Transcript of The Hockey Show: Crosby, Hughes, Kaprizov OH MY!

Kareel Kaprizov reportedly rejected the richest NHL contract in that sports history. But the Minnesota Wild says that report is bullshit. We talk about that with Greg Grosinski and more. This is Hockey Show.

All right, we got David Druck over here.

The Hockey News. Ethan is in the studio on the ones and twos, not the sticks. Please don't ever say that again. And Rosie somewhere in America, somewhere in the backyard brawl in West Virginia, I believe. She's covering football with Lucy. This is the Hockey Show. My name is Roy Bellamy. Let's get into the news Of this week, the NHL has announced that Dylan Dubé, Kyle foot, Alex Fourmenton, Carter Hart, and Michael McLeod will be officially eligible to sign with any NHL team starting October 15th, and will be able to play in the National Hockey League starting December first. The five were acquitted of sexual assault stemming from their time on Team Canada's Under-20 Junior team in 2018. Now, the league took into account that they haven't played in 20 months. And with that, I expect to see the Everton Allers probably try to sign Carter Hart because they need a goal tender. But I mean, this is probably an insult to women who are trying to get into the game, trying to grow as fans in the sport. I don't think they're probably taken too kindly to this news, David?

No, it's like a no-win situation at this point because you're going to be upsetting somebody, whether you're upsetting people that want to see the game moving forward, whether you're upsetting people, or they're going to say, Hey, these guys, they went through the legal process. They were found not reliable or whatever the term is up there, and they should be able to go on with their lives. They're valid arguments to be made on both sides, and you're just not going to make everyone happy. As we've seen in the lead right now, you got Stan Bowman, you got Joel Quinville. Everybody's coming back, so just follow suit.

Yeah, it's just not a good for this league. This league has had plenty of situations where they haven't looked good in the decisions that they made. So quickly getting these guys back into the league is off-putting.

I would imagine that they're looking to get into February, March, where the We can all get swept under the rug and we can move on to Olympics and Stanley Cup playoffs and not talk about the blemishes on the league.

Yeah, that's the deal. Make people forget, I guess. Oh, yeah.

Suspension, to me, is an admission that there was wrongdoing here. If there was wrongdoing here, the suspension shouldn't only be until December first, considering the circumstances and the allegations within this case. That's really all I have to say about this case. We know what's going to happen from here. Carter Hart is probably going to be the next goaltender of the Edmondton-Oilers, and I just think the whole thing is a mess and really upsetting.

All right, let's go on to the other news of the week. According to Frank Salrely, Kareil Kapritsoff, his representation. It's turned down the richest contract in NHL history. It would have been eight $128 million, an AAV of $16 million. That would have been the richest contract in NHL history.

That's how you build a winning team.

Yeah, you build about a quarter of the cap around one guy. One guy. Yeah, That's how that usually works. You know what that tells me? Apparently, he's better than Connor McDavid.

I was going to say, sorry, David, this is a fascinating situation to me because McDavid hasn't even signed his deal yet. If you're Caprizov, you're probably saying, I want to see what McDavid signs for and then maybe ask for a little bit less than that, right? Because maybe McDavid gets 19 or 20, and then you can ask for 17 or 18. But what happens if McDavid takes 16 and a half because he wants a team friendly deal? And if you're Caprizov, you have to go back now and say, Oh, about that 16? Hey, how about that? That's what I think I deserve. And then the Wild are going to be saying, Should you only be making $500,000 less than Connor McDavid in average annual value? I don't know about that.

Or, or, follow me down this rabbit hole, he wants to be traded. He's driving up the price on the Wild because he doesn't want to be there anymore, and they're forcing their hand to have him traded to another team.

What do you think about that, Dave? I mean, he's going to be UFA next season, so there would have to be some back channel talking, you would think, because a team's not going to pay whatever price you have to pay to get a Kriil Kaprizov, even at a UFA year, without knowing that there's some future involved. That'd be one hell of a rental for the playoff run this year. I don't know, man. It's pretty crazy. It's crazy to think that... Minnesota is a good hockey town. They got some good players there. Matt Boldy, Marco Rossi, they got some good young talent there. I don't know, man. Where's he going to go?

Yeah. So a couple of things to add on here. First of all, Elliott Freeman on 32 Thoughts Report. His suspicion was that if Kaprizov is saying no to this deal, there's somebody out there that's telling his camp, we will offer him 17 million, 18 million, 19 million on the open market, because again, once he hits the open market, he's only going to be able to be offered seven years by any team, so they would be able to give him a higher average annual value. Now, Joe Smith and Michael Ruso of The Athletic, did say in their article about the deal being turned down, that he's told, Caprizov has told them he loves the area, but he's also said that winning is the most important thing to him. Now, if winning is the most important thing, turning down $16 million is a tough way to sell that to any franchise, because that's going be a huge chunk of a salary cap that you're going to be taking up if you're going to want more than $16 million average annual value.

Well, according to local Minnesota blog, 10,000 takes. Get it? You get that pun? That's a good pun there. While general manager Bill Gueren is vehemently denying the report, claiming that as bullshit. I know two things. That info didn't come from us, and it didn't come from Carrillo's agent. I don't know where it came from. So basically, Bill Gueren is calling it bullshit.

But listen to what he said. He's not exactly denying. He said that info didn't come from us, and it didn't come from them. He's not saying the info is inaccurate. I know we didn't leak it. I know they didn't leak. You know what I feel like? You've got to read between the lines a little bit there.

Yeah. And in this article from Smith and Ruso in The Athletic, they talk to Bill Garen, and he's basically admitting this happened, and we have to reassess the situation. And they still want to sign Caprizov, obviously. Their owner, Craig Leopold, has said, Nobody can pay him more money than we can. Nobody's going to offer him more money than we can. Where do they go from here? I doubt they expected him to turn down 8 by 16. Will that continue? Will they be the team that offers him the most money?

That's a shitty feeling, isn't it? Yeah, that's not good. To offer somebody that money. And it gets turned down. We are doing such an awesome thing. He's going to love it. To get Claire the best birthday present ever. You're so excited to give it to her. She rips off the paper and she's like, no.

She likes the paper more than the gift.

This is This is also arguably the second best player in franchise history behind Miko Kuevu. You can't lose this guy if you're the wild. And so I think you have to be a little bit embarrassed if you're the wild. Kind of a bold statement that he gets to there, isn't it? I mean, he could be- I can't deny it.

No. I can't deny that at all.

Let's say he could go down as the second. He could even go down as the best player in franchise history. So it's fascinating, and it's going to be fascinating to follow for the rest of the offseason and regular season.

We will talk about this more with esbn. Com. Nhl writer Greg Rysinski in a moment, but let's get to our wins and fails of the week presented by Jagen Meister. Serve it cold or don't serve it at all. Jagen Meister, damn, that's cold. For more, visit jagenmeister. Com. Drink responsibly. David, what is your win?

Well, I actually have two wins this week. You got two of them. We got a late arriving win right before we came on the show. But my first win of the week, win is Calgary Flames, you win. You know why? Because he just locked up an excellent, excellent young goal tender, Dustin Wolf, to a very team friendly deal, I think. Seven years, 7. 5 million for a starting quality high-end goal tender. I think Dustin Wolf was a big reason why Calgary was even in the playoff race for as much of last season as they were. He's definitely a battler. He's so athletic. He's had a great attitude. I'm very excited to see what the future holds for Mr. Wolf and Calgary there. My second win, which we just found out right before we came on to record the show today, one of my favorite goalies of all time, Marc-Andre Fleury. The flower. The flower, the second flower. Coming out of retirement He's coming back to Pittsburgh on a PTO. He's in a play in their preseason game. I think it's the 28th, the 27th. 29th. The 29th. I think it's the home game on the 27th against Columbus, Ethan, that they're doing it in- It's one of them.

Because they're doing it in Pittsburgh. Yeah, of course. It's going to be probably the most watched preseason game of all time. It's standing room only for a preseason game. But I mean, is that so cool, though? I'm tempted to I'm not going to go, but the thought crossed my mind. So it's really cool. I mean, he's not coming out of retirement or anything. He's just going to do this.

But how awesome. Even a one-day contract for- Yeah, go out as a...

He never should have left Pittsburgh. What were you thinking? Sending him to Vegas? And then he did all that amazing stuff there. But very cool. Double wins. Goaltender. Yay.

My win of the week is the fact that South Florida now has a Major League pickleball team. Oh, God. The Paul Meech Royals have launched, and they have some big names who have joined the ownership Sipping the Kool-Aid, Roy. The former North Carolina Tahoe basketball players Tyler Hansborough and Marvin Williams.

Okay.

Coach, cornerback, Kenny Moore.

I hated Marvin Williams when he was on the horse.

Dude, Tyler Hansborough, to me, is the worst. That guy. His fights with UD.

This is a hell of a group.

Tennis player Bianca Andreescu. The reason why I'm bringing this up is because Florida Panthers' Captain Alexander Balkoff, is also an owner. He's a team owner, folks. In his second favorite sport, technically, pickleball, which is offshoot of tennis. So good for him. Congratulations, Barki. You are now a team owner, Ethan.

Just to add something, our buddy Dave Damscheck from Football America messaged me just before the show and was like, The Pens are bringing back Mark-Andre Fleury. Oh, it's only for a preseason game. Dang. So I guess the nostalgia tour is really revving up in Pittsburgh this year, especially if Sydney Crosby is going to be out there for Dave Damscheck. Yeah, fair enough. Dave's the man. All right, my win of the week. Sam Bennett. What a year for Sam Bennett. Hey. Married, CUP, Conn-Smith, new contract, Benny's Buddies. What a year for Sam Bennett. And he brought the CUP with him to the Humane Society in Broward County, where he has Benny's Buddy set up, of course, his adoption program for every time he scores a goal. Some of the pups got to hang out with the Stanley Cup, and I just love looking at puppies in the Stanley Cup.

It's a beautiful thing. Can I have my new background on my computer?

Dworkey's background. Can I show this? Yeah, it showed Dworkey. His background is Benny with a cat in a Stanley Cup.

It's not even a cat. It's a kitten. It's a baby cat.

He had the kitten in there. And scoop from our friend Jess Blaylatch. She said both of the cats that were in the cup for Benny's picture, they've already been adopted.

Good job, Benny.

That's amazing. Yeah, Benny's the best.

He didn't even have to score a goal for that one. What a year for Sam Bennett. David, what's your fail of the week?

My fail of the week, we're going back north of the border. The Connor McDavid obsession is real, and it goes all the way up to the top of the political food chain in Canada.

We are in a crisis.

The global trading system This system has been upended. Supply chains have been destroyed.

Mcdavid is unsigned. This is not a transition. This is a rupture.

That's Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Harney, addressing the nation, apparently, on the importance of global trading, supply trains, Connor McDavid's extension at Edmondson. We know, Roy and I have been privied to just how big of an oilers fan Mark Harny is. It runs very deep. This is red level in Canada. This is code red. Mcdavid.

If Connor McDavid leaves Edmonton and signs with an American team, it's going to be a mess.

That's going to be the civil war that we get.

Every time I want to take Canada seriously, they do something like this where the Prime Minister is up there talking about hockey.

No, that's a Barack Obama-level joke there where he just mixes sports in with his humor. So good. Good for him. My fellow week, the Hersey Bears. Now, I realized that the Hersey Bears are the affiliate of the Washington Capitals. They've been the affiliate of The American Hockey League affiliate for Washington for the past 20 years. They're celebrating. For four games this season, they are hosting Capitals Night, and the fail is a jersey. Jersey is terrible. Oh, my God. This is a '90s, 2000s era-inspired jersey uniform. You know the teal, black, gold, and white jerseys?

Yes.

The Screaming Eagle.

The Olaf Kholsings.

Yeah, the Kolzik era. This one is beige, brown, black. I love it. And they call it the Screaming Bear. It's as bad as you think.

I like it.

It reminds me of a movie that you- You like it? Yeah. Recently called Cocaine Bear. That looks like that bear. Cocaine Bear.

Oh, like the Bruin's Cocaine Bear. Yeah.

Those big bloodshot eyes. No, The Screaming Eagle works because eagles fly. Eagles come swooping in.

Well, this one is a grouling bear with one par swiping on the front of the jersey with a modified Chevron on the bottom that says bear is on it, on the stripe.

The bear is unique, good colors, cool logo. I like it. Nothing to dislike. You know what I don't like, Roy? Your fail?

My fail of the week. Yes. That's what a transition for me.

One of the things I love most on television is nerds on Jeopardy that don't know sports. Oh, jeez. We had another great instance of this. Roll the tape. Canadian Girlfriends for 600.

Leon Dreisaitl stars for this northernmost NHL team, but went to warmer Spain to propose to Celeste Desjardins. Ian.

Who are the Winnipeg Jets.

You know what? Not a bad swing, though. Edmonton is further north.

Ian, back to you.

That's not a bad swing because I feel like- It's not even the same province. You hear more about Edmonton generally than you do about Winnipeg. I feel like Winnipeg just feels like it's a more remote place.

Am I wrong? This is not only not knowing sports, this is not knowing geography and not knowing that Edmonton is more north. It says northernmost.

Yeah, but at least he named a team. You think the other one, they're pulling out the LA Kings? They don't know.

Well, at least Ken Jenning said dry saddle correctly.

Right? I was thinking the same thing. Alex Trebek was the master of pronunciation, though.

Well, he's Canadian. The esbn. Com senior NHL writer, Greg Grisinski is coming up next.

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Greg Grosinski is a good person who deserves better than being on this show, but he's here anyway. We appreciate you joining us there, Greg.

Keep saying yes. Keep having them on.

I don't know A month ago, you wrote about the Hockey Diversity Alliance. It's their fifth anniversary. In June of 2020, it started as a group text between current and former NHL players, and it turned into a full-fledged coalition within the time of civil unrest. This was the time of COVID. This was the time that George Floyd was murdered. So you wrote about the HDA. Five years later, tell us how the group doing and what it's been going through since their beginning.

Well, the exciting part is there's now palpable results from the group's work. They had a huge hockey fest in Toronto. They had one in the summer, they had one in the winter. They're doing a bunch of trying to get young, diverse communities to try out hockey in the Greater Toronto area. They've worked with some groups. I want to say Detroit Detroit, maybe Chicago. Maybe it was Chicago as well in trying to develop more youth hockey. I think that's really been the HDA's biggest influence in their time is working with these youth groups. Anthony Duclair, obviously, has done some stuff, did some stuff when he was with the Panthers and continues to do stuff in other stops around the NHL. I think Hakeim Alieu and the folks of the HDA are finally, after A long time in existence and some stumbles, not of their making, have started to get some salient results. And the stumbles, by the way, are, you mentioned George Floyd. When the HDA started, they had a flood of sponsors come and be throwing money at them, and we're going to sponsor this and sponsor that. And then, as we all know, the public front-facing statements about diversity and inclusion in the years after the George Floyd incident went by the wayside, and so did the funding.

So they have a few sponsors that stuck with them. They're obviously looking for more, but they overcame that and are now really making some important inroads in trying to create more opportunities in youth hockey.

Well, you mentioned Hakeem Aliu and how he was treated in Calgary and how that career went. The banana that was thrown on the ice because Wayne Simmons played a preseason game, and many other incidents that has happened in the National Hockey League in the past. We've gone from that to 2020 when Matt Dunbar took a knee at Center Ice in an empty arena because of COVID, and the NHL themselves creating a coalition, the player inclusion coalition, has there really been any progress within the league to make the sport more inclusive, even after the aftermath of players bucking against were in pride jerseys? Has there been any progress made?

Well, let's not forget the NHL putting their own end racism signage in the arenas during the COVID games in Toronto and Edmonton. They were also leaning into this, too. If you could look back at those games and those moments in the league, you also had games that were postponed because of other incidents that happened and the players banding together and saying, We're not comfortable playing a game under these circumstances. As far as the things that they've done, and you're right, they do have their own diversity committee and initiatives within the league, and they don't work with the HDA. In fact, one of the things that I wrote about in that story when I talked to Hakeim recently was maybe a willingness from the HDA to try to find a way to partner with the NHL at some point because that relationship is fractured, and frankly, it's nonexistent at this point. So we'll see where that goes. But as far as what they do, I've looked into it. I will fully admit that I check in now and again just to see if that web page is still there for their diversity committee, considering the way that things have gone with other league and other corporations in the US.

It is there. And if you check out their social feed, they do promote and mention some of the events that they've done. Again, a lot of focus on youth hockey, a lot of focus on opportunity and things like that. And They don't really blast it out there, and it's not really front of mind. But there are events that go on throughout the year that they're a part of, and you can find that when you go on their website.

Greg, we got some pretty cool news this morning that Marc-Andre Fleury was coming out of retirement to rejoin his good buddy, Sydney Crosby in Pittsburgh. One last hurrah. It's going to be probably the most attended preseason game in NHL history. I would imagine they're going to have standing room and they're going to bring you an extra seats like they would at the Orange Bowl down here. The Orange Bowl. Casting aside how cool it is that Marc-Andre Fleury is making this comeback, how long do you think his buddy, Sydney Crosby, is going to keep that Penguin's sweater on? Because I personally think Montreal, Roy, maybe Detroit, but certainly- I'm not saying anything, man. The writing's on the wall. He's on his way out, right?

Yeah. Is Fleury coming back to Pittsburgh? It's got real Steve Carel coming back before the office has canceled energy. Listen, my take on Sid is this. I had someone tell me in the offseason that Cydney Crosby is going to play in the playoffs no matter if it's in Pittsburgh or it's somewhere else this season. I asked Sid about that at the player media tour. He didn't quite go as far as to say that. I think he's trying to really keep an open mind about Pittsburgh, trying to pull a Washington Capitals and surround the veteran corps with younger players and different players and seeing if they can maybe squeeze one last drop of juice out of this thing before the team gets blown up. A limit. But I don't think it's going to happen. And Sid himself said, Most of the pundetry is going to pick us to finish last in the division. So I think within the first two or three months of the season, I definitely think it could happen before the Olympics that we could see Crosby go to the Penguins and say it's time. I do think, though, it should be noted.

There are people in Sid's life that I think would love to see him move on, not only for the betterment of him, but also for the betterment of the NHL. He is one of the most legendary players of the last 50 years in this league, and he is persona non grata at the most important time of the year, three years running. And even before that, the penguins were really a contender. But then you have Sid, who clearly has incredible affinity for the penguins. I think has always fancied the idea of playing for one franchise. And there is always the possibility that they could get good by the very, very end of his career. But overall, I have to imagine that the time spent losing has really weighed on this guy, that he might go to them and say, I'm ready for another opportunity.

Is It's crazy to think that Marc-André Fleury is going to be the savior in all of this, and he's going to fall re in love with Pittsburgh. It's going to go beyond a preseason game. He's going to take over for Kristenrishnan Jari and Arthur Sylow's. And he's going to lead Crosby and the Penguins back to the playoffs. It's going to be the most amazing Cinderella story that everybody but Roy loves. Is that what's going to happen?

No, but he's better than the goalies they have right now. At the very least, he does play another year. Who knows? But if he plays another year, does he have to give back all the gifts from last season? No way.

In my eyes, yes. If you do the retirement tour and you get a rocking chair and this and that. A rocking chair, you don't retire. You got it.

If you're a cop and you get a gold watch for your retirement, and you decide to still be a security guard somewhere.

You put your entire year.

No, you put on a bus. You turned into Dennis Hopper.

Yes, exactly. That's right. That's how you knew he was a cop because that's the watch that they give you. I love that movie so much. Listen up, Hot Shot.

What do you do?

Tell that Wild Cat.

That Wild Cat. That's right. That's right. Pop quiz. Drive around the airport. That's the only way to drive because the copters can't go above the airport because of the air traffic control rules. Brilliant. You mentioned Detroit, you mentioned Montreal. I think both of those teams have something in which is a lack of any guarantee they will be in the playoffs. I think wherever Sid goes, it's not going to be on the bubble. It is going to be on a team that can contend, where he can feel comfortable that he might have multiple rounds in the playoffs. We all know the McKinnon connection from Cole Harbor and what have you, and so the avalanche can't be ignored. One thing somebody told me once about said that stuck with me is, though, if he goes to Colorado, is he taking a A Cut in Minutes?

Yeah.

He's going to be on the third line.

Is he going to take the marshand diet? Is he not playing his spot on the power play anymore? You imagine if Sydney Crosby comes to your team, you acquiesce. It's like Gretsky going to your team, right? No. Who knows? Maybe he's going somewhere. Maybe Montreal is a cleaner place for him to go because you can go to nick Suzuki and be like, Hey, buddy, Sydney Crosby is over here. And all of a sudden, you're nick Suzuki and you're playing second nine minutes for a couple of years until Sydney Crosby retires. But if you go to Colorado, it is an interesting conversation we had. Does McKinnon move to the wing on Sid's line? Who knows? But that's a different conversation that we had than, say, Montreal or Detroit.

How dare you compare Sydney Crosby to Wayne Gretsky as far as giving up a spot.

From a prestige standpoint, it is absolutely the right comparison to make a generation of players treat Crosby with the same... Like a hockey deity, like all the people in Gretsky's era treated Gretsky. I know he doesn't have the same grandiose stats because he didn't have the pleasure of playing in the 1980s where goalies didn't know what the hell they were doing. But he's a pretty good hockey player, and I think he would be treated with the same reverence as Gretsky when he bestowed his glory on the St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers.

Why didn't Gretsky go home at the end? If we're talking, this is what Crosby- Going back to Edmonton? Or even Canada. Just go back somewhere in Canada.

Is he from Alberta, Gretsky?

No, he's on the east side of it.

Going back to Edmonton.

Yeah, going back to his original team. Yeah, because I forget it in for me.

Anyway. Why didn't he go back to Edmonton instead of spending the rest of his career in Los Angeles and New York? St.

Louis? St. Louis.

I still can't figure out that St. Louis thing. That was a strange anomaly in the Gretsky. It's like when my boy, Bredor, ended his career in St. Louis.

How did that not work, though? Brett Hall, Grant Fjord.

All I know is it's going to be great when Roy has to root for Sydney Crosby to bring home the Panthers third straight title this year in the Brad Marshan role, and he has to do what Mike Ryan did with Brad Marshan this year. It's going to be so awesome.

How do they have the money to do this?

They'll figure it out.

Is it going to give them a no-show job or something down there to make the money work for Sid?

Crosby is going to take 870K instead of 8. 7 million. That'll be what it is.

That's right. Let's just hope Billy Zeto knows a tree planting company down there that he can hook them up with.

We'll figure it out.

Wish. You mentioned the player tour in Las Vegas that you were just at. And interestingly enough, hockey players actually said interesting stuff this week. I cannot believe it. There were a few interesting story lines that have come out this week in the lead up to training camp. I'm going to tee up two for you here, and we can attack both, but you can pick which one to go first. The Hughes brothers who you talked to in terms of them both saying, Hey, I'd really love to play with my brother, which we all knew, but now it's out there. And there was the Jim Rutherford comments earlier this offseason, so that revs everything up. And then, Kholil Kaprizov turning down the biggest contract offer in NHL history. So you've got both of those options. Which one you want to go with first?

Well, I'll go with the Hughes' first. I was happy that my colleagues in the media that were there at the player media tour got the most thuddingly obvious question out of the way, so I didn't have to have to ask it, which is, would you like to play with your brother? Would you like to play with someone you're quite that you're fond with, that you grew up with, that you share a life with?

I don't know, maybe. That guy sucks.

With that off the table, I asked the question that I was interested in, which is, what do these guys think when all of a sudden the president of the Vancouver Canux is putting Quinn Hughes' business out on Maine like he did. Jack is like, I was a little surprised he did that, to be honest. He's like, I got no control over this thing whatsoever. But if Jim Rutherford wants to keep on talking about my brother wanting to play with me and Luke, by all means, continue to do it. And Quinn was a lot more political about it. He said, Look, I got all the respect in the world for Jim Rutherford. I'm sure he's got a reason for having said what he said. And he said, I'll leave it at that. So I don't know. The interesting thing I talked with Quinn about with regards to the Knux putting out, You want to play with your brothers, is we've seen teams get ahead of free agency and make trades. I mean, that is the reason Matthew K'Chuck became a Panther was he communicated, I'm not going to resign with Calgary. Calgary is like, Let's just get ahead of this thing.

Boom, the Huberto Uyger trade happens. So if it's been established that Quinn is going to walk, one, do they get ahead of it and just trade them? Then two, what does that do for him in the market? What is the reaction from the fans? And Quinn Hughes told me, Hey, it's entirely possible that things are going to get awkward because the fan base is now under the understanding that I want to play with my brothers, and my brothers are not in Vancouver. So that was an interesting conversation to have.

Let's go into the CBA really quickly here because they're trying to roll things out this season. What are the immediate impacts that's going to be instituted with this section of the CBA going into the season, and who is it going to affect the most?

Well, they're rolling out the long-term injured reserve rule changes this year. So So basically, if you put a player on long term injured reserve, there's limitations on how much of that salary cap space you can use to replace them. And more importantly, in order to open up all of that salary cap space, you have to declare that that player is not going to be playing for you for the rest of the season and the postseason. So the whole being able to use all that salary cap space to overload your team with contracts, then, oh, my God, Jesus has risen. He's playing game one of the playoffs. He's no longer injured. That's not going to be happening anymore. And then on top of that, another way they're trying to clamp down on this is they have created a postseason salary cap for the first time. So the team that you put on the ice has to be cap compliant. As an agent told me, you could have a team that's $130 million payroll, but the team that you actually put on the ice, the roster that's playing that night has to be cap compliant. I'm still waiting.

These guys are real smart in these front offices to see if there's ways that you could find loopholes for this thing. But I do think that it's the most intelligent way to try to attack what is perceived to be a problem. I happen not to think it's a problem. I think it's a genius way to get around the salary cap. And you do suffer not having that player in your lineup in the regular season, by the way. So there is a level of sacrifice. But I've talked to a few players, Nassim Khadri being one of them, a few players to play a media tour who are happy to see those loopholes closed because they feel like it does give certain franchises that know how to utilize that loophole, a competitive advantage.

With a 84-game season coming next season, and they're losing a couple of preseason games and adding two in the regular season, Are we going to start to look at teams going half speed, knowing that they have a playoff spot? A lot more teams doing that option, going into the playoff when they know they have a spot clenched.

I don't know, man. We've all talked about load management in the in light of what we see in the NBA, and we've never really seen it manifest. The only time you really see players leave the lineup is in the very, very last part of the season when you've got a playoff spot locked up. And then the last maybe two games of the year, you're icing an AHL team instead of the guys that you usually play. The 84 games season is a really interesting twist. The players I've spoken to love it, mostly because they love not having to have a grandiose preseason, which they don't they really need and don't want to play games that are completely meaningless. I do find it interesting. There wasn't a whole hell of a lot of, Hey, where's the bonus that comes our way for playing two extra games on the regular season schedule? The entire CBA negotiation was pretty much we're all fat and happy, and we're not going to really fight the league on a lot of stuff. I'm not surprised there wasn't pushback. But overall, I think the players are pretty happy to have a shorter preseason, longer regular season.

I don't know I can let you, Greg. I personally have a hankering for something that hasn't been satisfied in 20 some odd years, and I really could use some more hockey in Atlanta. I don't think- Oh, for crying out loud.

Are we going to do this again?

I don't think that two times Was it enough of a try to let it stick, personally. I miss going to games at Phillips Arena and how one side of it just comes up straight. There's just so much that I liked about Atlanta, visiting the CNN situation there.

This all sounds like sarcasm.

Georgia Tech, I do miss the Thrasher's jerseys. Yeah. Oh, God. They're not going to do that. Remember that one time they made the playoffs and they had those baby blue powder jerseys? They said Atlanta on the sleeve. Yeah, those were us. So anyway, sarcasm aside, Greg- Filled the entire room with it, man. How close are we to getting a third hockey franchise in Atlanta?

I liked the blue jerseys. Loved it. The third jerseys they came out with right before they moved where it looked like someone melted a box of crayons. Those were terrible, but the rest of the jerseys were fine. First of all, keep in mind, the winner in all of this is Canada, because they're going to get another team eventually if we put another team in Atlanta. Quebec. They got Calgary, they got Winnipeg. Who knew? Quebec City, you're on the clock. It's going to happen. The NHL believes a couple of things. One, they believe that the demographic and business community changes that have happened in the state of Georgia, and specifically around the city of Atlanta, since they tried the thrashers, 20 years ago, I guess it is now, they believe all those changes mean that that area is much more favorable to the demographics they need for hockey.

They're not going to build an arena in the same spot they built that ballpark for the Braves, right? Just out of downtown.

Kind of, yeah. They're looking at the suburbs. They're looking at Fourcethe County. Of course they are. And they're looking at, I forget where the other one is, but it's a former mall, I think it is. So the Fourcethe County one is the one that has the juice right now because it's It's like a $3 billion project that's been approved by the county. It's a mixed-use community with a hockey arena and a whole bunch of other stuff going on. We don't know if either of these ownership groups really have the scratch to pay for an expansion team. The fee could be upwards of a billion dollars this time, based on what franchise values are looking at right now. And neither of them have presented a formal plan to the NHL. And that's the takeaway from my conversation with Bill Daly at the player media tour in Vegas, is like, until the NHL has something concrete from these guys. It doesn't have to be shovels in the ground concrete, just concrete XYZ, here's how it's going to happen. They can't go to the board of governors in an open expansion process. So you have two groups from Atlanta.

They're waiting for proposals on. One group in Houston, they're waiting for a proposal on them. And then other places that have tried to make noise about hockey, New Orleans being one of them, and we'll see how it shakes out. But I'd be shocked if there's not a team in Atlanta within the next three to four years.

Is it surprising, though, that at this point of the process that there aren't firm plans and these things haven't already all the I's dotted and T's crossed well ahead, so they can go to the league and say, Hey, we've got all this straightened out. We just need your go ahead.

So I've thought about that, and I wonder if the... This is just my speculation. I wonder if the experience in Tempe, Arizona has made the NHL be a bit more... Skittish. Good call. Yeah, skittish. And wanting to... You're not crossing T's and dotting eyes. You are using the Sharpie, the big fat Sharpie, to dot the I's and cross T's.

The presidential Sharpie.

Because of what happened in Tempe with the coyotes and that arena situation and that ownership situation. So I think they're doing their due diligence. And again, The money they're asking for is going to be enormous. And I think that's also part of it, too.

Well, at least it's not like the New York Islander situation in the mid '90s, where they just got a guy who just did not have no money. Remember that 30 for 30, that Kevin Collins?

Yes. Absolutely. Listen, the guy in Arizona was a throwback because there was a time in the NHL where you'd have these stories once every five years of guys looking to own teams, and all of a sudden it becomes just a giant mess. It was nostalgic to have that situation play out.

Oh, my God. Wish. I want to go back to the Kareil Kaprizov signing that we mentioned earlier, or the non-signing, I should say. To me, this is fascinating. He's one of the best players in the league, in my opinion, and he just turned down an 8 by 16 million dollar deal. I think it could end him up with him making a lot more money. It could also end up with him screwing himself based off what Connor McDavid takes if he takes a team friendly deal. And it could also end up with him not in Minnesota at all. So where do you see this playing out? Because I think it's going to be one of the most fascinating stories to follow for the next year if he ends up going to free agency next year.

Well, your last point, I think, is the most important one, which is that maybe he just doesn't want to be in Minnesota, which is my takeaway from the whole thing. I mean, if you go by the reporting on this, he turns down a contract that would have been the richest in NHL history, richer than the contract Alex Ovechkin signed with the Capitals back, I think, in 2008. Okay, so he turns that down. Well, maybe he doesn't want to go eight years. That was one of the theories from Minnesota fans. Maybe it was the years and not the money that was the problem. Well, Michael Ruso from The Athletic is like, actually, they've never talked about a shorter contract than eight years. Okay, so it's not the year and it's not the money. I mean, I ain't no math major, but putting two and two together, maybe you don't want to be in Minnesota is the situation. See?

I told you.

He wasn't even trading. I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm very interested because there's reporting that he loves it there and that they've been working on a deal. They're going to continue working on a deal. But when he turns down 8 by 16.

I mean, maybe it still happens. Who knows? But I mean, the bottom line for me is that you turn down that level of money. You're not looking for anything short term. What do you want? You don't want more money or you've already gotten all the money, right? I've read reports of his agent maybe knows that there's an even richer contract out there for CapriSoft. Maybe there is. He's a fabulous player. He's a multiple 40 goal scorer over multiple seasons. He's also a guy that has some health issues in the regular season. But ultimately, it could just be that he wants to move on, and that's why he's not taking that money. Again, to put on Johnny Journalism hat for a second, I've been trying to tell people, just think logically where this news comes from. Is it the agent or the player being like, Hey, I turned down more money than anyone's ever made in the NHL before.

Well, Bill Gaines said it wasn't either of them.

Teammates, it's me, Kareel. How do you feel about me turning down more money than you'll ever make in your lives? What? You're alienating me? What? You're alienating me?

He was at a Captain Skate when that report came out. How do you think that went back in the locker? Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

When you... Again, I'm not saying I know this for sure, but I am saying that we've seen it before where if a team feels disrespected in a contract negotiation, it's usually the team that's putting out that news to the world that, Hey, we did our best. Sometimes that we did our best messaging comes out before we have to trade them because we did our best, and it wasn't good enough.

Oh, boy. Finally, what is the biggest story coming into this season?

That's a really good question. From a player perspective, it's Marner in Vegas, and when that return happens to Toronto, just because he's now ratcheted up the rank core since leaving and in playing this victim card. I didn't feel safe there, all this other stuff, and the debates about his legacy and what the Leaps are going to be without him. It could be on the level of the John Taveras return to Long Island, which is still one of my favorite games I've ever covered in my life, where they were putting his jersey in the middle of the parking lot and running it over with cars and throwing rubber snakes on the ice during the game because he left the Islanders. So from that perspective, it's probably that. I think, obviously, the Crosby situation and the McDavid situation, which we really talk about, are both going to play out in interesting ways. Like, does McDavid enter the season without a contract for next year? Where does Crosby end up? And then from a team perspective, we, and this is obviously salient to the folks I'm talking to now, we may be in the midst of a dynasty.

And what is that going to manifest as? Have the Panthers made a mistake running it back with everybody on the roster and not trying to maybe turn it over a little bit more? Or is this going to be a third straight cup and a fourth trip to the Cup final in four years for this team?

Scary.

That's it? Scary?

I mean, not for me, for everyone else. Okay. The cap's going up. They've got everybody locked up, and they're about to get $10 million off their cap when Bob is off the boots after next season. So I feel like there's a lot of runway for the Panthers.

Yeah, but also then you have to replace Sergei Barovski.

Yeah, and you can do that for less than $10 million, probably. No, for sure.

But I'll tell you, that kid they got from Columbus, I'm bullish on that kid.. Yeah. Bill Zeto once told me that he thought he was the most talented goalie that Columbus had in their system when Zeto was an executive there. And Columbus, for what it's worth, does not have a Department of Goaltending Excellence like the I'm intrigued to see if they can unlock whatever has been locked up in this guy, talent-wise, because I think he's really talented.

Greg Grosinski from ESPN. He's writing about hockey, and we're getting back into it, folks. It's what? Next week? Next weekend? We're back. Preseason. Training camp. Under a month. Thanks, Greg. Anytime. Thank you to Greg Rysinski. That was excellent. That was real good.

He knows his stuff. Yeah, he does.

You think he likes us better than Marek?

No. I mean, we're not professionals. I was like, Jeff.

He tolerates us.

We're in the professional Hockey Writers Association, just like Jeff Merrick, but we just aren't professional like him.

We're professional like us.

Well, that's true. I don't know who's in the video room. I don't know. You know what? It's Dan. Danny's back there. Yeah, Danny's back there. We like to thank them for doing what they do. Ethan. Thank you. I didn't say thank you. I love the show. I didn't say thank you.

I'm thanking you, Roy.

I appreciate you.

He's in the back seat of a car in West Virginia. Is she still logged on or not?

She left. Good luck, Rose. That's David Dworak. My name is Roy Balmy. We will see you next week. Training camp starts. We're almost there, man.