Transcript of Was The Draft Lottery Rigged For The Maple Leafs? | The Hockey Show New

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a dumpster fire, but they are picking number 1 overall from that fiery dumpster. We have Steve Levy on the show.

This is the Hockey Show.

With David Drogan on Hockey News with Rose, who says that this, uh, Draft lottery is rigged, and with Ethan Budnowski in the other room, my name is Roy Bellamy.

I thought I heard rigged in stereo. Yeah, I don't think she was the only one.

Rigged in stereo?

Rigged in stereo.

I went to a Cars reference there. You like that one, Roy? I know you like that one.

Yeah, moving in stereo. On Tuesday, the Toronto Maple Leafs won the draft lottery. They are picking number 1 overall. Uh, but let's talk about what happened on Monday because they had their intro press conference with, uh, the new general manager John Cheka and the new senior advisor, executive advisor, Matt Sandeen. And, um, a lot of Maple Leafs fans are happy about that hiring.

Um, but Dolphin fans were happy when they hired Dan Marino. Yeah, how'd that work out?

12 hours later, decided to quit, but he's back.

You put that thought in my head, I had to mention it.

I'm sorry, you being the consummate Dolphins fan.

Me? Yeah, you've been to Dolphin games with me, sir.

I, I have. He's a crazy person at these Dolphins games.

Not that bad.

All right, team CEO Keith Pelley fielded, uh, questions in the presser. And before we get to what happened at that presser, let's talk about John Cheka, because he was hired in 2016. He's the youngest GM in league history at the time. He resigned in July of 2020. Now I'll say July 2020, the playoffs were pushed back due to, uh, COVID.

That was a fun year.

Yeah, uh, the qualifying round, he quit before the qualifying round for the Arizona Coyotes.

He—

that's who was the general manager for, uh, so he quit and Arizona moved past that round and then he ended up losing in the first round to Colorado. Um, and obviously you know what happened to the Avalanche that year.

I believe you know exactly what happened to the Avalanche that year. Weren't you there for it?

I was there for it. I was there for it twice, actually, both in Colorado and in Tampa. Yeah, I had to see the Lightning die in that one. So yeah, uh, but Gary Bettman suspended him for the 2021 calendar year for some cheating. Uh, yeah, so apparently the, uh, he had held some, uh, scouting tryouts, uh, outside, outside, outside the combine, which is a big no-no. And the Coyotes lost the second round pick that year and a first-round pick the following year. Yeah, not good. So yeah, that— and he hasn't had a front office gig since that suspension.

And he never had a really good reputation among, you know, his peers in the league, let's say. And I think we're going to hear a little bit more about that in a second. But it was— it's just a very confusing hire, I think, considering the names that are out there and the reach that a team like the Maple Leafs would have. Like that was kind of shocking.

The suspension actually came off of him bailing on the contract that he had with the Coyotes.

And yeah, he was, he was suspended, rumored to be looking for other jobs, basically trying to get the Devils job apparently while he was in contract with the Coyotes. So he was breaching his contract. And then I think you mentioned, Roy, as well that they tried to run a secret combine, the Coyotes did during COVID which was against the rules because of COVID and is also against the rules in general. So this guy had a propensity for breaking the rules when he was in Arizona. And now here he is resurfacing 5, 6 years later as the GM of the biggest team in the sport.

He had 3 years left on a contract with Arizona as he tried to bail on that one. But that brings us to Monday, where everybody's favorite sportswriter, Steve Simmons, asked Keith Pelley this question.

Steve Simmons, Toronto Sun. For Keith, you talk about the due diligence that you did on John prior to hiring him and now hiring him. In the past, say, 3 to 4 days, I have been in contact with about 20 people who work in the National Hockey League, many of whom are prominent names that we would all know. And of the 20 people I spoke to, one was supportive of John's hiring and the other 19 thought it was a sham, to be perfectly honest. Words were used like con artist, liar, salesman. How did you come to a different conclusion than I was able to come to in a very short time?

I must have talked to different people.

That's it?

Because I'm telling you, the hockey world today is astounded by this announcement.

Okay. And your response to that is, is we've conducted due diligence and it was deep due diligence. It was a thorough process.

And I'm quite happy with where we've landed.

Yeah. So I don't think that, that Steve Simmons is going to get the same treatment that Mark Lazarus did in Vegas.

But no, he's been asking tough questions for a long time up there. I think he's, you know, pretty good.

Yeah. Pelly looked a bit warm after that question.

Yeah. Look, that was one way to ask it. And Steve Simmons, we, you know, he's a very hard-nosed journalist. We've met him a couple of times. Um, actually worked with his son for a little while, uh, writing for the Panthers hockey news site.

Yep.

But yeah, that was rough, man. And there, there's one camera shot. I don't know if we had that one of where it just kept it on Chayka the whole time.

Yeah.

And he's like drinking his water. It's like, con artist. And he's like, I mean, he just signed his contract. So he's got to feel okay. But man, yeah, that was just, look, between that and the draft lottery, I am locked in. With popcorn ready for whatever happens in Toronto for the next year or so.

Yeah, it takes serious balls to ask a question like that, and I mean, honestly, like, I didn't really have a problem with what he asked, to be honest with you. I think he definitely could have phrased it better, but it's a totally fair question to Keith Pelley that I'm sure fans are wondering, which is, how did you make the decision to hire, of all people, of all the people that are available right now to run the Toronto Maple Leafs, how did you decide on this guy with his track record? It's not like he was the most successful GM anyway, right? The Coyotes never made the playoffs during his tenure.

They made the postseason.

They made the postseason when they went to the bubble, right? Yeah, they, they made the bubble playoffs.

That's the playoffs.

And then basically until the Mammoth made the playoffs this year, all of the players that he— like, the roster that he built, plus, uh, who's the GM there now? Doug— Bill Armstrong, is it? Is it BA? Yeah, yeah, BA has basically done a much better job elevating that roster and getting it into the actual playoffs. So I don't really know how they came to this decision. It doesn't make any sense. And I think it was a totally fair question to ask because Jake, look, not only does he have this track record, it's going to be— he has a really difficult job in front of him, right? We don't know that Auston Matthews even wants to stay in Toronto. We don't know how William Nylander feels about Toronto. And it seems like this guy's going to have a really hard time making trades with his fellow GMs because nobody really wants him. To be a GM in the first place. So I don't know. It's a crazy hire if you ask me.

Apparently somebody wants him to be a GM. At least one guy. And he's got a big checkbook.

Pretty important guy. Yeah, I guess so.

No, but I'm with you. I don't get it at all. It was surprising. And I guess Pelley spoke to the only people that Simmons didn't speak to because what else?

The one guy.

I guess. Should be interesting.

All right, well, so let's talk about the result of the lottery. Toronto is now officially the first overall pick at this. Yeah, they were originally 5th, now they moved up to 1. And San Jose, who was originally 11th, is now 2nd. That pushes Vancouver down to 3.

Pushes the Panthers to 11.

Uh, no, no, no. Um, Chicago's 4th, the Rangers are 5th. Calgary is 6th, Seattle 7th, Winnipeg is 8th, Florida is 9th, and Nashville is 10th. What are your thoughts about what happened during the draft lottery?

I thought it was funny seeing the reaction when Toronto won. Just the hockey world went crazy. You know, we— what, they've missed the playoffs twice in 11 years and won the lottery both times, whereas teams like Vancouver never won the lottery.

Utah slash—

Both drafted in Buffalo.

Utah slash Arizona never won the lottery. So it's, you know, it's funny. Is it gonna change what happens with Auston Matthews, I think, is the big question. Because will this make Auston want to stay in Toronto longer and deal with that cauldron and all that situation? You know, will— because it's not like they haven't been winning, they just haven't won anything big. And will Gavin McKenna be the guy that puts the Leafs over the top? Are they gonna defend better? Are they gonna get better goaltending with Gavin McKenna? Craig Berube, what's up with you, buddy?

Is he gonna have a job, right?

So there's still so many questions in Toronto.

Rosie, this means we have -9 chance of getting McKenna.

Yeah, that's exactly what that means.

Well, look, the Panthers have a top 10 pick, they have 2 second round picks. If they really want to move up, Bill Zito has the bullets in his gun to make that happen. Now, do they want to go out and try to get a top 2 pick?

I think we need a goalie now.

Yeah, I was going to say, Rose, I think the better option here is to use that pick.

I'm just saying the options are there for Bill Zito. He has a lot of different things that he could do with the draft and That's part of why we wanted to be there for it.

Well, the Jets might be in full rebuild mode, you know what I'm saying?

So I know exactly what you're saying, Roy. Yeah, I know exactly what you're saying.

All right, so let's get to Awards Watch as the, uh, the Norris Trophy was announced today. So let's, uh, recap all the awards so far. The Ted Lindsay Award, which is the MVP voted on by the players, you got Macklin Celebrini, uh, Nikita Kucherov, and Connor McDavid as the finalists there.

I'm really curious to see who wins the Vezina Trophy.

The top goaltender has voted voted on by the general managers Ilya Sorokin, Jeremy Swayman, and Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct, as voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. David wanted the refs to vote on that one. That's good. Right on there. Cole Caulfield, Anze Kopitar, and Jake Sanderson. The Jack Adams Award for Coach of the Year, as voted on by the National Broadcasters Association. Uh, that would be John Cooper, Dan Muse, and Lindy Ruff. You're slow on that button there, Rosie. On the Masterton Trophy, I'll do my best. Preserving sportsmanship and dedication to hockey, as voted on by the PHWA, that's Ramses Dahlin, uh, Gabriel Landeskog, and Jonathan Toews. The Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year, as voted on by the PHWA, Rowan Gardner. Ivan Demidov, Matthew Shaffer, and Beckett Seneca.

Matthew Shaffer is a winner, that's why I went so early.

Yeah, there you go, that's good. The Selke Trophy for best defensive forward, as voted on by the PHWA, Anthony Cirelli, Brock Nelson, and Nick Suzuki. And the Norris Trophy for best defenseman, as voted on by the PHWA, Ramses Dahlien, Kale McCarr and Zach Wierenski. All right, so all the— all these awards, what do you think, uh, what's the probably the closest award for as far as voting is concerned? What do you think is going to happen?

Uh, the closest, I think I might think Jack Adams would be close because Lindy Ruff Buffalo had that crazy good year. John Cooper's been, you know, always a bridesmaid, never, never a bride in, in the Jack Adams race. And I thought the Lightning were great during the regular season. And look, the Penguins shocked us all. So Dan Muse is in there as well. I think that one could be tight. Vezina is another one that could be tight because Sorokin was spectacular this year. Vasilevskiy turned back the clock a little bit, even though he's only 31 years old, but you know, for crying out loud. And Swayman carried Boston for much of the year. So I will be keeping an eye on those two and Selke as well. I'm curious if it ends up going to Suzuki.

Yeah, but the Sabers won the division, so they won the division over the Lightning. So you would think that that would carry a little bit more weight.

And they made the playoffs for the first time in 14 years.

I definitely think that probably is a lock for the Jack Adams. I don't know if he's a lock, but I'll I wouldn't be surprised if it's not Lindy Ruff.

What about the Norris Trophy?

What about the Norris Trophy?

Is it going straight to Makar?

I don't think so.

I don't know. I've heard a lot of Zach Werenzy rumblings over the last few months. I know he ended up high on a lot of ballots, so he might have snuck in there. And then, you know, no disrespect to Dahlien. I feel like he had a very quietly good season and he's showing clearly on the ballots. He's showing up.

I've heard a lot of buzz for Dahlien. I thought Mareet Seider was a huge snub here. I thought Mareet Seider from the Detroit Red Wings should have definitely been a finalist for the Norris Trophy, probably over kill Makar, to be honest. I know a lot of people are mad that Evan Bouchard wasn't a finalist here. Uh, he had a great season, led defenseman in points by like 17 to the next guy. Um, could have legitimately been a nominee, but we also know the whole Evan Bouchard ordeal. So I think Dahlin or Wierenski might win this one, guys. I think those are the two favorites here.

Uh, a bit of breaking news, the Hart Trophy has been, uh, the finalists have been named and it's the same as last year. So, so there you go.

Which was that?

Would you care to tell us who was—

what happened?

Who was last year? Yeah, McKinnon.

No, you already know. You already know the 3 names.

I mean, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It can't be the same as last year because last year Connor Hellebuck won the Hart Trophy. Oh yeah, he was not a finalist.

Sorry, sorry. Nikita Kucherov, Nathan McKinnon, Nathan McKinnon, and, uh, Connor McDavid. Those are the 3.

Okay, I had all 3 on my ballot. I didn't have all 3 in my top 3.

They cannot give it to Connor. It's gonna be the same as the last I think they're gonna give it to Kucherov.

I think Kucherov is definitely gonna win the Ted Lindsay. Uh, he had a huge year, huge regular season, ghosted in the playoffs like he has for the last 4 years again. Just 1 goal, but that doesn't matter. It's a regular season award. So I think he's gonna win the Ted Lindsay, and I think he might win the Hart too.

Isn't that, uh, your stat of the week that he hasn't—

Rose, don't spoil it.

Uh, before we get to the hockey stat of the week, before we get to the hockey stat of the week, let's do Puck Luck because it's sponsored by DraftKings. DraftKings, the crown is yours.

David, Ethan, redeem yourself.

Yeah, guys, so I went over— no, no, he lost. Give me another chance.

Chance at redemption.

David's giving me another chance at redemption. This is my final chance at redemption. I have to go 2 for 3 this week at least, or else it goes back to Dave. So we are going to go—

I didn't make those rules. I'm making Ethan off the cuff here. We're gonna— this is not a We're gonna stick with the games tonight, guys.

We are going to go first to Montreal and Buffalo. I'm gonna take the Canadiens to even up the series tonight. I really like their performance in Game 1 even though they ended up losing. I don't think Dobisch will play as bad as he did in Game 1. That's his first stinker of the playoffs, and I think it'll be for now his only stinker. So I think I, I'd like him to get them back in this series. They dominated play, they outshot the Sabers. I think they're going to win tonight. In the Anaheim-Vegas game, first we're going to take Leo Karlsson anytime goal scorer at +175. 65. That's my absolute dog. I love Leo Karlsson. I love the Duckies. We all know this is the Duckies show. I think Leo's gonna get on the score sheet tonight. He's been great in this series, great in the playoffs so far. 9 points in 8 games. And then I'm gonna take the Ducks on the money line to take a 2-1 series advantage in this series going back to Anaheim tonight. They won Game 2 in a very good performance. I think they've been the better team in this series even though it is just 1-1.

I think they've been better than the Golden Knights, and I like them to take the advantage tonight, 2-1 over the Golden Knights. So that, add that up, that gives you a +704 parlay. Montreal moneyline, Anaheim moneyline, Leo Karlsson anytime goal scorer. That is Puck Luck, and it is brought to you by DraftKings.

There you go.

There you go.

He did the liner and everything. Uh, it's time for the hockey. Stat of the Week.

The Hockey Stat of the Week.

Hi Ethan, hi Ethan, hi Ethan.

Hi Rose.

I'm glad you got that right.

Hi Roy, hi David. Alright, back here in the Stat of the Week. We had some foreshadowing earlier in the show. This week's hottest hockey stat of the week, Jason, if we can put the buffer up here. Nikita Kucherov, in his career, he has played in 7 career Game 7s. He has 0 points. In those 7 career Game 7s. He scored 2 goals in his last 23 playoff games. That is 4 postseasons. He's got 2 goals. He's got 1 in his last 22, if we want to get even more critical of him. And then, guys, this is my favorite stat from that Tampa Bay series. The Tampa Bay Lightning— or excuse me, let me do it this way— the Florida Panthers have won as many playoff series this season as the Tampa Bay Lightning have won in their last 4 playoff appearances. That's the hockey stat of the week.

That does sound better, actually. I'm glad you did it that way.

Well, well phrased.

Yeah, it's time for the, uh, wins and fails of the week segment. And David, you have a win. Go ahead.

I do have a win. And for my win of the week, we're gonna head north of the border up to the Bell Center in Montreal.

The Center Bell, David. It's called the Center Bell.

It is, for once and for all.

Literally called the Bell Center.

I'm hearing weird sounds.

The name of the arena. That studio back down over there.

So anyway, at the Bell Center in Montreal.

Um, they played the Tampa Bay Lightning, as we just talked about. They beat the Tampa Bay Lightning. They had— well, first of all, we've talked about how amazing that place is for playoff hockey, and we've added it to our list of places to go. But during the first round of the playoffs, the team had a truly awesome display set up by the Heinz Company. You know, they make the ketchups and the mustards. And Pittsburgh, as your hat— sauces used to be the Heinz Field up in Pittsburgh, uh, down the street from where the Pirates play. Yeah, But anyway, getting a little far field here, uh, Heinz made napkins out of Tampa Bay Lightning jersey and handed it out to the fans and underneath a banner that said, stay in their jersey, not yours.

Oh wow.

As a ketchup connoisseur myself, I've messed many shirts up over the years. I love this. I love everything about it. I love the idea of wiping off ketchup that looks like blood onto another team's jersey. So kudos to you, Montreal. Kudos to Heinz and everybody at the Bell Center. Good stuff.

Genius, man.

Just so you know, in this Instagram post, I didn't put the picture in, but the sign where it says, "Stain their jersey, not yours," was in French because in Montreal they speak French, which is why the arena is named Center Bell, not Bell Center.

Yes, but we do the show in English, so it's the Bell Center.

You have to protect the French.

Yes, yes. They helped us out in many a war. Anyway, you guys know that the Buffalo Sabers have a group of fans wearing full pads and inline skates called the Blade Gang.

The Blade Gang.

Yeah, well, for their matchup versus the Canadiens, apparently there are a group of fans supporting the Habs. Uh, they're doing the same thing. They're called the Montreal Blade Gang. Probably could have came up with a better name, but, uh, wouldn't they be like the Gang Bladez or some French silliness like that? Yeah, I probably should have done that one.

Hey, Ethan.

Yeah, well, I don't know how to say Blade Gang in French, but I do know how to say Bell Center, which is exactly the Bell Center.

That's exactly what it is.

Yes, he said it himself.

Yeah, anyway, The Blade Gangs got together this week and played a little one-on-one ball hockey together, uh, on the streets of Buffalo. And as you can see from that video, uh, it's very much close-quarters combat because they were surrounded by onlookers. There couldn't have been more than 10 to 15 feet of space, but still, it looked a lot of fun out there. So yeah, good on them. That's my win of the week. Uh, good on the fans.

Bande de Slames. Blade Gang.

Blonde des Lames versus—

that looks like Spanish.

It does. It's the test.

Ah, this, that's French. Blonde des Lames, French.

Yeah, you— yeah, there you go. Ethan, what's your win?

Speaking of French, guys, my win of the week this week comes all the way from Paris. My favorite soccer club, Paris Saint-Germain, is back in the Champions League final. If we can put up the graphic here.

Tower of Fenn in France.

Uh, Torre Eiffel.

Wow, Rose.

Nice.

I know.

Nice.

Our badge famously has the Rose, if you'll say that again.

Torre Eiffel.

On it.

Oh, that was impressive. No, PSG went into Bayern Munich, completely shut down arguably the best offense in the world. Uh, drew on the day 1-1, but won 6-5 on aggregate in one of the most exciting semifinal ties you will ever see. And they are back looking to defend their Champions League title.

That is my bid.

May 30th, guys.

We will see you there.

The soccer show.

Soccer. The football show.

That is my bit, Ethan. My win of the week is that the Fever are back. Tomorrow is the first game.

Woohoo!

WNBA is back. So we cannot do it twice in a row, but I give it to you.

Do you guys know what show that you're doing?

I don't care.

We're doing the show. We're doing the show.

You're doing the show.

Wait, my win of the week.

Yeah.

Edmonton is not in the playoffs.

Edmonton hasn't been in the playoffs for a week now.

She's still celebrating that she doesn't have to go to Edmonton.

She just did the cabbage patch.

What is that?

That's a dance.

That's the thing that you did.

Oh.

That's a dance.

What is that?

She did it very mechanically, but yes.

What the hell is Ethan just doing?

I don't know what he was doing.

I don't have a lot of room back here, guys.

The Cabbage Patch doesn't go above your face.

Yeah, well, again, I don't have a lot of room back here.

Does your chair have wheels?

That was good.

What's your fail of the week, David?

Oh my God. I feel like every time you say that to me, it's whatever just happened.

Yeah.

But, uh, no, let's go back to Game 1 between Vegas and Anaheim, a game that put— that the Golden Knights won 3-1 to go up in that series, which Ethan thinks they're not going to be up anymore. But after Vegas took a 1-0 lead in the second period, the Ducks had an amazing Grade-A chance to tie the game a few minutes later. Look at this disgusting move by Leo Karlsson making Noah Hanifin just look silly. Then he dekes past Mitch Marner, a great pass, and Jackson Lacombe I don't know what he was thinking. That right there, the puck is on his stick in that picture and he did not score it.

I still want him to shoot it, Dave. He's gonna shoot it, right? He's gonna shoot it.

Here's the other thing, if you can play the video again, it's not only that he made a horrible decision to pass the puck, but when he did pass the puck, it was a shitty pass.

Yeah.

He passed it right into the skates of whoever was in front of the net, Troy Terry. Like here, right here, like here you go, Troy. Wait, wait, what are you doing? God, so there's like a triple fail all at once. They lost the game. They deserve to lose the game just because of that play, but they've come back in the series. We'll see how it goes. But man, I, I'm shocked. I'm shocked by that play.

That's a basic hockey play. No matter how much experience that Jackson Lacombe has, which is not a lot of league experience, you gotta, you gotta finish that.

Oh, and he knew it. Like, they showed the shot of him on the bench. He knew it right away. But still, like, God, that's, that, that's not a brain fart. That's a brain shart.

Yeah, and that series is probably going 7, by the way, so there's that too.

Yeah, he missed an assist from a very handsome player.

Yes, he did.

I'm glad you have another crush in this, uh, in this, in these playoffs.

Rose, you need to make a fantasy team based on looks only.

Oh my God, in the NHL, that wouldn't be a bad proposition. A lot of the, a lot of the really good players are like good-looking guys.

Maybe next season we'll do like a hockey show fantasy league. I'm sorry, that's what we're gonna do. And Rose just base it on looks. Ethan can base it just on accents in their name or some shit like that.

Dog. You can see on my page how much I like this idea.

Yeah, that's usually how it works.

As the idea of us watching off campus.

All right, so, uh, back on the tracks.

All right, uh, my fail of the week, uh, the Tampa Bay Lightning lost, uh, their series at home in game 7 to the Montreal Canadiens. And John Cooper had some words, uh, following the game. Take a look.

Get better as you go. And I thought we got better as we went, and I thought tonight we played our best game of the series. Um, yeah, like, sometimes you win the game and not the score.

That's Game 7.

There's no, uh, there's no moral victory in that.

Sometimes you win the game and not the score. That sounds like Rod Brind'Amour after the Panthers swept Carolina, he said that everyone's going to say that you got swept and that's not what happened. But no, that's, that's, that's, that's what happened.

They lost in 4 games. Let's remind everybody.

You got swept, Rod. You lost in 4 games. And John Cooper, y'all, you lost the game because you lost the score. What are we doing here? What are we doing?

This is ass-backwards thought process. Yeah, like, I get it, you're, you're still coach speaking, but he has to know. Like, these guys have to know. John Cooper, you've been doing this for a long time. You have to know that when he said that, he's probably thinking, "Oh shit, what am I saying?" Doesn't make any sense.

Ethan, what's your fail?

That's my fail of the week as well, Roy. That was the funniest thing I saw.

Did it even look like a fail?

Yes.

Did it look like a fail? There was nothing funnier all week than John Cooper saying, "Sometimes you win the game but not the score." Major fail by the two of you. Embarrassing.

Because Ethan, you knew that was Roy's fail. You knew that Andre Vasilevsky responded to it with a massive eye roll. That could have been your fail.

And let's talk about this for a second because that was really good. If you go and watch this video, I don't have it in here, but Andre Vasilevsky is asked about, is asked about this quote and gives one of the greatest eye rolls you will see in the history of eye rolls. Like it is truly unbelievable. And I don't, I don't know, guys, I don't know if there's some trouble in paradise or what, but that was not, not the most confident answer in his head coach there. I know John Cooper is going to stay and I I don't doubt that Andre Vasilevskiy is going to stay as well. He's just coming off a great season, although another disappointing postseason except for Game 6 in that series. I thought, um, but man, that was, that was ugly, Dave.

I'll take the L for that. I, I'm sorry everybody, I gave Ethan another 45-second platform that he didn't have originally, so I apologize.

All right, uh, Rosie, uh, or Clint Eastwood back there, uh, what's your fail of the week?

Sorry, Adnan, is the Flyers. Uh, if you're in the playoffs What the heck are you doing? Do something.

Do something.

Yeah. How is it that there's 3-0? So I did not like it.

Carolina's a wagon.

Yeah, well, I think they need to do something. They need to kick Carolina out or kick Carolina out. Yeah.

Yeah. If not, just let their competition—

you should have let the Penguins get in then.

All right. All right. A couple of weeks ago, we grabbed a bag and grabbed 16 helmets that had the playoff teams in.

Right?

So I was not here, and Rose was not here. Ethan picked for her.

Yeah, the Flyers. No.

Yeah, she apparently grabbed the Flyers. Uh, Dave, uh, they picked the Kings.

Oh, you're lost already.

Did I pick the Kings, or did Ethan pick them for me?

No, you picked.

Okay, I'll accept it either way. Yeah, that was— that isn't the worst team you could have got. Yeah, in the moment. Yeah, because if I would have gotten Ottawa, I would have been a bit happier than if I would have gotten the Kings, and they both got shitcanned.

So Ethan, uh, picked the Canadiens, and, uh, I picked to pick the Ducks, and Rose is not happy, as we discussed earlier, so she wants to pick for herself. Rosie, go ahead.

Okay, let's hope it's not our Carolina Hurricanes.

Did you pick two?

She picked the Avalanche. That's not— that's ridiculous.

I'm winning.

That is so ridiculous. I knew she was gonna do it too. That is so ridiculous. God, man.

No, that's my team.

That's like when 12 came up for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the draft lottery. That's insane. You can't go from the Flyers, who were getting their asses kicked by the Carolina Hurricanes in a literal 1 vs 8 matchup in the second round to a team that is very obviously going to win the Stanley Cup.

The helmets love me, so—

the helmets love you?

Yeah, I picked the helmet for you.

No, this is my helmet.

Handsome player on the Avalanche.

Roy, when we used to do the grid— oh, when we used to do the bucket—

I have not—

and when we do the bucket this fall, if somebody's not gonna be the Reaper—

no, no, no, no, no, no. If somebody picks for you Do you keep that team or do you get to repick if you don't like that team?

Keep the team.

You pick the team, you keep the team. Ethan, that's how it works.

Hockey show, different rules. Rose rules.

Listen, we're in the same office.

Rose's rules.

Rose's rules. So that's—

so that's why you get— you want me to get a second team?

So no, I wanted you to stick with the Flyers. No, not the Flyers.

I don't want the Flyers. The Flyers.

Okay, so I don't— I don't want the Canadiens.

No, because you're a—

oh, you think the Sabers are gonna win?

Oh God, man.

No, can I try and get the Wow, I really couldn't say Colorado.

I try and get the Colorado Avalanche too.

That pot's a bit up.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a bit loud. Uh, for those of you watching on DraftKings Network, check out and subscribe to our YouTube channel. That's At The Hockey Show DLS, because coming up next we have Steve Levy from ESPN. We are going to talk about the draft lottery and what's going on in the playoffs. Steve Levy from ESPN is coming up next.

The other night I was staying in. At least that was the plan. Then the text from my buddy Eagle Eye comes in. Mike, we've got the games on. I say, yeah. I grab a pack of Miller Lite and immediately my plan's gone. Now it's playoff basketball. Every possession feels huge. Baseball's on another screen and I somehow care about that too. Everybody's got takes flying. Nobody's watching just one thing. And we're all way more into it than we ever expected. It was one of those nights that you take a sip, you look around, and you think, yeah, this was the right move. That's why I reach for Miller Lite. It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink, brewed for taste with simple ingredients. Just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs. The original light beer since 1975, and it still hits different. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Lite. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com/Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time! Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Hey Roy, buddy.

Yo.

You know that energy shift when the game gets good and everybody all together in unison knows to stand up on their feet?

Oh, absolutely, Mike.

Yeah, you've been at many big-time sporting events. You know that moment quite well. That's what it's like when you take your first sip of Cuervo.

Oh, delicious.

It's the signal that says, we're not checking the time anymore, pal. It's when small talk turns into stories. Cuervo, man, it's that high-five-a-random-stranger effect. That's right. The game is popping. You're hugging people you never met before. That's the kind of energy that Cuervo brings. It's so smooth, so delicious. That's the Cuervo effect. Keep it Cuervo.

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Normally you will see Steve Levy in the studio with, uh, Marc Mercier and PK Subban and sometimes TJ Oshie, but not this Sunday because Steve is going to be doing play-by-play at Game 4 of the Golden Knights Ducks series live from Anaheim. So tune into that on Sunday starting at 9:30 on ESPN. That is Eastern.

Who wants to go to Vegas when you can go to Anaheim?

Yeah, a lot of fun there in Anaheim. A lot, a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff to do there.

But, uh, synergy near Disneyland. Perfect.

Yeah, right next to the— right. You can get in for free though. I used to be able to get in for free, but not anymore, unfortunately.

That's the thing. Yeah.

Yeah. But it's been a tough time in the center of the hockey universe in Toronto. They've missed the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. And ironically, that was the last time they were in the draft lottery when they get Auston Matthews.

Yes, ironically.

Ironically, by the way, both drafts went Buffalo. But in the intro press conference on Monday, they introduced John Cheka as the new general manager.

We're going to go there, huh? You want to go in right away?

Oh, we're leading off with this one because it was not a good scene. During that intro press conference. But they got the number 1 overall draft pick coming up. And when you saw the combination going the way of Toronto, what went through your mind?

Quite a few things went through my mind. Good for Toronto after the disaster that was that press conference. And then my text phone, you know, filled up with, it's fixed. You know, the league wants Toronto. They got to save the Maple Leafs from themselves. You know, all that kind of stuff. There's no way Gavin McKenna is going to Vancouver, you know, all that kind of stuff. So, uh, there's always going to be that. And listen, you know, people would have said it was fixed if they went to the Rangers, the Blackhawks, you know, really Toronto. Um, you know, I heard from other people, you know, not to name drop, Jon Hamm is like a die-hard St. Louis Blues fan. Like, he's really— he's a legitimate Blues fan. He will text me in November after they give up a a bad goal, you know, like a who-cares Tuesday night game, um, against the Sharks or something. So, and he's pissed off. But like, that's, that's kind of the idea, right? It shows you the passion and how much people actually care about it. And listen, I was never a great math guy, and numbers aren't necessarily my thing.

I still think there's got to be a better way to go about the ping-pong ball system. Yeah, there's got to be a cleaner, clearer, clearer way for everybody to understand what's going on. Uh, but it is what it is. They're trying to avoid the tanking situation, you know, that went on in the NBA, which was just awful this season. If you, you know, if you watch the Utah Jazz game, it was, it was just terrible. So I get it from all sides. I'd say good for Toronto. Uh, the league needs the Leafs to figure something out, you know. And, um, and so look, this is a step. This is a— this could be a major step. And no one's saying they're not going to blow the pick, by the way. That's out there. Yeah, possibility. You could be handed the number one pick and still mess it up. So it's good fun. It's good theater. And here we are.

Can you imagine getting a text from Jon Hamm? This Jordan Benetton guy, man, get rid of him.

No, but Steve brings up a really interesting point, though, about the tanking and the way that the NHL— because I wanted to bring up how the PHWL does it with once you're eliminated from the playoffs, then you start building your, your prospects. For the draft, where whoever gets the most points when you— after you've been eliminated gets the top pick in the draft. So if that was the case in the NHL, the Rangers actually would have gotten the number 1 overall pick and the Panthers would have picked 3rd.

Yeah, I was gonna say.

So that's really good.

That—

I did not know that. That's a really— obviously haven't been doing it that long, but that's an unbelievable idea. What a great system.

Yeah, and they've got like the jailbreak thing where like if you score while you're shorthanded, the guy comes out of— the girl comes out of the penalty box But they've got some really cool rules in the PW that I hope get pushed up to the NHL.

Yeah, we've seen that in the XFL, the UFL, right? The NFL sort of adopted some of the things, the kickoff rules and some of the changes. So it's good for, you know, these leagues that are trying and that maybe the, you know, the big leagues will pick up on. So that's a great idea. I never heard that before. And that sounds like a very fair system.

Steve, what did you think about the John Cheka hiring?

So look, I'll be honest, I knew it was a mess in Arizona when he was there. I don't know the man personally. I do know the guy who asked the question, and his name is Steve Simmons. And, you know, probably not familiar to a lot of people in the States. And I knew him, but I checked with some of my Canadian media type friends, and he is the preeminent columnist I was told top 2 sports columnists in the entire country for the last, let's say, 25 years. So I grew up in New York, uh, you know, that was always sort of a Mike Lupica thing. Um, there's always— every city usually has, you know, a lead sports columnist, right? Um, you know, Bob Ryan and Dan Shaughnessy in Boston, that kind of thing. And, uh, but this is the entire country, so I know he's done the work.

Work.

He's done the research. It's not like a kid out of high school started blogging and looking for clicks and trying to take over a press conference and go viral. That's not the case here. So this guy is, is respected, uh, he did the work and he asked the question that I'm not sure how many other people would have asked in that setting. So, uh, everybody was thinking it, uh, but he asked it. You saw the response, um, from Peli and, and, and we go from there. So listen, we're not gonna know for— and that's the beauty of this thing, certainly for Tchaika, the beauty is we're not going to know for 2, 3, maybe even 4 years. These things do take time. Uh, these rebuilds take a lot of time. Uh, the Ducks are a great example. The Ducks are a great example. Is Pat Verbeek 5 years on the job right now? Maybe, maybe. And this is, you know, this is their first taste of the Stanley Cup playoffs in a long time, so You gotta have a plan. You really have to stick with it. You have to trust your people. You can't fire your coach every other year, and you have to make some smart business decisions.

So we won't know who was right on this Toronto thing for quite some time now.

So as we kind of look at the Leafs and their runway, I guess you could say, you talk about Toronto needing to really revamp things. Vancouver, I feel horrible for just because, you know, they had that ridiculously bad season, then they didn't even— didn't even keep top 2 pick. Yeah, I'm just thinking about Canadian hockey in general, like the Montreal, they're doing great right now. Toronto, not so much. Ottawa, I have no idea what the bleep's going on in Ottawa.

Edmonton's panicking right now.

Edmonton, they're pooping their pants a little bit. Winnipeg, it seems like they might be going into a very rough offseason. Where's the reprieve right now?

Like, Calgary's got a new building coming.

Yeah, we need to make it to Calgary next season because we haven't been on the cap walk yet. So that's another thing totally off the— off the table. Rails a little bit. But yeah, but I'm just thinking like, they're so— like, you follow your team, and we knew this from when Edmonton made the final against Florida. We would say, is all Canada getting behind the Oilers because they want Canada to win the Stanley Cup? And really, it wasn't necessarily like that. No. So what's next? Like, where's the bright side? Where's the upside? Because I feel bad for the nation that invented the sport that I love the most.

Yeah, I feel like it was good there, and which was not necessarily good for US television ratings for the last, let's say, 3 years. Don't hold me to this, but you know, Edmonton was obviously in, Winnipeg was in. Winnipeg got a President's Trophy maybe 2 years ago, so they were in. They just couldn't get out of the second round or whatever it was. You know, Ottawa's now been in the playoffs 2 years in a row, Montreal 2 years in a row. Um, Toronto had been in the playoffs, by the way, uh, until this season.

They—

I think they were in it 10 years in a row. They just couldn't go anywhere once they got there. They'd win a round at best, and get bounced out in the second round. So, you know, for the long run that you're talking about for Canada, that's been some time. And of course, the last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup was, you know, 1993. That's my first year at ESPN, so that tells you how long ago that was. And, uh, and they needed a miracle to do that, by the way. Montreal beat Barry Melrose and Wayne Gretzky and the LA Kings. That was the whole Marty McSorley illegal stick thing. Kids, you can Google it. It's a legendary story.

Genius call.

Yeah, so it's, it's, uh, are you wearing a Pirates hat? Is that true?

Yes, that is a Pirates cap.

Yep, they got a winning record, by the way. I just looked at the other way, they are 500 in Pittsburgh. I pay attention.

All right, let's talk ball, Leafs.

Let's talk hardball here.

No, it's the hockey show.

What are you doing here?

The guy—

yeah, whatever.

All right, well, you're wearing a Pirates hat on a hockey show.

You want from me? Uh, so it used to be thought like the Canadian dollar was a factor in this, and I don't know about that. I think the next thing to fall is how are these Canadian markets treating American superstar players, right? So does Auston Matthews want to deal with more of this in Toronto? Does Brady Tkachuk want to deal with more of this in Ottawa? American teams would be lined up up offering assets and cash and prizes and whatever they got to— tractor trailers and all that stuff— you get to get these guys. And so I think that's the next thing, but it does take time. It seems like forever, uh, in a sport that is so beloved, that is in religion— a religion in Canada. Like in Montreal, I don't know if you've seen the video, there is an actual church, a real church hundreds of years old, that is serving as a sports bar during this run. They are in the pews drinking Canadian Molson, Molson's, and, and with their sweaters on and cheering up and down, watching the game on a big screen in the church.

That's spectacular.

Truly religion. So, so cool up there. And they're good people, and they apologize for a lot of things they don't have to, and sorry and all this and that. And so I always root for Canada. I do.

On the other side of the country, uh, we mentioned the Oilers, uh, panicking right now, uh, given that Leon Draisaitl's comments they made last week. What do you see in the Oilers' future? Could they very well be thinking about possibly trading Connor McDavid, who starts his extension this upcoming season? I mean, it's not like this team's had any experience trading superstars or anything.

Yeah, that's— that was a long time ago too. That was Gretzky to LA and the Kings in that run. So listen, I don't know. I don't know what's going on there. Some of it I would, I would offer up to frustration after a tough series and another season where they didn't get to the promised land again after 2 straight years of getting to the Stanley Cup Final, losing in 7, losing in 6. Look, Dreisaitl's there for the long haul. It looks like he signed forever. You know, the McDavid question is the great question. We've been asking it for some time now. He took less money. He's not the highest paid player in the game. That's Kirill Kaprizov in Minnesota, who, by the way, needs to show up. Up in this series to keep the Wild alive. And, um, but the bigger question— yeah, Edmonton is that you see, you see there, they could fall off a cliff here, even if, even if McDavid stays. Uh, the defense looks older and slower. The forward group is not great. Uh, Holloway, Broberg are the two examples people use, the two offer sheets. They had these two guys in their building and they let them go to St.

Louis, and they look like they're really good players and going to be good for the Blues for years to come. But the big one is the goaltending, right? Like, you've identified the problem and have so for really 3 years. And, um, and, and Messier always pushes back on this. Anytime you want to go in on, on Stuart Skinner, he's like, hey, he was good enough to get them to Game 6 and Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. And that's fair. He was, he was good enough, you know, one more goal, another goal by somebody else, maybe it's different. But you know, you can't win these games in the playoffs 5-4 every night, even 4-3, that doesn't work. You got to win, be able to win a 2-1 game once in a while, certainly a 3-2 game. And so, um, as good as Connor Ingram was, and this is not on him, this, you know, he was not supposed to be the number one guy there and he fell into that role. Tristan Jarry and the Skinner trade and all that, so They've gotta establish and probably overpay now for a number one goalie. And those are like starting NFL quarterbacks, you know, they just— you can't call a 1-800 number for that, you know.

They don't just arrive. They're really hard to get free agents because they never get to free agency. Uh, trade, trade is probably the way to go since you're probably not going to draft that high or that, you know, that way or at that position maybe for a top pick. And so then you gotta, you know, give up some assets. And the last time I checked, you know, the Oilers don't have a lot of number 1 draft picks or even a lot of big draft picks for years to come because they've already unloaded some of those. So, you know, they've got, they've got some issues there, but at least they've identified the, the issue, and they've identified the issue for years. And that's got to be the killer part for the Oilers fan base. We've known what the issue is and we still haven't fixed it.

Steve, I want to transition a little bit to, uh, broadcasting. I'm kind of a nerd with— I did play-by-play earlier in my career. I've been a big fan of yours for a long time. And just thinking about last night, you know, thinking about what I want to talk to you about today, I started thinking about some of the historic calls that you've made that I could remember.

Oh, the overtime game.

Which one, Roy?

All of them, especially the Penguins.

Well, there was the 5-overtime Flyers-Penguins game in 2000. There was a 4-overtime game between the Penguins and Capitals in '96.

Yep.

And there was a—

which was 45 seconds away from being a 5th overtime game.

Lucky you got out of it.

And then there was another 5-0 game in '03 between the Ducks and the Stars. And just side note, that whole run by the '03 Ducks is still one of my favorite of all times, probably because it was totally— and no disrespect to Paul Kariya— totally, John Sebastian Gaudreault was ridiculous. Maybe the best goalie run I've ever seen in the playoffs.

But anyway, you're a Ducks fan, so that's biased.

Yeah, for sure. But you know, you think about what these players have to go through when they're playing these multiple overtime games, and it can't be easy for a broadcaster either. I'm just curious, like, what do you remember about those calls and how fondly do you remember those calls?

Yeah, the players don't give us enough credit. We're playing with bumps and bruises. I got a sore throat and everything, and I'm playing through.

Okay, upper body.

Gotta drink some tea.

Those hotel— those hotel bars are not easy in the media hotel every single night before a game. All right, they don't think about the grind or the wear and tear of the media. I gotta connect in Atlanta to go to some of these places. Okay.

No, not Jackson.

I gotta get on a shuttle bus and rent a car and Uber. I'm not on a fancy bus and airplane. And anyway, so no, I'm just joking about that stuff. Obviously it's quite much easier for us than it is for them. Look, it's been great, uh, it's cool to be known for something. And, um, you know, you get a reputation. I remember back in the day when there were such thing as deadlines for newspapers. Kids, Google it, look it up.

Still love the news.

And, um, and I'd walk in the building and all the writers would go, oh, there goes the deadline, we're dead tonight. Mr.

Overtime.

Yeah, right. And so, um, so that was kind of a cool thing, but the truth is that's not a skill, that's not a talent, that was just luck. I happened to be there, right? I didn't do anything to get those overtime games. Uh, Panger and I have had a great time doing those games. Darryl Ray was on the, uh, the first one of those classics that I did. That was the, uh the Peter Nedved goal, Penguins-Capitals, the old Capital Center. What a dump that place was.

Anyway, I remember after he scored that goal, he went flying down the ice and I was like, how does he have that much energy right now?

Yeah.

And he came out and talked to us at like 2:15 in the morning live, right? Because that's hockey and all that stuff. And so, yeah, but anyway, the cool thing was like the first time I wasn't prepared for it, right? I really wasn't like, I'm, I'm an excitable guy to begin with. I'm an excitable broadcaster. I think I'm usually up here in terms of energy. And so it's a playoff game now, so I'm already even higher. It's the second period, bam! Third period, I'm top of my lungs. And by the, you know, second overtime, my heart is in my throat. Like, I'm really into it, right? And as a broadcaster, you don't want to blow an overtime call because you know that's the one that's going to be replayed. You don't want to miss the guy or misspeak or any of those kinds of things. But the point is, I had nowhere left to go. By the fifth overtime, I had nowhere to go. I was already at the top of my lungs screaming on every, you know, icing, you know, like at that And I was out of words. I really was. It was simply last names.

There was no description. It was Lemieux, Smith, Jones, you know, that kind of thing. And so I remember afterwards, Larry Christiansen was exec at our place for a long time. He would tell me, hey, you gotta give yourself some room to go, you know, because you never know how long the game's gonna go. So that was a great tip. But the next time it happened, I was, I was much more prepared from where my range started, economy of words and those kinds of things. And I started to lead into it and I got really into it. And, and so those who tell you that records are made to be broken, I believe they're lying because I don't want anyone to touch that longest game because right now the Primo game, which was 26 years ago, is the longest televised game in hockey history, which I think is really cool to be a part of.

Of.

And I had the top 3, by the way, for a long time. So there were 2 games in the 20s, maybe one in the 30s, one of the 20s wasn't televised. Those are the 2 longest games in hockey history. But for a while there, I had the 3 longest televised games, and one by one they sort of dropped down. I think I have 3 of the, 3 of the 5 now longest televised hockey games, and I'd like to hang on to that too. So, wow.

So, uh, Flyers season is over in it, because if you look at it this way, the Hurricanes only allowed 8 goals in their 7 games. Well, Minnesota gave up 9 on, uh, Carolina's good, man.

Carolina's good. I, I don't put this on Philadelphia. Like, Carolina's good. Now the Flyers could stop hitting the post. They can aim for the back of the net. That would be helpful too. Stop trying to show off and go bar down and bar in and all that stuff. Uh, I think they're just up against it, but we knew Carolina was great, you know. Hey, the top seed East. Look at the two top seeds, right? It's, uh, it's proving out that the regular season, um, really shows and is, is meaningful. And, um, you know, really the, the only advantage you get from that is home ice, which really is a coin flip. In the last 10 years, I bet it's 50-50 home and road splits. So it's become rather meaningless, except I think it means something in Carolina. I think that's a real home ice advantage advantage that the Hurricanes have, um, because of that building, that crowd, whatever it is. So, but we'll see, you know. Uh, I saw something since, since the current playoff format, no team has ever won the first 8, okay? And no team has swept the first 2 rounds of the playoffs.

That's really hard to do. And so Carolina's certainly on the verge of that. They're a great team, they look great. And, you know, Philly's, Philly's banged up. Look, they probably shouldn't have made the playoffs They probably shouldn't have won that first round. They are playing with house money, if you will. I know for a fact they are way ahead, or at least definitely ahead of their program. Like we talked about earlier with the Ducks, with the Leafs, the 4 years, 5 years, and you know, Keith Jones, Danny Brière, and Rick Tocchet, what they're doing over there. Um, they're ahead of where they thought they would be, I think. Um, and once they win around, they beat your rivals, they, you know, put Sidney Crosby and the Penguins down like they're gonna be okay. This will sting. They don't want to be swept. Nobody wants to be embarrassed. But if they can even win game 4, force to a 5, I think they'd be good in Philly. They'll be a good team for years to come. And look, they're missing their best player. That's Owen Tippett. He's their best player. They can't score on the power play.

This Porter Martone, he's 19 years old and he's like leading their power play. That's not supposed to be the case. And he's a good player. He's going to be good for years to come. He's done great things. But every puck shouldn't be going through him. Should be going through Tippett or somebody else. And you can see they're just lacking on offense. They just can't score firepower.

The Buffalo Sabers on a run right now, and it kind of looks like the 2019 St. Louis Blues. Do you agree with that?

Uh, that's an interesting perspective. I like that. Um, yeah, that Blues team was really good, uh, strong down the middle, good size, hard-hitting, captured the emotions of a city and a fan base. I love what's going on in Buffalo, and, uh, their turnaround is legendary. I was on the set with John Tortorella. I might have been November or December, don't hold me to that. And my phone's blowing up, ask Torts about being the new head coach of the Sabers, you know. And his phone's blowing up, and we gotta finally— we have to address it on the air. And Torts is like, I'm not going to Buffalo, there's nothing to it, nobody's called, I haven't called them, I don't want the job, nothing. And they fire the GM. And they don't fire Lindy Ruff. And, um, and really this is the GM's roster. Very, very few tinkerers were made with that roster around the deadline. Sam Carrick kind of thing, but he hasn't even played in the playoffs, and he'd be a good player for Buffalo in the playoffs. And so, um, Jarmo Kekkonen has sort of, um, he's been able to take this roster and sort of run with And so Buffalo's an amazing story, and it's, it's a fair sample size.

They were the best team in hockey, I don't know, for 4 months. And so I'm not surprised what they're doing. I'm not surprised they went through Boston, uh, maybe surprised by how well they played on the road. And I'm not surprised they have a 1-0 lead against Montreal. I think Buffalo wins the series, uh, Montreal won't be swept. Montreal will be great. But it's re-energized these two great fan bases. Like, if I could pick a building to be in it would be Buffalo or Montreal in this round of the playoffs. So like, it's— that's what a cool series that's, that's going on there. It's really fun. And yeah, Buffalo's really— they've already changed goalies, right? The guy, you know, the guy who led them down the stretch is not the guy in there now. Alex Lyon is a journeyman goaltender, and, um, they've done a nice job. It's a great— it's a great story. It's good for the league, and I love the people in Western New York.

Uh, you know, they haven't had a lot to cheer about in a long time in the hockey You can check out Steve not only in the studio, but you can check him out this Sunday at 9:30 Eastern as he calls Game 4 of the Golden Knights and Ducks series for ESPN. Steve Levy, thank you for joining us.

Hey, fellas, thanks for having me on. Good talking pucks and always good talking about the Maple Leafs.

All right. That's it for this week's hockey show. We had Steve Levy on and that was an excellent interview. That was a lot of fun to talk hockey with him. Reminder, we are going to do live streams of the Stanley Cup playoffs on through the end of the Stanley Cup Final that starts next week. And remember, remember to subscribe to our YouTube page at The Hockey Show DLS. We are on TikTok at The Hockey Show 7, on X, Instagram, and Threads at The Hockey Show DLS. For Ethan, for Jason, for Rosie, and for David, my name is Roy Bellamy. Enjoy the rest of round 2.

The other night I was staying in. At least that was a plan. Then the text from my buddy Eagle Eye comes in. Mike, we've got the games on. I say, yeah. I grab a pack of Miller Lite and immediately my plan's gone. Now it's playoff basketball. Every possession feels huge. Baseball's on another screen and I, I somehow care about that too. Everybody's got takes flying. Nobody's watching just one And we're all way more into it than we ever expected. It was one of those nights that you take a sip, you look around, and you think, yeah, this was the right move. That's why I reach for Miller Lite. It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink, brewed for taste with simple ingredients. Just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs. The original light beer since 1975, and it still hits different. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Lite. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com/Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.