Transcript of Neely Calls Out Swayman | The Chris Johnston Show

The Chris Johnston Show. Let's go. Your number one destination for a behind-the-scenes look at the game of hockey. Is this thing on? Here's NHL Insider Chris Johnston and host Julian McKenzie.

I don't want to get into the weeds with what his ask is, but I know I have 64 million reasons why I'd be playing right now. Those are the words from Boston Brewing's President, Kam Neely, after he was asked exactly what Jeremy Swayman, their RFA goal tender, could be asking for, still unsigned at this point. Cj, if you're Jeremy Swayman, what is going through your mind right now?

Well, you probably don't like this business spilling out into the public the way that it gets done here. I mean, look, it's hard not to interpret that answer as though Boston's latest offer is eight million times eight. As I said previously, I believe that Swayman wants nine and a half million, which would match Charlie McAvoy on the Bruins as being the highest paid player. And so doing some quick math, there's a fair bit of ground between 64 million reasons to play and 76 million reasons to play. So it does give us a good idea of where conversations have been. And yeah, I think the easy answer to your question, you're probably not feeling awesome about that getting out in the public, because obviously, I don't even know how calculated that was. I mean, quite honestly, I heard the exchange was Kevin Paul Dupont, a long time Elmer Ferguson, Hockey Hall Fame writer out of Boston. And I feel like that was said spur of the moment, as opposed to something that Cam Neely went in there trying to say. But still, there's a PR aspect to saying that thing publicly. And this is probably dividing Bruins fans to some degree about how they feel about the situation, because some of them probably think eight times eight million is a fair contract for swimming.

Can you go into that PR aspect of of why the Bruins would say this? I mean, for our purposes of entertainment, we love this. There's a reason why we're leading with that quote. But if I'm a Bruins fan, I'm looking at Kam Neely and I'm thinking, well, why would you say that?

Well, I think it's emotion, right? I mean, it's what I saw from Don Sweeney on the opening day camp when he got into the whole spit and chiclets thing. And what you're seeing here is I think that there's a lot of emotion built up in this negotiation. It hasn't well. The sides have had a pretty big gap between where they've been. And we've hammered this point home. But Swayman is obviously an important part of the team. And here we are, the calendar is about to flip over to October and he's still not signed. And so I think it is a reflection of some of the stress around the talks and where they stand. Cam Neely did also mention that he's heard from Jeremy Swim and he wants to be a brewer. I still believe ultimately that it's going to wind up this situation with him signing in Boston. I don't think that we're going to be talking about a trade situation or anything like that. But right now, you've got two sides that are dealing with some frustration with each other because they haven't been able to get close to getting a deal done. And there's certainly implications and things on both ends that it's not good for either of them.

I think, honestly, just the way Cam Neely said it, I don't think he went in there trying to send a message. I think he got asked a direct question and probably wishes he could take that one back, quite honestly, as soon as that press conference wrapped up.

No take-back sees in the world of quotes, Cam Neely. We've mentioned the worry meter or the concern meter. We decided on concern meter last time we did an episode. Our good friend, Marc-Antoine Godin, has said, Maybe we should just stick to worry meter, just in the case of figuring out what's the difference between a concern and a worry. Worry is what we're going to use. I would think that after this, it It would have blown up after Cam newly said those words. But with the way that you're saying it, maybe we should push back a little bit. Because you're right, there could still be an opportunity for a deal to get done between both sides.

Yeah, but it's moved up. I mean, if I had it at 3.5 out of 5 Previously, it's in the fours now. Oh, yeah. It certainly definitely moves in the other direction because I do know that the sides have been having some ongoing dialog. They've been grinding away at it. But what I don't know is what will come of this press conference. We're recording this episode literally within minutes of that press conference being held in Boston. And so it's hard to know, does this set things back a little bit? If you're on Swayman's end of this negotiation, are you just like, well, forget this. I'm not capitulating to you guys just because you're trying to put this public pressure on me. I mean, that all remains a big unknown in the immediate aftermath of this. And it could be the thing that sets back a negotiation. I remember, I've referenced the William Neelander situation that played out in Toronto years ago. There was a press conference that Brandon Chanahan gave that day, also the President of the team, ironically, and a former NHL star like Cam Neely is. And he mused during that press conference that when you're a player, when you look back, it doesn't matter whether you have, I think his quote was, whether you have 50 or 60 million in the bank, it's the success you had with your teammates.

And that definitely set back those negotiations at that time. It was seen as though he was trying to meddle in the negotiations. I was actually part of that Scrum. And it's the same way I feel about Neely. I don't think Shana and went there with the desire to try to put any pressure necessarily on Neely. But that's what flowed out of that. And I could see something similar happening here. I mean, I've had no reason at any point to believe that Swayman is going to simply buckle under the pressure. There's probably a little bit more public pressure on him now. And as I said, I haven't had a chance to scan social media, but I'm sure there's some Bruins fans out there that hear this and say, well, 64 million, just sign the contract, bud. Get into training camp here. Maybe get a preseason game in and be ready for the year. But this could be a moment that sets things back a little bit longer. The Bruins are staying relevant. I'll say that they're in a busy sports market. You've got the Red Sox end of season press conference going Monday. Obviously, the Patriot season is underway.

The Celtics are getting up and running soon, trying to defend their title. But the Bruins are making sure that they're still in the sporting news in Boston, which is not easy to do in October.

If Jeremy Swayman doesn't start the season, do you think the Bruins could survive with Younes Corpasalo? Annette, he's looked decent or pretty good in preseason so far. But for the regular season, how do you think that could go?

I do think they could survive certainly for a period of time. The one thing I'll point out about Boston goalies is a lot of goalies tend to have great years when they play for the Bruins. I think that they clearly benefit from some of the systems play, the defensive play in front of them, not taking away from the abilities of these goal tenders. But I do think that they're not a team that gives up. They don't tend to give up a whole lot. In that world, it was probably going to go a little better for Unis Corposal this season, no matter how many games he plays, whether it's opening night and right through, if Swayman isn't there or even as the number two man behind Jeremy Swayman at some point, I think his numbers are going to look a lot better in Boston than they did last year in Ottawa, in a huge part to with the fact the senators are particularly leaky team, or they have been so, and they certainly were last season. So I think sometimes it can be hard for us to measure the exact impact of a team. But I just look over a long period of time and Bruins goalies have always had pretty strong save percentages.

I think that they've benefited from the guys in front of them as well as had their own abilities. So to me, Boston is still going to be a good team, but they're not at full strength. And another point here is just, they don't In fact, even if he signed tomorrow, that he can necessarily play preseason games by the time he gets into camp and does what he has to do. It's just hard to predict what you're going to get from Swayman in the short term after missing this time. I can't think of the last goal tender to miss not due to injury or something like that this much time. Obviously, Vasilevski last year in Tampa wasn't able to play until towards the end of November, and he had his most difficult season. So this is valuable time to get up and running. And so there's a of the full aspects to this layoff that's now into week two, almost into week three, and getting awfully close to that season opener against Florida that Boston has on the calendar coming up.

And not to project too far in the future, if you're a Bruins fan, but does this situation stretch into December, to that absolute deadline, December first, I believe?

It feels so far off right now. Yeah. But you can't say No. I mean, that's the real deadline. As much as all these negotiations have artificial deadlines or periods like the start of camp or the start of the regular season, which I think tend to bring sides that don't see the world the same way together, maybe encourage some compromise at the bargaining table. The real deadline is five o'clock Eastern time on December first. That's when Jeremy Swayman has to be signed in order to be eligible to play games at all this season. And it's so hard to predict if these nearly comments, I mean, I'm obviously getting huge traction on social media. My phone's blown up over here to my right, so I'm sure probably people are reacting to that. But I don't know if it's going to set things back or not, but that's what could happen. You get into the season, what's done is done, and what forces you back together unless one side or the other has a change of heart. And usually the longer a negotiation goes on, it's between two parties that are stubborn in their belief. And by stubborn, I'm not picking one or the other, but I'm just I mean, that they're entrenched in their belief.

And so it's harder and harder to get to the point where you're like, okay, well, why would you miss two weeks of regular season if you're Jeremy Swayman and then just take 64 million dollar contract? I mean, that's probably not the way it's going to go. There's going to have to be movement in the talks. And so I don't know what it's going to move it. But I would be worried in the immediate aftermath of that press conference in Boston, that this could be something that maybe ices things for a little while. If they're grinding away towards a solution, it might stop the grind for a bit here, and both sides will just look at each other and see who wants to blink.

I did not have on my bingo card, Jeremy Swayman, Boston Bruins contract dispute, CJ. I have to admit, I did not have that on my bingo card. I can't believe we're here.

Yeah. It doesn't surprise me just because the whole arbitration thing last summer. The other part of this we haven't gotten into either. If you look at the Bruins, I mean, every team has to be cap compliant by next Tuesday. Thursday. And the Bruins only have about 7.5 to 8 million, depending on the last cuts of their camp in actual space right now. So even if they felt like nine and a half million dollar contract was one that they could give to Swayman, there would be a trickle down effect on their roster. And so some of it does get down to just a practical matter of how you navigate the cap situation, too. It's not always just the principle of trying to argue for a certain amount of dollars. And so I didn't necessarily have it on my Bingo card. It was clear that this was not going to be an easy contract. And this sometimes is the danger, I will say. If you don't find a way to... We saw so many other RFA situations. In fact, the last one just got signed in St. Louis. So this is actually the last unsigned RFA around the league.

And sometimes the longer it goes, it's harder and harder to find a solution that either side can work with. Yeah.

All right. We'll obviously continue to monitor that story as it develops. Okay, Seed, Let's go to Montreal. Patrick Laine was at Canadian's practice today, still injured, obviously, after what happened to him on Saturday. A knee-on-knee hit, got a crunch between two Mapleleaves players. What did you think of the injury? Obviously, a freak It's a bit of an accident, but really tough to watch for the Montreal Canadians, especially. We're hoping to have Patrick Laine as a big-time player in their lineup.

Yeah, and that's not going to be able to happen for any time soon. I mean, this is a significant injury that Laine has suffered here, and it's just an awful play. It happens in a game that no one else will remember for basically any other reason, preseason game. It's an AHL player, Cedric Paré, who, in my view, the way I view that play unfold, just isn't up to the standard of NHL players. So you have an NHL player. You have an AHL player trying to defend an NHL player, and it has terrible consequences. I have trouble viewing that as anything other than an accident, but it has pretty significant consequences. And in this case, Lyna has worked so hard after finishing last season in the player assistance program, physically, mentally, to get ready for this new challenge in Montreal, a fresh opportunity for him. And he's going to be sidelined before he ever gets to play his first official game in the regular season as a Canadian. So we'll wait for the official timeline here, but I certainly don't expect to see Line A on the ice anytime soon. And no, it's just tough to see him rolling around.

Again, why do we have so many preseason games? I mean, it's not that we can blame it on him. He's far from the only player. I mean, Drew Dauti has got a significant injury, too. There's others around the league that suffer injuries, obviously, during this warm-up period for the season. But it just feels needless when you see someone like that on a personal level, knowing how much Line A has been through. It's another big setback in a career that's unfortunately had too many of those in the last couple of seasons.

There's a discussion to be had about too many preseason games that I might want to ask you about. But before I do that, I'd like to ask you about the aftermath of that hit where Arbor Jacky basically mauled Cedric Paré to the ice. And I know some people have wondered, Hey, is that suspension worthy? I thought the fine was just fine. I get you can't really do maybe what Arbor Jacky did, but I think maybe a suspension would have been a bit excessive. I'd like to know your opinion on it.

Yeah, I don't mind the no suspension there. I mean, I've seen some people drawing parallels to the play with Morgan Reilly last year in Ottawa. The big difference there is Reilly's approach Coaching someone who doesn't expect it after a play has stopped because the player in that case had scored a goal. It doesn't maybe sound like a big delineation, but when things happen in the game while the game is on versus when it's supposed to be off, when the play is dead. I mean, that's a different thing. And obviously, the outcome wasn't nearly as serious here, and Paré comes through it okay. I'm with you. I think you have to send some message, and well, you might look at that exact fine 3,000 and whatever and change is not much. It does now establish that Arbor Jack eye will be a repeat offender if he does cross the line at any point in the next 18 months, which comes with more significant fines or salary loss. If he gets suspended in that window, puts them on the radar of player safety. It sends a message, Look, man, you can't just be doing that. But I have trouble.

I guess people like to get worked up. I just have trouble believing that that has to be a suspension. It's weird because you get in this, it's like you're almost forced to defend something you don't want to defend. But put it this way, I think it could have been worse if he wanted it to be worse. I felt that he crossed the line, but it could have been much, much worse if that was his intention. He was sending a message, but we've seen much worse things happen in the past when it's risen to the level of a suspension. Obviously, it didn't quite meet that standard here this time.

I've seen much worse things that have not been suspended, to be quite honest with you.

That's where I fall. I think in this case, you can understand the frustration. Again, our sport can be barbaric. That's the thing. Not can be. Right. But it's like you get in a weird spot here. I don't want to be like, Well, it wasn't that bad. But, Well, it wasn't that bad. It's what happens. And so, yeah, that one didn't get my dander up. If it went unpunished in terms of supplemental discipline, I think I would be raising more issue here because you wonder what message that sends. Having the fine doesn't sound like a lot, but if Jacky does something now in November, it's going to seem like a lot when he's paying 182 of 182 of his salary instead of much less than that if he should get suspended at some point in the next 18 months.

For sure. Now, let's unpack your previous comment about too many preseason games. You're right. There have been some strings of injuries, obviously, with Lina. You mentioned Drew Dauti out in Los Angeles. It's unfortunate, but at the end of the day, we still have to have these preseason games to give these players some runway to get themselves going before the regular season. That's how I view preseason. I don't like the fact that it's as long as it is, but I also understand that if guys don't have that time, then And maybe it could result in a worse product on the ice or any other sport for that matter. That's at least my opinion on it.

Well, I'll tell you this. I will personally guarantee we're going to see a reduction in the number of preseason games in the near future. I think the conversation is already pretty advanced at various levels of the league that that needs to happen. I mean, right now, every team has to play between six and eight preseason games. I think it's... Well, your point is made, of course, you need some period where the athletes get a chance to get back up to speed. I think there's a growing feeling it doesn't need to be that many. But part of this is just about money at the end of the day. I know that these games don't sell out in every market, but fans pay actual money for tickets. In a lot of markets, it's a required buy as part of getting your season ticket package for the season. And I felt like the NHL showed its hand a little bit when we got in the pandemic situation and they restarted that 2020 season. And of course, in that world, there was no fan There was going to be no fans for a long time. And they played one preseason game per team right before jumping into the playoffs.

And some of that might have been scheduling, but I think some of that was also saying the top level players in the league don't need much more than maybe one or two games. But in a world where we're charging for tickets and it's still a gate-driven league, you end up getting as many as we have now. So I just wonder if the solution here is going to maybe an 84-game regular season or something like that, adding a couple more games in the regular the other season, which actually, if you look at the round numbers in a 32-team league, you might get to where you have a more equal distribution of games when you play the other conference or all those types of things. And also it does account for some of the lost revenue by chopping down the preseason. But I don't know anyone out there that feels like they need 6-8 preseason games. It feels excessive. I don't want to just use this line of injury as like, I would have said this last week before that hit happened. I just don't think the games teach you all that much. We are getting into this week now.

The final one or two that most teams have left, you're going to see more NHL-like lineups. You're going to see probably a little different standard of play because we are getting very close to the real thing here. Hard to believe, but on Friday in Prague, the actual regular season, Puck drops, and next Wednesday, back here in North America, same thing. But it's getting close enough that the preseason game is played this week will be of more consequence. But The day is coming, I am sure, when I think four will be probably the number. And honestly, I wouldn't mind if they shaved it back more than that. But there's clearly a financial cost to doing so. And in a league where the owners and the players split revenues, neither side probably wants to see the bottom line reduced.

That, but also this is obviously on a much lower level of things to think about for why maybe you should keep the number of preseason games where it is. But if you're a coach and you're trying to determine your lineup, and there's obviously roster battles. You have to think over, young players trying to get into the lineup, and you're trying to figure out what it could look like, shouldn't you want as much time as possible to determine that? I can't help but think that maybe some coaches might maybe have some a stink with it. Maybe you don't want it all the way to two or three. You want it at four to six. I'm just trying to think of it from their vantage point.

Maybe a little bit, but it just feels like in a cap world, so many of the final decisions are driven. It feels like most of the teams are set absent one or two decisions entering camp. I guess in some places it's different, but so many of the top teams in the league are basically at the cap ceiling that even if three players that are not on the radar have amazing camps, I just think most of them are already earmarked to be sent down to the HL, maybe with an idea, Oh, hey, he had a good camp. We'll bring him back up when we get an injury. But I feel like a lot of the roster battles are more or less played out in the boardroom in today's day and age. Now, that's not to say there aren't coaches out there that might bristle at this. I'm sure some of the older school types probably like having this three-week camp essentially is what we get for the conditioning aspect. But I just feel like no one comes to training camp to get in shape anymore the way they did 40 or 50 years ago. The league's changed in a lot of ways, and even just having this salary cap.

I think most teams... The only X factor is if now if you have a big injury in camp like Montreal just did, that might change what they can do. Obviously, cap-wise, there are implications when you lose a player like Line A who makes 8.7 million on the cap for a long period of time. But for the most part, I think most teams know who's on their opening night roster when they gather on September 17th.

That's very fair. That's very fair. I like this little back and forth on preseason games. It was a very interesting discussion. I don't know if I disagree. I'm willing to hear both sides on this debate because I think it is fascinating debate that can be applied to so many different sports, not just the NHL. We hear people talk about how the NFL product right now looks a little shaky because maybe the cutting number of preseason games plays a role into that. So, yeah, I think it's a really fascinating debate to have.

Yeah, the NFL, the starters barely even play in the preseason. They'll play like one set of downs, and then they're out for the game. I mean, because you wouldn't want to lose the equivalent of Patrick Laine on your team for a game that means nothing. This is how much preseason matters. The year the Detroit Lions went 0-16 in the regular season, they were 4-0 in preseason.

I remember that statistic, man. That's why you can't put too much stock in preseason.

The great David Alter reminded him that with me recently. I got to give I have to give him props where they're due. It was not my stat that was on the tip of my head, but it does underline how ridiculous this is. I don't know if you saw, but there was someone asked Craig Berube when the Leaps lost their second preseason. They start the preseason if he was ready to panic yet. And then that's when that discussion came up because nobody should be panicking or nobody should be celebrating no matter what their team's record is through the preseason.

Yeah, I have to admit some of that attitude. I think that was around the time we had that episode where For the first 15 minutes, we just kept saying it's preseason. That attitude, basically, Craig Beruba and I, we get it. We're on the same vibe anyway.

Yeah, he handled that question pretty well. Actually, the next day, I was at practice, and when he left the Scrum, I said, Hey, Coach, are you panicking? And we had a pretty good chuckle about that. If anything, it just became its own joke versus anything that anyone was taking seriously. Good one.

Are you ready for questions? Ask CJ time.

Yes, sir. Let's go.

Let's do it. Thank you to everyone who sent us questions, whether through Twitter or through Discord. Producer Drew even sent in a question. I think we're legally obligated to answer questions from anyone from the SDPN who sends them in. Any big names going on waivers this week?

Maybe. I appreciate it. Probably the biggest names. Well, I just I don't know. I think it's possible that you see teams. I mean, if it's going to happen, it might not be this week, it might be next week. Probably Sunday, Monday are going to be the big waiver days for the final cuts of camps and teams getting back under the cap. I mean, you're going to see some, I guess, I don't know big names. That's the hard thing. I don't see any seven million dollar players on waivers, but you could see players around the margins, third goal tenders, Matt Murray. Players like that will probably go on waivers as their teams cut down. But I don't have a good enough intel to give you a spicy answer there, Drew, so I'm sorry for that.

That's okay. Drew needs no apologies. From Melissa Foley, do the players on the Amazon series get paid?

I don't know the answer, but I don't believe so. But I can't say with 100% certainty, but I-I wouldn't think they would, right?

I don't think that would be a good... I don't know if that gets it to journalism ethics, but I don't know if they would.

Well, but I mean, obviously, players can get paid for outside sponsorship endeavors. The players that will play at the Four Nations tournament will be paid some stipend versus those that don't. So there are instances when you're basically performing duties that are seen as outside your standard player contract where you would be paid. I think this would be seen as the same as the way players aren't paid if they do a sit down interview with Julian McKenzie or Chris Johnston. I think that it's part of promoting the league and the sport the way they're expected to. That's part of in the actual standard player deal. I know that fans, the last thing fans want to hear is when reporters are complaining about access to a certain player, interviews. But it actually is part of the obligations for playing in the league. So I will follow up and ask someone who would know on that. But my instincts tell me that it's covered by what they're paid to do already. But stay tuned. Maybe I'm wrong. Okay.

But from James Buckle, how have you guys been feeling about the Calgary Flames so far?

Well, you got to answer that first. I mean, you're actually going to the games, man.

Yeah. I mean, what we were talking about earlier with preseason, I know they've looked good in season. Their kids have looked good. Guys like Samuel Hansen have put up points. Matthew Coronado has had good games. I think if you're a Flames fan right now, that's what you want to see. You want to see your young players progress and do well in those games. Does that mean that's going to translate into a playoff season for the Calgary Flames? Probably not. Are they bottom three bad in the Western conference? I'm not so sure of that either. I think they're maybe a couple notches below what they've been the last two seasons, which is essentially a team just missing the playoffs. But I hope this person, I hope any other Flames fan isn't taking their preseason as an indicator that they're going to be a really good team making the playoffs. I think what you should take from it is that young players, including Samuel Hansik, who went through some injuries last year, was not at his most confident self, even at the Wuhl level. He's looked good this preseason. You should be encouraged by He'll likely start the season in the American Hockey League, but you should be encouraged by that.

I am intrigued about Jacques Peltier, though. That's a guy who I thought would be penciled in as the third-line left winger, maybe a fourth-line left wing spot. I don't know if he's had the absolute best camp. Does he still get a starting spot? I'm not sure.

Is he a waiver candidate? Two-way contract, too, right?

Yeah. It's a very interesting situation with Peltier. Since you mentioned two-way, we should remind people now, just because you have a two-way contract does not mean you're waiver exempt, and Peltier is not waiver exempt. So if the flames were to send him down, he would have to go through waivers. I remember at the beginning of free season being asked if he would be a waiver candidate. I didn't think he would be. I'm still not sure if he would be now. I don't know if the Flames would want to put themselves in a position where they lose yet another first-round pick for nothing. I would sooner see them try to trade him if he ever gets to that point. But yeah, I'm a bit I'm surprised that he is not on that list of players who have played really well. They're young players, I should say, through preseason. That's my long-winded spiel about the Calgary Flames.

Yeah. What can I add? Other than, I think it's probably more exciting year in some ways because you're watching some of those younger players in Calgary. It depends, I guess, on your view of these things. It's not going to be as chaotic as last year because there's not the sheer number of players that they frankly have to try and trade. But I still think it's another year when we get close to the deadline, we're going to be talking about veterans that they might be shedding, and they're in a process. You can tell me, Julian, I don't know if they use the R-word around there or not, but looks a lot like an R-word from afar.

Yeah, you can use the R-word when it comes to the Calgary Flames. Anyway, I want to know if you're going to be able to answer this question. Tell me when the Simpsons jumped the shark. For my money, it was when Principal Skinner turned out to be an imposter named Armin Tamzerian. Are you a Simpsons guy?

Yes, I was as a kid, but I have not watched the Simpsons in a long, long time. So I don't know when it jumped the shark. I can't believe they're still making episodes. They must have jumped the shark a long time ago.

It's actually funny we're talking about this because yesterday, they released a new episode and dubbed it as their, quote, Series Finale. And they had a whole bunch of these different plot lines that, as a joke, they were basing on AI. And I think Cohnan O'Brien was a special guest. I haven't watched the episode yet, but it's been written about on a variety of different platforms. So it's really funny that that question was in our mailbox, and the Simpsons are in the news.

Did you remember who shot Mr. Burns' episodes?

I remember those episodes. I've gone... Yeah, that was incredible television.

That caused legitimate buzz in my high school at the time. Amazing. I can't say we were gambling on it, but I know we were definitely like pools, and there's debate about who did it. And it was definitely lunchroom talk in the cafeteria. The fact I can even relate anything to high school that's still going on now is crazy to me. So it must have jumped the shark a long time, and I'll trust the questioner's opinion on it. Maybe when Principal Skinner got revealed as an imposter, did you say? I'm not going to go watch that.

No, I mean, I understand why it's seen as the beginning of the end, because it's very much this really weird plot line. It's like when you have a character set as who they are for a long period of time, and then you mess with it how many seasons in.

It's like a hard right turn out of nowhere that makes no sense. Yeah.

It's one thing if you do that with a character people barely know about, but Principal Skinner is a foundational character on The Simpson. There's no reason to do that. Anyway.

Well, there's a reason. It's like we're out of ideas and we got to find... The reason is not a good reason, but it's like, holy crap, we're in season 38 of this show, or whatever it is. Probably not 38, but I'm pretty sure it was around when I was eight years old. It's over 30 years old, for sure.

How many seasons of The Simpson? It's at least, what, 40? It should be pushing 40, right?

No, I bet like 35 at the most.

Okay, well, as of yesterday, they started their 36th season.

There you go.

Thirty-six.

I'm old enough to remember the start of it. That's how crazy it is anyway. And it was massive. I mean, it was... Yes. You know, once a week. A world that doesn't exist where you had to gather on your TV at a very specific time. And if you didn't do that, you would never see the episode.

When you were betting on who shot Mr. Burns, the answer to that, which is it really a spoiler alert at this point? No. If I say who did it?

I didn't have Maggie.

Yeah, you didn't have Maggie. Did anyone have Maggie?

Someone must have, but I remember being surprised in real-time on that one.

I feel like we lost a lot of time in the history of our podcast not bonding over our love of the Simpson. Anyway, we continue to go down through the list of Ask C. J. Questions. Of this one from Colin Clark. Hey, guys. Love the podcast. Is there any plans for Utah to fix the obstructed seats in their rink? I can't see why anyone would want to watch a live game when you only see half the ice.

Yes, there are. I believe it's a two year window that they have to modernize their own facility. Obviously, there's a subsequent plan to build a new stadium entirely in Utah as part of an Olympic bid that's coming up. That's not going to happen overnight. But I think that there's a pretty good understanding here that the Delta Center has to be updated. And I think it has to happen within two seasons because there's a lot of obstructive view seats there. And not to raise the specter of this, but there was a lot of obstructive view seats When the formerly known as Phoenix Coyotes first arrived in the desert and they were playing under the Sun's Rank in downtown Phoenix for the same reasons, it's just a stadium configured originally for basketball isn't easily turned into a workable hockey arena. And so I think they're going to take part of the building off, I think like half of the building, and then put new seats in, essentially. Pardon my lack of engineering knowledge, but there's a pretty significant renovation and improvement coming there. But with the team only moving officially in April, there just wasn't time to do that work in this summertime window.

How dare you not have a background in engineering?

I was too busy going to hockey games to learn all that stuff.

Clearly, CJ. Next one from Lacksgirl. Would you rather have Mitch Marner at an $11 million cap hit for eight years or Igor Shoshana at an $11 million cap hit for in eight years. Really interesting hypothetical.

Yeah, I don't think you can... The problem is, I'm not sure if you're going to get either of them for an $11 million cap hit, but Probably Shesterken, I guess. The thing is that that's not me hating on Marner. It's more... Skater results tend to be more predictable, right? The players that get 80 or 90 or 100 points, tend to do it year after year after year, whereas you see goaltending performances rise and fall a little bit. But Shesterken clearly is, I think, hardly a hot take to say he's among the absolute best in his position. He's still young enough where I feel like if you have him for eight years, you're going to go into the playoffs at least half of those years really feeling great about your goal tending. But in the same breath, there's not a lot of teams paying a goal that much yet. And so, man, it's a tough call. That's a really tough call. I probably go Shesterken, but I also think Marner is going to perform really well in the next eight years and 11 million. If he would sign that, I think that contract would already be signed.

We'll put it that way. But funny, we're in all these hypotheticals. It's a lot of money to tie up in your crease is all I'm going to say. It's not something a lot of teams have done with success, but I'm also not going to sit here and say you can't win with a great goal tender who's getting He paid fairly.

You need a great goal tender. You don't necessarily need the great goal tender, but I don't know. Mitch Marner, we've seen his record in the playoffs, obviously. Igroschis-durkin, it being one of the best goal tenders in the world, it's such a difficult decision.

And she's working on something like 9:30 career in the playoffs, like his say's percentage. Yeah. He also is elevated at that time of year or performed better than everyone else.

I guess it's Igor. I'm going to take Igor.

Probably got to be Igor, but it's... Yeah, good hypothetical.

Great one.

I hate getting hypotheticals because that's when you get radioed. It's almost like you're expressing an opinion, but it's more just like, How do I work through this answer, logically?

Insider Chris Johnston would rather pay Igor Shoshirkin than Mitch Marner. I can't wait to read that article on insert blog here.

Now, if you said, Would you rather pay Mitch Marner 12.5 and pay Igor 11.5? It's probably closer to Igor that way because I think that's probably the range that each guy is going to end up looking at, something like that. Something like that. Anyway.

I got one last one for you. From Dallas Stars fan, What is your favorite SDPN bit? Bactions, Smart Insider Man, Arizona Walkout, out. 82 games, that's so many games. Zamboony driver. Those are some of the examples. Do you have a favorite SDPN bit?

I like that they've come up with the swear jar where every time they talk about the play-off, that money has got to go into it. I know that's a more recent bit, so it's maybe not historically as significant, but the first time I saw that, I was laughing. I'm like, these guys are so clever with stuff like this. You can't go I'm wrong, though. I love the Sdpn guys. I can't believe they churn out three shows a week. Sometimes two feels like a lot. Three, and they're longer than us. They need bits. They need lots of bits.

They do well with their bits. I love the episode where Steve bought a kayak. He bought a kayak, and he barely uses it. And he did ever... He bought it at some store, and his car didn't have a roof rack to put the kayak on top. So you just had this kayak.

So you had to carry it down to the water? Why would you buy a kayak without a roof rack?

Oh, you big dubby.

Sometimes adulting is hard, man. Sometimes you don't think everything. I know.

I know. And I've made dumb decisions, too. But I've never bought a kayak.

This man is responsible for two children, too. This man is keeping two other people alive, young people alive. Five.

Hey, he's doing well with them kids. Good on you, Steve. But, man.

I think Mrs. Dangle gets a major assist on that.

Oh, she absolutely does. She should get all the points for that. But Steve had to raise a kayak, and I don't know how his father went with that. Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who sent in questions for us on Ask CJ. That's going to do it for our Monday show. We're going to be back later this week with more fun stuff here on the CJ Show. Subscribe to our podcast in the meantime, and we'll see you all soon.

The Chris Johnston Show. Follow Chris on Twitter @reporterchris, and follow Julian at JKA McKenzie.

The Chris Johnston Show.