And I'm like, Where?

With what? How? No. I think if he was generalizing, if you watched the whole conversation, he was just generalizing on the same thing that everybody's been saying and that whatever's left of the salary cap is just like, Hey, this is the money that's left. This is what it's going to get. It's not that he was saying, Oh, it's going to be 900 or 1.1. It was just like, Hey, whatever, million dollar left, mil, 1.1 left. That's what he's going to get. So it's not that specific where talking about the salary cap. Like, he's a capologist and that stuff. It's the context.

It's been enjoyable to watch and pay attention to. I like this. I feel like in previous years, it's been obvious what they were going to do painfully. You could telegraph what leaves management was going to do. Now I'm sitting here like, I don't know who's going to be in the lineup.

That's what I was saying before, Kim.

I was excited for that. No, it's definitely fun.

Are we moving quickly pastNick Robertson doing that to Willy? No, we're actually coming back to- Okay, we went a lot of directions.

No. I think, obviously, we'll work backwards here. The steal and the goal. Fantastic. Thank you, Jesse. Exactly. If that's the only highlight from nick Robertson last night. You're like, damn it, that man just made the team. That's exactly the stuff Barubei wants from him. Stick work on the guy, turn the buck over, and nick has one of the best shots on the team.

Preseason is about adjustment to speed, right? And that looked like a player who could keep up, right? Taking advantage of a player who wasn't, at very least in that moment. I thought it was strange. I don't know which Habs defenseman it was, Barron. They were so casual with it. But nick is never going to be casual about everything. He plays every game like it might be his last because it genuinely might be. Whether the team is going to trade him or he just decides to skate brain first into a hit again. He just seems to get creamed every time. But he always gets back up And he always tries his best. And he has this funny-looking shot. It's so weird. He's just got one of those shots where I'm like, I don't understand how this is good. But goalies can't keep track of it. They can't keep up to it. And I think the difficulty he's had is finding room for himself. Well, if he creates a scenario for himself where he has a takeaway, that goalie is in trouble. That goalie is in very big trouble. And with that play, I think he did good things for his opportunity to make this team.

I'm going to go as far as to say last night was in in the eyes of the Leifs organization, good for him. I know Leifs fans do not feel that way today, and I think I'm about to get into an argument with my friends. I think we all need to get over it.

Okay, Jesse.

In a game where nothing matters and not everybody's going 100% because it's an exhibition game, there are actually no points on the line. When you're a guy fighting for a lineup spot, your job is to be the going 100%. It was Engstrom, who he stole the buck from. When you're back there in the offensive zone and you have that opportunity to make a play that's just simply an effort play and stealing the buck and turning around and scoring, that's what you want to see out of a player who's fighting for a lineup spot. It was the perfect play for a guy who needs those sorts of play to make the lineup. I agree with you that it was a great night for nick in the end of it all that he was able to come up and make that play. But the one thing about nick Robertson, the difficult thing about him, is that he's been good offensively. We know he is good on the offensive end. We know that we can get 14 goals out of him, and he's going to be one of the highest goals per 60. You pointed that out where it's like, Isolate for goals per 60.

He's going to be at the top there. I think he's number three on the team last season or number two behind Austin.

It's Austin Robertson-Mcman.

Yeah, because Mcman had that hot start. The guy who's second on the team in goals per 60 We know he can do that at the NHL level. It's about the other stuff. The other stuff includes not making a bone-hended decision, like pushing one of the top players on the team in the butt and causing him to hit somebody's knee in chin.

Just terrifyingly similar to Tavares Perry.

I want to say in the end, it's a good night for nick, and I agree with that. But it's also how much did you move the needle? It couldn't have moved that much because the other parts of the game are what we want you to fix. We want you to be not fast feet everywhere. We want you to do a smarter hockey sense. All of those things are what nick Robertson needs to do to get in the lineup regularly. Last night, he showed the part of the game that he's good at, which is play to your strengths. We got to also see more from nick.

Well, and part of... So when it gets to the Neylander thing, can we pull that up? Sure. So this is Robertson giving Neylander a push. This happens all the time in the NHL. The issue is that I don't think he told him he was going to do that.

Neilander has no idea this is coming.

Or if the situation warranted it, because it can also be, nick, move your feet. That was the argument nick Kipreos was making at intermission. It's, nick slows down and his feet stop moving so that he can boost Nylander. But if you're the guy fighting for the lineup, get in there and move your feet and get into the zone.

Also, I'm not That screenshot's terrible because lost in this conversation is that stick is in a very… He basically puts it between Neelander's butt.

That's a credit card swipe right there. Yes.

The reason Neilander goes down is because he was diving in a preseason game. Okay. No, I'm kidding. Sorry. I was just doing an impression of the worst people in the world. The placement of the stick was too low, and that's why he falls. And I don't think Nielander needs your help.

No, he's pretty quick. No. That's the thing. Nielander is quicker than you.

He's quicker than almost everybody.

I look at this and- He's fine. Was it I recall that a Bush League play, and that's what preseasons for Bush League plays. To me, this is nick Robertson doing what Steve mentioned earlier, which is he tries so hard. Sometimes it's almost too hard. This is a good-I don't want to victimize the guy, but you could tell this guy fucking wants it so bad.

I'm going to turn the heat down on Robertson because I could go full Hellfire and Brimstone No, I don't think he can. We all know it's stupid. Sure. It's stupid. He shouldn't have done it.

Yeah.

And dangerous. Would I have different feelings about it if Neilander was hurt long term? You bet. I probably would. Would it change the the logic that nick used heading into the play? No. Is that fair? Also, no. What am I human? Yes.

Is the logic he used going into the play the good logic?

The logic is, I'm going to do 1% better I'm going to do whatever I can do. I'm going to help William Nylander do something good. And what if this boost helps Willy get the fuck and it leads to offense. Maddie's laughing.

But like this-I'm not buying what you're selling.

No, but, Jessie, there's nothing at stake for you. This guy badly, badly Wants to play in the NHL and ask for a trade. He signed his contract, and he's here, and he's trying to do everything. He's still fighting for his life to make the team because they went out and they got guys like Patcheretti and Lawrence, and I barely had a spot on this team without those guys, and now they're here. Adam nailed it. He's doing way too much. And since Neilander is okay, I think it's water under the Bridge. It's a good teachable moment. Hey, nick, no one does that. Relax. No one should ever do that. I don't even know about relax, but that's not going to get you on the team. What's going to get you on the team is what you did later in the game.

That is where I felt, Okay, we're getting somewhere, because what he could have done was folded. What he did do was he went out and he made a great play.

And Perube put him out, if I'm not mistaken, next shift.

That is a coach showing, Hey, I know you can do this.

I know you can do better.

Because if you're Barube in that situation, you got to take him aside and say, Listen, you got about three seconds to feel bad about that, and you got to move on.

Yes.

Short memory, short memory. You'll deal with it after the game. You got to get out there and you got to earn a spot. What he did, I thought, when we started with the great play that he made, there's a reason for that because that is the lasting memory you should have from this. Obviously, this was silly, this was dumb, and Willy's okay, and we're okay. You don't need to do that. Simplify the game. Jesse mentioned it. When you're talking about what kept him out of the lineup, Sheldon Keef scratching him for game seven last year was completely unforgivable. I would fire Sheldon Keef just based on that.

He was zeros across the board.

But when you're looking... Okay, he zeros across the board, but you can't fucking score in the series. You're going to take a scoring thread out. Okay, fine. Great. Yeah, that makes a ton of sense. Great work. Good job, everybody. Fair enough. My point is this guy can put it in the net. If this guy does simple shit where he's not dicking around with the pocket, the blue line like he did last year, where he's not making cross ice passes through the neutral zone. If you keep it, simplify your game on the defensive zone. No one needs you to be Cali Arn Croke. Nobody needs you to be John Tavares in the defensive zone. All we need is for you to be simple, get Work on your zone exits, and we'll get you in a spot where you can score.

Get open and shoot.

He's going to score 25 goals this year if he plays.

I think all of that is why the game itself is like a net even for nick, because he didn't show any improvement for last year, but he He can take a step back. He shows he can score, but he shows that he's still doing bone-headed stuff.

Well, then there's the argument that last year he was a good player. You know what I mean? He was. Last year-Offensively. And he should be in the lineup anyway. He should be on pace for 15, 20 goals, should be on pace for 40-ish points for under a million bucks.

There's other parts of the game than nick just scored. Yes. And that's the part he struggles with. And this showed that he's still where he was last year. If the idea for nick to get an improvement, to get in the lineup is to improve, he's right where he is. Yeah.

This is-I think maybe it's jitter's leftover from the Keef era.

Yeah, I think having not watched-Yeah, but it's pro-sports.

Having not I don't have time for you to figure out your jitter.

Yeah, that's fair.

How much leash you're given this pro athlete to figure out the rest of the game? Having not watched every single nick Robertson game, my guess is he's never done this before, and my guess is he'll never do this again. I don't look at this as a bad habit he needs to get out of his game. You know what I mean? No. Being constantly out of position, that's bad.

Yeah, it's not the specific play. It's what this play represents about the rest of his game. I understand. It's not the, Hey, he does this all the time. He pokes guys in the butt and makes them go down, it swipes them in between the butt.

Directly in the Gucci.

It's about his hockey sense. This is an example of that, and that is rest of the game. This is just an example of what he does outside the score.

By the way, I will also say that Willy did join the ice late in practice today.

Which is not abnormal for him.

Yeah, I don't think he needs to be.

He takes the subway in Toronto.

He said at the Amazon thing that waking up early is not his best skill.

Man, same. Fricken same.

So yeah, it doesn't shock me that he was late.

Going into the game, I thought this was important, too. We got to talk about New Lantern because this whole shift to center is a topic of conversation. And Berube said, in my opinion, he's been better and better. I watch him in practice, situational stuff, coming in our zone. It's all about moving his feet without the buck. And that was going into the game. Yes. He does Coast sometimes. Right. So now that you're a center, you really can't anymore. I think he's got the maturity now that he knows that. How do you think accepting what happened with Robertson last night? How do you think it's going?

Well, it's going back to what we talked about with Neil-Ander coasting. Because of that, he's one of the most fun ISO cams in the league. You know how there's a goal and they have a cam on one player and they'll go back 15 seconds before the goal. And he's doing the Pierre-Luc Dubois in Winnipeg special, or in Columbus special. Just, We, nothing, nothing, nothing. And he's just bad as a hell. And his acceleration, no one can keep up with him. He's so ridiculous. It's preseason. It's difficult to glean too much. But you know what we haven't seen is a huge glut of stupid decisions or blown assignments where you're like, Oh, he can't do this. Now the speed is going to jump up and the games are going to start to count, and he is going to make those mistakes, and he is going to blow it. And he might even cost you a game or two, right? Or for at least a goal or two. And it's going to make people upset, and people are going to react and say, This is why he can't do it. And it's on Craig Berube in the Leifs organization to have patience and give it an honest shot.

I have been adamant all summer long. I don't think this team can enter the season with the core four again. I don't. They're doing it. So it's crazy, out of your mind, nuts to go into the season with the core four in the exact same configuration, which is Neil André and Marner on the wings, Matthews and Tavares, top two centers. Away we go. You find two guys to play the left. You can't do it again. This is as close to fundamental changes we're going to get with the Leaps. And if it doesn't work, I don't think this team can simply go, Well, then we'll just put Tavares back there.

No, they're going to have to make a move.

I mean, they can.

No, it's good. Listen, that's why I think this is going to work.

For a bit. But I think heading into the playoffs, barring other large injuries, your priority has to be, All right, we need to get the best center available.

Right.

Jesse, any thoughts?

On Willy at center? Yeah. No, I think Steve nailed it in that, A, at least- Always do. It's something different. You look at the roster and how they've just leaned even heavier into the core four idea in that, Okay, you got Mitch at 10.9, and then from there, from the forward group, it goes to Domi at 3.7 Seven. That's insane the way the cap is structured for them.

Did you hear CJ on a CJ show? I think it was yesterday. What did he say? He says there's a greater than zero chance that a Mitch extension gets before the season begins.

Yeah, that makes sense. Certainly feeling warm in that.

I don't recall anyone saying that previously. Every now and then I listen to that and I go, We're going to go back. Sorry, what? I was screwing around with the Blue Room switching up some things. But I couldn't believe he said that because I hadn't really heard a whisper in that direction.

What did you guys think of the London Nights line of Cow and Marter Domi? That was fine.

They It's difficult. Watching preseason games is a skill. Justin Bourne, I think, is very good at it, and he did that for Sportsman. So I think it was the second game where Robertson is on the top power play because no one's in the lineup, and he gets a really good shot and he misses. And fans are like, Oh, he missed. And Borne doesn't get caught up in that. He goes, he was in good position. He's got a good shot. That's a clean look, and that's a look he'll score from. Yeah. Easton Cowan, how differently would we be talking about him if that really good scoring chance he had where Marner was the screen in front, if that had just gone in?

Yeah.

We'd be like, Oh, well, this guy might make the team.

I thought it was the best I've seen Easton Kau and look.

Is that enough?

I don't think so.

This is like-I think they're too much of a glut. Lea fans are bored. We've talked about this. A lot of them are just not excited, not as excited about this team in this season as they wish they were. I think a lot of people are trying to talk themselves into it, and they're too smart. People have been hurt too many times. They lost in the first round again, and then they didn't really do anything. Tanev was a good signing.

I'm sorry. Oliver Ekman-Larson had an 87% expect to go for last night.

Oh, man, that's so fucking wrong.

He might be the greatest free agent signing the least I've ever made.

My brain will not process that he's 95. I know. It's crazy. Every time he's on the ice, I'm like, Who's that?

I know.

Every time. Next shift.

Who's that? Anyway, I disagree with you. I do think they did more stuff than you're giving them credit for. No, no.

They did more stuff.

Is it enough? I just don't think so. I think they did more stuff in the ways that they... I actually think you're wrong on that. I'll stop you there on that because I think the Tanef signing is far more valuable than people are giving it credit for. I agree. I think Ryan O'Reilly was right when he said, We got to deemphasize the core for. And what the Leifs did, yes, they kept the core for it. Yes, they'll probably continue to keep them. You got Tanef. Who cares about the term? It's about winning now. You got OEL. You needed Puck Movement. He played really well. And here's a guy that just won the Stanley Cup. That's great. I I want to do a little particular spotlight. Anthony Stollers. That's a good goalie, man. Holy smokes. Is he ever? Yeah, big fan. I think when you look at what the issues were with the team last year, yes, scoring in the postseason was a problem. You were also missing Matthews and Nylander for a good chunk of that series. I would say- This is why the April jar, it's got to be this big. Yeah, 100%. I would say, though- What was the problem in October?

Well, Samson off. There you go. And so that is a nice problem not to have. Yes. You got two guys who you know are objectively better than Samsonov. Samsonov, at his best, is a tantalizing goal tender.

That was the problem heading into last season. There wasn't any real reason to think Samsonov would stink.

Right. And then he was awful. He was awful. So I look at the Stoller's thing and I'm like, Listen, think about the difference that that can make. The fact that you have a goalie that can actually stop pucks regularly. We did not We did not have that in October. We did not have that in March. We did not have that in April.

He's big, athletic, calm. Really like him. What's not to like?

You know what else I like? He's healthy. That's the other problem with the other goalie.

Oh, you shut your mouth. You shut your mouth.

Joe Wall and Treliving said it- There's still three preseason games left.

You shut your mouth.

Yeah, you're right. You got to have a healthy goalie, too. Yes. Joe Wall, I think, is the real deal. Got to stay healthy. What is it? And for the rest of the preseason, maybe you switch those guys in for half a game. Give the rest of it to Matt, Maria, and Hildebeast because you don't really... What are you really aiming to get out of this? I don't need some guy in the AHL. The reason Tavares has got a lower body injury is because Pizet caught him. Was it a harder than you need to hit in the preseason? Sure, but Pizetta is trying to earn a job.

No, you got to look at Jorge Massive at all. It was super necessary. I'm on the ice. I'm on the ice. Where are you?

Yeah, 100%.

Fresh meat.

I just feel like, let's preserve a good thing. We got three of the four already battling some injuries. Let's not push our luck. Goalies look good. Maybe a little bit more. I need to see a little more of a wall and let Hildeby and Matt Murray duke it out for third string.

I think we're going to start seeing full games. There's only three left, right? No one's played a full game yet. No. I don't think. No. You'll probably get a Salers one, probably get a Wolle one, maybe one where they split.

This is where I think they've made big changes is that last year's team, it was crazy. What a sequence of events. Domi was cold coming out of the gate. Bertuzzi was a non-player. He was horrible. He was terrible. Non-option. Samzenoff was brutal, brutal. And Klingberg was not good either.

Klingberg sheltered Tyler Bertuzzi. How bad Klingberg was made people not care about how bad Bertuzzi was.

If you can have average career, average performances from all of these guys, I think it's a better team.

No one is arguing the leads are bad. No one.

I think they're better.

I also think they're better. This is, again, the problem. I don't know how you get this fan base jacked about this team without tricking them.

Okay.

No, I'm serious. They're nearly the same. Even if they weren't nearly the same, no one's going to believe that they're different until the end of the first round and whether or not the Leaps are still playing.April.

Jarp.don't they could do? They could go win a division. That'd be cool. I think that'd get people interested.

That'd be cool. No, the Atlantic is wide open.

If Boston doesn't have Swayman, if Florida is tired, if Tampa is old, I don't know.

There's lots. There's no reason the Leaps shouldn't at least compete for it. There you go, Adam. We Both side of the individual races, can Matthews win another Rocket or maybe even challenge for MVP, stuff like that. Yeah, win the division, win the League.

Go win the League, yeah.

Go win the President's trophy.

Yeah. Why not? A hundred %. Try it. Go set some records. Regular season records. That's what we're after. Yeah.

The D-pairing from last night looked like they'll be the D-pairing to start opening day, right?

Can you run them through?

It was Reilly, Tanev, O-E-L, McKay, Benwa, Lilligran. I don't see any changes there.

Yeah, Baruba is not screwing around. What do you mean? Well, it's just less than... Well, now we're halfway through, but he began game three out of six. Here's what it is.

I think you got to give him run, right? You got to try him at least one time, and I guess this was the game.

Well, at this point, I don't think it's about... Yeah, it's about building chemistry for sure, but it's less about, All right, let's see who's going to make the team. And it's more about, Let's evaluate, is this good enough in the preseason? Because it's not out of the realm of possibility. Baruba just goes, No, I don't like it. And they got to make a move or someone becomes available on waivers, right? He just got here, notably. But guys are going to start getting waived. And Berube has got to know by the time that starts happening, whether or not he likes this group.

And I think the D, I think it was good enough. I don't think they need any changes. I don't think they bring in any waiver guys. I think it's good.

Simone Benoît, open ankle, blocking a shot in the final seconds of a preseason game. It was like, never change. Never change, Benny.

In the test sky.

You nut.

Notable yesterday, too. Not having to do with the Leaps unless you guys have more to add to the-The Max Paterini turnover wasn't great. Not great.

Yeah. I feel like somebody at that age should know not to do that in your own end. Passing it across the ice and then leading directly to a goal. That was a sequence that backed up Justin Bourn's skepticism about, Are we sure about this guy? But I think we're sure about this guy. But also So you can't make that play.

Here's the difference. If nick Robertson makes that play, that's why he can't play. Yes. Patcheretti, who's had two Achilles injuries, but name brand does a lot. Yes. Name brand does a lot. I mean, if nick Robertson had a two goal game like Patcheretti did, we'd be like, Here he is. And then he has the turnover, He has to learn shit. Name brand does a lot. This is a former captain. This is a multi-time 30 goal scorer, I'm pretty sure. Multi-time 60 plus points. The name brand of Max Patcheradeh has been really good. Hasn't been that way for a few years. That's why he's here.

Exactly.

If things had gone well, if his health held up, he wouldn't be here. Least wouldn't be able to afford him. He'd be somewhere else, lighten it up. But he's here, technically on a PTO, they keep saying, Well, he's got a contract. Where? Where? It hasn't been signed. You know what I mean? If he's garbage for the next three games, I'm not entirely convinced there's going to be a contract. I mean, it's a preseason. Everyone's got stuff to work on. He can't do that again. You don't get many more mistakes like that.

But I think, to your point, name brand means a lot. You know that he knows he shouldn't do that. Yeah. It's not like a young guy where you got to teach him a lesson, he knows.

Yeah, but he didn't.

Robertson- That's why I was worth just talking about.

You young idiot, you young, dumb, stupid idiot. And then a young guy who's learning his way through the league, we carve him like a Thanksgiving turkey. A 35-year-old who's been in the NHL for hundreds of games does it, and we're like, He won't do it again.

The other side of like, is he losing a step? Because once you get to a certain age, then the conversation goes back to when you were a kid and it's like, Oh, you might not have it anymore. Instead of, You don't have it, you might not have it anymore. We're not at that point with patch ready yet for sure, but there's always that turning moment to generalize it.

Here's where we're at. We've seen the really good from patches, two goals and an assist. We've seen that, which we'll categorize as really bad. It's three games left. Fair bet, he plays two. He has to be better. That's it. Yeah. Okay.

That's it. I want to throw this at you. Yesterday, it was announced Live Nation is going to build a non-permanent concert venue at Downsview Park. Downsview Park, for those that don't know, is a gigantic piece of land north of Toronto. It's up where we actually play Steve's Easter Seals Tournament with the Eric Lindros, Easter Seals connection.

Scotia Bank Pond.

Scotia Bank Pond. It was up by town.

Near York University.

It's where they actually teach tomorrow's pilots, how to fly because there's an airport there. That's where the school is. It's a 520 acre site. I have been to a concert there. It was called Sars Stock, Rolling Stones, ACDC, Guess Who, Justin Zimmer, about 20 years ago. It has, from time to time, hosted gigantic outdoor festivals. But Toronto really doesn't have a spot for that. The site will be redeveloped into housing eventually in the next couple of decades. We're just not sure when. It's going to be the first massive open air stadium that we have had since Exhibition Stadium, which closed about 25, 30 years ago. What's interesting here, guys, is for the hockey perspective and the sports perspective, it got people instantly talking about an NFL team in Toronto. Really? Could we potentially have another site for an open air outdoor game? 30,000 seats, the rest will be standing. You could still You'll have an outdoor stadium, and you can also put what they've done with the CFL, with BMO Field, is you just put more seats up. You can just do that, put bench seating in for one venue. But right now, by the way, it's going to be called Rogers Stadium.

You bet. That was the worst part of the whole announcement.

Rogers Arena, Rogers Place.

Rogers Stadium.

Rogers Stadium. Oh, Rogers Center. Rogers Center. There's a lot of it. Rogers, Rogers, Rogers.

What's the next one?

I don't know.

Rogers Building.

Yeah.

They already have that actually.

Place, Arena, Stadium Center. Yes. Yeah, the four big ones. Yes.

And the offices are Rogers's campus.

Yes.

I don't know. They're running out of names of places.

Thanks, Steve.

That's all I'm saying.

I'm sure there's a Rogers's auditorium somewhere, too. I'm sure. But what's going to be interesting is that it'll have 30,000 seats, rest standing, three-quarter stadium, removable standard stage. And so artists like Taylor Swift, she is doing five or six nights at Rogers Center in November. Somebody like her could come back next year or the Rolling Stones because they're getting older and they only do outdoor stadiums now. They do football stadiums rather than doing hockey rinks because they're coming towards the end of their careers and they're legendary artists. When you have something like that, there's the 65,000 capacity Oceaga at Jean Drapeau Espace in Montreal. Good job. We didn't have that in Toronto. I think this is going to be interesting. I think we're going to see an outdoor game. They're saying it's going to It opened next June. They announced it yesterday. It opened next June.

That's how not- This thing is going to be built of plywood.

Well, that's how not permanent it is, right? But I think it could be... They think it's going to be 12 to 15 performances a year. My bet is the Races tour is going to be the first stop because they have announced Toronto, or they haven't announced, but it's leaked that it'll be Toronto. And then after that, I'm thinking it would be very cool to get an outdoor game up there.

Yes, I agree. But listen, we need this. You do need this. We need more cool things to do in the city. We do.

And it's on the subway line.

The first thing I thought of was, You won't catch me dead going to that venue without being paid to do it. Really? Fuck no. Why not? Fuck no. As a suburbanite, as someone who lives outside the city, Absolutely the fuck not.

It's the worst location in the world.

It's the worst fucking location on planet Earth. And this is going to-Why? A lot of people are not going to understand this because you don't know the area. But I'm sure if you live in a big city, you have an area like this.

That place, 50,000 people.

And you said they have a what?

Subway.

Subway what?

Subway.

Stop. They have a subway? Stop.

Are you kidding me? Getting up to Downsue from the subway?

That's what I would imagine they would do.

It's literally impossible.

Well, I mean, when you look at Formula One, or you look at... Formula One is done on an island in Montreal. Thereit takes two hours to leave.

There are prisoners in Kingston pen that if you gave them the option of just staying put in Kingston or being forced to ride that subway up and down all day, would stay in prison. Fifty thousand To people?

No shot. Now, I think-No shot.

It's going to take you two hours to get out of that fucking thing.

No shot. Maddie, you're down, though, right? Yeah. I'd do it. Yeah, of course you would.

Maddie, how old are you?

You're not in that tempo anymore.

24. There you go. I'm a grown adult. 24. Is it near a go train station? Maddie, I got terrible news. It is nowhere fucking near a go train station.

No, no, no. Getting up to- It's Townsview Park, go.

Townsview Park.

Is that a bus station? That's like one of the B-Lines.

It is a B-Line, but it is there.

If anything that's not on the Lakeshore- Does the B stand for bus? That's not on Lake Shore West is annoying. It's a train. Or Lakeshore West or East Lakeshore Line. I will agree, though, that our urban planning system is in shambles.

Getting around Toronto is fucking horrible.

Getting up to Yorkdale Sheppard West area. Why are you advocating for this? Getting to Yorkdale The transit is basically just a little south of Downsview on the other side of the 401. This is such a niche Toronto talk, but it's impossible.

No, I think Toronto has lost the privilege to make cool new places. And To earn that privilege back has to come up with cool new transits to get to those places. How about- You do not get to build cool new places until this place is not the worst city to navigate in North America.

How about a tunnel underneath the 401? Anything.

Anything. Try anything.

That's where they were talking about. Yes.

Try anything. Can we have subways? Can we have this? Well, okay. Here's beer in grocery stores. Oh, they're fucking great. Dude, I don't care until... They shut a lane down on the DVP and the economy of the country takes a hit. It's brutal. It's brutal. It's brutal. It's brutal. I know this has nothing to do with sports, but there's my little rant. My first, second, and third thought when I heard this wasn't, Oh, cool, a new thing. It was, You won't catch me dead unless I'm being paid to be there.

Now, I think there are a lot of people in North York, and in that area who are going to love this. That's great. It's local to them. They're close to it. I think that is, if you're the Toronto Maple leaves, if you're looking for an outdoor game, here's a great way to reach out to your fans that it does take them 2 hours to get to a game if they are even going. Yeah.

Yeah, because that area, that part of the Greater Toronto area is fucking road warrior. It's driving, and it is a A nightmare. I don't know what it is about west of Yung Street where you just don't require a license to drive. It's, oh, my God. No, you won't catch me dead.

No shot. I'm excited to go.

This isn't to say that I don't think you're ever going to step foot in there. I'm going to Oasis. You don't leave your house.

I'm going to Oasis. Absolutely.

You don't go to things, so I don't know how you're going to go there. You go to things.

Jessie's so right.

Yeah. I don't know what you're talking about. I'm going to Oasis.

All right.

Did you go to Vell? Why would I go to Vell? Because it was held at Downsville. No, I'm not going to. The point I was trying to make is that they- I'm not going to go rip fucking drugs and go to Veld. The point I'm trying to make is that it's not like they didn't already do this over the course of the summer, over a weekend. Veld is held at Downsville over the course of three days, and you're getting just as many people in there as you're getting for this imaginary venue that's going to be opening next year. They have proof of concept that they can do this. Like, Velt is successful every season.

The asterisk, I would do it if I was wildly high. If I was wildly high, I'd be able to do something.

There's no doubt that I think it'll be successful. They'll do it. It's just not great. No, it's like-They don't have land in Toronto, and the one place they have land is all the way up there, and it's a very inconvenient. In place.

They make the Lefs and the Raptors and the Blue Jays and TFC and the Marlies, and now by extension, Toronto PWhL, and the Argos, they make it It's preposterously easy for if you don't live in Toronto, here's this really easy way to get in, come here, take your money that you got from other cities, spend it here, and beat it without ever actually setting foot on the streets of Toronto. It's crazy. This does not have that. It's a venue two and a half times the size of the ACC. Nightmare. Absolutely not. No, thank you. If you are from a certain distance east, you won't be stepping foot.

Yeah. The idea that an NFL team would go up there, it'd be a little disappointing because of just getting there would be impossible for the person that lives downtown or just east of the city.

It's like having the Jets play in Albany.

To me, yes. The Jets do play outside of New York, and it's very inconvenient. Oh, really?

Oh, there you go.

They play out in New I think it is.

Dude, leaving Foxborough when the outdoor game was there, Habs Bruins, leaving Gillette Stadium, I was like, People live like this? So we're just all going to collectively not move for the next hour and a half.

That's what we're doing. La has the same problem with Sofi Stadium being out in Inglewood, I believe. There's no transit going out there because LA's transit system is awful getting out to those places. They have this same problem with Sofi. The people don't go there. They don't go there outside of going to those football games. Same thing where Balmer's new arena is, which is right there. There's no transit out there. I don't know if you have the opportunity to build something new, don't replicate all of these places that have made this mistake. I guess the idea is we're going to build up and around it because there's going to be stuff like that. In the other areas, that's the idea. You're going to build around Sofi and Balmer's new stadium out in Inglewood. But here, there's already stuff there. We got a giant mall just south of the 401. There's so much housing around Downsville and all that stuff. There's nothing to build up. You're just putting it in an inconvenient area. I just wish you'd planned a little better Live Nation.

And then they're going to put housing there, which is good. We need more housing. They have housing. How are any of those people going to get anywhere? Oh, I live in this fucking prison.

I think the idea is to probably develop it. Yeah, is that the idea?

Or are they just going to build more places to spend money while not spending money on making it easier to get to those places? Yeah, with this, you have to come with some transit plan for the next 20 years of corona.

Make it easier for the citizens to spend money instead of spending money on the citizens. That's what the government always does.

There would probably be some expansion of that go train station that's way out there because that's there and that'd be convenient, but just some just get better.

Yeah. Well, everyone enjoy that plywood hunk of shit. I'm not going.

I'm excited. I was excited about it. Maddie, why don't we go to Oasis together and tell Steve and Jesse what a great time we had.

Today is going to be the day.

Yeah. I'm going to send you guys videos. Be like, Wow, we're having the best time in your-Oh, yeah.

That's going to make me miss.

Oh, yeah.

I'm going to be like, Fuck, I wish I was there.

Back to Hockey. The NHLPA has officially filed a grievance on behalf of Ryan Johansson for his essentially canceled contract by the Philadelphia Flyers. Remains to be seen what happens here, but I would think there's going to be some monetary settlement and that this never actually makes it to some public setting where we're going to hear about it.

I hope the flyers get dinged if there is.

Yeah?

Yeah. If there's a monetary settlement, that should go against your cap. What are we talking about?

Here's what I want to know, guys. Let's say it takes six months for that settlement to happen. Will it be applied retroactively to the cap? It should be, yeah, 100%. And If it's not, who is going to call shenanigans? Let's say the flyers have to settle and pay multiple millions here. The NHL pulls a Mike Richards where it's like, Oh, yeah, it went away and nobody talked about it, and we're just going to pretend.

No, if I'm the Knuxer Panthers, I call shenanigans on absolutely every- Because of the Lawango? Because of the Lawango Cap Recapture. You didn't let us have our fun. No one gets to have it. Nope. I'm complaining. Nope. Don't feel like it. Nope. I still don't understand why Mike Richards is on a reduced rate for the LA Kings. We've talked about that. Without knowing all the details, it's hard to have a hard and fast opinion about this because we don't know all the details. But it feels like Ryan Johansson and the Philadelphia Flyers were in the middle of doing something that lots of other teams have done. The difference is the Flyers really, really wanted to get rid of him.

They could have Roby Dau Island him.

It sounds like the Vegas Golden Nights were starting to lay the breadcrumbs that, Yeah, we're going to do this with Robin Leonard. Not an apples to apples thing, but sounded very similar. It sounds like the people involved nipped that in the bud real fast, and that's not going to happen. But I I don't understand. I'd like to know what Ryan Johansson did that is so different from what anyone else has done.

Well, the word is that he deceived the avalanche based on his injury.

The avalanche or the flyers?

The avalanche. Then the flyers were also deceived and that he waited till the end of the summer to get the procedure that they recommended. That's the scuttlebutt.

I don't think he deceived the avalanche because he played up until he was traded.

Right. Apparently, there was some, from what I have read, I don't know how confirmable any of this is, that the avs are claiming they didn't know the extent, and I don't know how that's possible.

So is that the avs trying to avoid what happened to the senators? Where the senators got dinged for- Maybe. Here's what I think Without having all the details with the Goldenites.

The reason that Ryan Johansson was traded essentially from the Blue Jackets because he was supposed to be their young, cool number one center, like Pierre-Luc Dubois, are we sensing a pattern here, is that he and Torrance hated each other. So when the Flyers acquired him, my question was always, in what world is Ryan Johansson ever going to play for this team? And the answer was he wasn't. And he wasn't going to report to Lehigh Valley.

Yeah, but you're going to get whatever your salary was in Lehigh Valley without having to dock escrow. Dude, take it. Lots of players have. You know what I mean? If he's healthy, do it. There is incentive for him to Sure. I guess there's also incentive for him to just sit at home.

Yeah. I know that he would have never played under torts. Never. It would never have happened. When the flyers acquired him, my question is- You can loan him out. What? Under what circumstance stances other than that deal itself, were they like, what are we? They must have known, okay, torts hates this guy. This guy hates torts. He's never going to play here.

It was purely cap.

Right. But then so you acquire him, that doesn't give him the right to make up, well, just say, Hey, my injury is now worse and I can't play for you.

No, of course not. I'm just skeptical that's what happened.

Okay. What do you mean?

I'm skeptical. He was like, I'm going to be real sneaky about this. How would he think he could possibly get away with that?

It's a little fishy on his end because he played right up until he was traded. Yes.

So the incentive for Johansson to keep playing, or rather, the incentive seems to be there for the Flyers, right? Because they get out from underneath this monetarily, right? But Are they fighting because they really want them to play for Lehigh Valley? Is that it?

No, the NHLPA is filing the grievance on behalf of Ryan Johansson because the Flyers terminated his contract because they said he was lying about this injury. The onus is on Ryan Johansson here is fighting for his money back because he thought after he was traded to the flyers, he thought like, Oh, now I'm going to get surgery for this injury. Me, and I can go on LTIR, collect my check, become a free agent, leave. But they said, No, you didn't have this injury. You're doing this unceremoniously. We're going to cut you. Yeah, that's what's happening.

It's an interesting story, right?

That seems like something so blatant and dumb, and maybe that's just straight up what happened. You ever hear a story that's so dumb you have a hard time believe in it?

I don't think it's dumb. I think he thought that players do this all the time where it's like, Oh, if I want to get surgery tomorrow, I can because I have this injury. He thought he could exercise it in this instance and know everybody would be okay with it and you could just collect this check and the flyers would be like, Yeah, go away. But the flyers are like, No, we actually want this money. We're going to cut you.

Are there similarities to Jack Eichel and the Sabers where Eichel is like, I'm going to get this surgery, and the Sabers were like, Well, no, you're not allowed. This is simply Johansson went and got a surgery without getting it cleared with the flyers. No.

I haven't heard that. I don't think that's... No, I don't think so.

It's difficult to know without all the detail.

It's going to be one to watch, but I have a sneaky suspicion, guys, that this settles, no one talks, and the flyers do not get dinged on the cap.

Yeah, I think that's what's going to happen. That's what's going to happen. How it should be because that's the precedence, not a legal thing.

Dennis Bernstein, who writes about LA Kings is hearing that Drew Dauti has a fractured ankle, but there is no other damage, and everybody's worried about his Achilles. That's crazy. Do you remember? So this is a game from a couple of nights ago. He ran into us for the Vegas Golden thing, and he needed to be helped off the ice. And this is a guy who is very healthy most of the time.

Well, when I saw his reaction, it wasn't one of... His reaction seemed very similar or two reactions I've seen where people rupture their Achilles, where it's not even necessarily like he's down, he's yelling, he's screaming. Go back and look at Kevin Durant when he got hurt. Oh, my God. He just went down and was like, Fuck. You know something really bad just happened. If a guy breaks their leg skateboarding, any video I've ever seen is they're screaming bloody murder. So Dauti handling that so calmly, and you see him say, My ankle, I'm like, That's his Achilles 100 % easy. So for it to just be a fracture is great news for him and the Kings, because bones are actually easier to heal.

They also have a significant amount of young talent. They could probably benefit from using that time, and then gives him a little bit of padded space to really actually get fully healthy and not race back.

All of a sudden, Brant Clark and Jordan Spence-Britty It might be valuable. It might be playing 20 plus minutes a night.

Yeah. What's going to be fascinating, too, is apparently at their camp, LA has switched up their style completely. They're not playing the one three one anymore, and they're going to be a far more fast moving high speed team.

They have the talent for it.

I think it actually lends it to what LA has better than what they were playing before.

Well, that's during our season preview, and this is why I was so down on the Kings, I was looking at the team they had and the team that we recognize them as. I'm like, this doesn't match. It I know. It's good to hear that they're trying something different. They should be doing what the stars did. They were the shutdown Metapod team, and subtly over time, it's like, wait a sec. These guys score all the time. These guys are actually running gun hockey. It's a lot of fun. Yeah.

Spencer Carparey, did you guys see this?

No.

I guess preseason does matter to some people because Washington started preseason 0-2.

So they've lost six straight games.

Spencer said to the media, I'll be totally honest with you, there hasn't been a lot of separation thus far at camp. I haven't seen someone take the bull by the horns, own that spot, and go, Holy.

That's a good coach. That's a challenge, right? You're challenging all the players on your roster. He's just being honest, right? This is The Caps, if you look at the bottom of the lineup, there's room for improvement. There's room for guys to come in. There's a lot of young guys who might be taking it for granted that they have a spot. He's upping the standard for the Washington Capitals. That's all he's done since he's joined them. So, yeah, good for him.

You like that. Are you interested in seeing... Sorry, are you interested in knowing just how bad the Ducks This will be this year?

Oh, I saw this.

So John Gibson underwent an emergency appendectomy.

Oh, this is something I thought you were going somewhere else.

And is going to miss 3-6 weeks of action.

Do goalies need their core?

Just a little important. Yeah.

That's so, so bad.

Which is crazy. An emergency appendectomy is like, there's nothing you could do about that. What did you see?

I saw a preseason lineup. You know how teams will do their juiced lineup in their Who are these people lineup? Half the names, I'm like, you're made up.

Be a player.

Put it this way. When I went through the roster, I went, I know that one. It was a tough look.

Yeah, it's going to be a rough start for them. A little shout out to John Torterelle. This is a bit of an older story, but Guy Goudreau was brought to Flyers camp. That's Johnny and Matthew Goudreau's dad. I thought this was very cool because Meredith Goudreau said, John and Maddie would have loved this. They're so proud of their dad. I know this made them smile as they watched down from heaven. What a great opportunity. What a smart move by on to do something like that. This is a flyers team that, by all accounts, Johnny probably should have been on had they not made the moves they made. I think it's making the best out of a bad situation. And for the flyers, it's going to be a battle for them to be relevant this year. What a nice little... I think there's a boost there, too.

It doesn't cost anything to be kind.

Right.

This was an easy thing to do. And I think sometimes you go through something and people say, Let me know if I can do anything. And they mean it. I believe that they mean it. But you got to be... Sometimes when people are grieving, you got to be proactive. And this was the flyers being proactive. And I think the invitation was such a fabulous gesture. And John Torterella remains one of the more complicated people in the National Hockey League. We know his reputation and how bombastic he is, but I do think at the core of him, he's a good person. Oh, yeah.

I don't think anybody would doubt that. Yeah. So there's that. Jesus, Adam. I I don't know how much speed I got left.

I'm so excited for the weekend for you.

Thank you. I appreciate it. There is a couple of things. So, Jessie, I sent a video, and then I was hoping Jessie could bring us through this because the first video is something that went viral yesterday that if you haven't seen it yet, it is extremely wholesome. This is the Canyon Ice Hockey Federation joining the Double IHF and finding out that they are, in fact, included. Have a look. We're in, people.

One, two, three.

Wow. Anonymous. I mean, anonymous. Unanimous. Fucking idiot. I ruined such a great moment. What a dumb ass.

Why did you yell?

Anonymous? Because the votes were unanimous. The votes were unanimous, and I said anonymous.

We are anonymous.

We are legion.

We do not forgive.

We do not forecast. 103 to zero. Yeah, definitely anonymous. Yeah.

There they go. Just put the guy, Fox, mask on.

Fucking idiot. I'm a stupid idiot.

Amazing. Now, Jessie, do you mind bringing us through this next story? I did send it over. Which one's this? It's the It's a bit of a wild card to throw at you, but we talked about the Utah Yeti, and we talked about the mascot and how I was thinking Monster Zinc Yeti, wouldn't that be fun? But it turns out there already was a Yeti mascot in the NHL.

Right. Yes. I brought up Howler.

That's right.

Colorado Avalanche's original mascot.

I think it's only fair that you bring up why Howler is no longer the mascot of the Colorado Avalanche before I die.

All right. This is the last thing we'll do and let Adam go. This is an article from Nine News, NBC. Before Bernie, there was Howler. The story behind the Colorado Avalanche's original mascot. Denver. Before Bernie entertained fans at Colorado Avalanche Games, there was Howler. Standing more than seven feet tall, Colorado's friendliest Bigfoot, is what they call them, burst onto the scene when the Avs came to Denver from Quebec City in '95. They stole the tape. Here's the reason many of those classic Avalanche jerseys you see have the footprint on them. Classic patch. They should bring it back. But Howler just disappeared in 2001. Spooky. What is this? Haunting of Hillhouse. The avs were without a mascot until Bernie arrived in 2009. They went eight years without a mascot. Holy cow. Details are scarce about what happened before Howler's exit. Only an associated press story detailing a March 1999 incident at McNickels Arena. What we know is that Howler and a fan named Linda got into a scuffle. What? What the hell? Linda Van Hook told 9 News she was wearing her then-boyfriend's Blackhawks' jersey when she went outside for a smoke break between periods. You cannot do that today.

You know this story is from 1999 because you could just go in and out an arena and just have a smoke break.

Wow. Van Hook said Howler was going around bonking fans on the head with rolled up posters, and he bonged her. She said she pushed him, he pushed back, and before long, the pair were in a scuffle. Van Hook said security broke up the fight and put them in separate rooms while police took statements. She told 9 News, Howler kicked her in the stomach during the scuffle, and she went to the hospital to get checked out. The trail goes quiet about Howler after that. At the time, a spokesman for the then owner of the team told AP, My understanding is that there was an incident. That's about it. A lot of fans say he seemed to just disappear. Van Hook, who now lives in Florida, told Nine News, I guess I was the end of Howler. Wow. There you go. That's the end of the story.

So first of all, that's an incredible find, and I didn't know that.

A shout out to Justin Fisher for that.

Yeah. Second of all, Howler is innocent. And you know how I know Howler is In the moment, Howler is a suit. The guy inside a Howler got into a scuffle with Linda. Howler is a suit. I'm thinking they could have just kept Howler and hired a new guy to be in the suit.

You could have just kept the suit. But instead, you went without Howler for a decade. Eight years.

Because the guy in Howler's suit, bonkt a lady on the head and then fought her.

What the fuck? That's automatic termination. It has to be because your one job as a mascot is to interact with fans. It's a jolly lovable thing. So if you can't do your job, you should be fired as a mascot. Yes. There's no defense of Howler here.

You don't need to get rid of the mascot.

You could just put a new guy in the suit.

Here's my question. How much of the suit was this person wearing when they gave their statement to police?

That's funny. Yeah, he just I know they were wearing part of it. Yeah, I assume he just took off the head and it was just pure comedy. Dude, there's something out of like, Always Sunny.

They're so hot. Also, as a mascot, do you not have to accept that people, especially kids, will punch and kick you?

Yeah, that's why he deserved be fired. Yeah. Or she, we don't know.

We don't need a full... That's pre-social media. Nobody would have known.

No. Right now, if that happens, if Gritty fights some devil's fan, there's a TikTok about it, and then it goes viral, and it's on Twitter for 48 hours, and then Gritty loses his job. But this is '99. Who knows?

Justice for the suit. You know what I mean? Justice for Howler. Oh, the other guy? No, he can go to jail. But the guy inside the suit, or inside the suit rather, didn't do anything.

Guys, wouldn't it be cool if first Utah, Colorado game in Utah, here comes Howler, who rips off the abs jersey to reveal HC.

Oh, man. And then instant rivalry. He's a traitor. Wouldn't that be crazy? Like when Sergeant Slaught started fighting for Iraq.

If I were the Utah team, I would just do that. Just get a suit that looks like Howler. Oh, this is Bowler. Actually, we're the mountain team now. Sorry, Flames. Sorry, Denver.

Then you get- You, Howler. Then you get people like us going back. You brought back the guy who fought a woman.

No. Don't fight for that guy.

Who's us? Don't you dare associate me. I think the suit is innocent. The man is in I'm starting to lean towards the guy in the suit represents the suit.

No. Yeah. Pooh. No. So I feel like this person in the suit ruined the reputation of Howler. Okay, let's say Howler murdered someone.

Yes.

Are you just keeping the suit? Okay. Or are you just like, No.

Probably stained at that point.

We put a new guy in the suit. This is different. No. You got to remove the suit. I think the person in there, stay in the suit, you move on, you bring in Bernie the dog, the St. Bernard. It's all good. If Howler murdered somebody or just put somebody new in the suit.

Howler was set up. Now, okay, so the person in the suit ruined Howler's reputation. Howler should be able to sue the person wearing the suit.

The suit should be able to sue the wearer of the suit. That's a good point.For.

Defamation.that's great.

I hope to have my voice back Monday. I'm sure I will. I feel better. I'm sorry that it sounds like this.

I'm going to tear down the fourth wall. We're recording four season previews after this. That's right.

Good luck, man. Yeah, it's going to be fun.

I forgot my notebook, so it definitely will be.

The Steve Dangle podcast.

Follow the guys on Twitter at steve_dangle@adamwylde and at Jessie Blake. Connection complete.