(upbeat music) - Happy Friday, everybody. It's a balmy 110 in Phoenix today. - A little different than your globe trotting at least in experience. - I mean, the mid 70s of the big island of Hawaii. I mean, I'm back. It is, the Stanley Cup final is still going on. There's lots of hockey to talk about, but we're not gonna do that just yet, Craig, because that's not what we do on PHNX hockey. We don't talk hockey. We talk land development and-- - We talk government. We talk city council. - Octions and zoning. That's the show. So thanks so much all for tuning in. Don't forget to hit the like button, subscribe. Wherever you get your podcast, leave us a five star view. I'm Leah here with Craig. We have Eric behind the Mac today. P.D. will be joining from Edmonton a little later in the show to talk about Game 6 tonight. He is still on the road, poor guy. So we'll check in. - I hope he's getting miles. I hope he's getting frequent flying miles 'cause this is insane. We'll talk about that too. The road trip and the time in between games. - Exactly. So we're gonna talk about hockey toward the end of the show. But first things first, Craig, in less than a week. I can't believe it's finally here. The land auction next Thursday, June 27th. I mean, that's the date, the first major date that we're aware of. - That's okay. How many of these deadlines? How are these moments of truth that we had with? - Too many. - That was where I went. Well, okay, now we've got another one. Of course, this one comes without a team in Arizona anymore. But the land auction will be held next Thursday at 11 a.m. Downtown Phoenix. I'll be there. - Open to the public. - It is open to the public. I did not, you know, I was not able to verify the Arizona State Land Department's beverage options and concession options ahead of this. I actually, I doubt they'll be live streaming it, but if they wanted to, they'd probably get really good ratings on this one, but we can talk about a lot of other stuff. - Yeah, absolutely. I know a lot of people watching and listening are planning to attend. I'm wearing my deactivated fan shirt, which I just got in the mail. A lot of people thinking about wearing those ones. So definitely do that. We want to see a full showing, either in support or against Alex Morello. I guess that's up to you. And we'll talk about all the potential things that could unfold next Thursday, Craig. So let's start with just the basic facts, the simple things that we know, you know, what does Alex Morello need to do on the day of the auction and what could potentially other bidders do? And when will we know about them for sure? - Well, I did reach out and just so, you know, I have a story, a Q&A up on GoPhNX.com right now, trying to answer all the questions that I posed in our Discord channel and then other things that you might wonder about. I spoke to a spokesperson for the Arizona State Land Department again, 'cause that's why I got into this business to talk to government officials. I spoke to Deputy Commissioner Bill Daley and did some reporting of my own to answer as much of that information as I could. 68.5 million we know is the minimum bid. You have to put down a deposit. There've been some, there's been a lot of misreporting on this actually, but what? 'Cause we've been given, listen, I had a little bit of misinformation out there myself saying that it has to be a well hatched plan in order for you to get in the door. That's not necessarily true. Now there is a promise of a lot of infrastructure improvements that you have to make shortly after purchasing the land. So I guess you could interpret it that way, but the minimum bid is 68.5 million. This was set after they did an appraisal of the land. You have to put down a deposit of actually north of 15 million. There've been reports of 14 that's actually higher than 15 million and it depends. Like any other bidder that comes in has to put in a-- - 15,920,200. - And Alex Morello? - 15,767,200. - And why the difference? - The approximate amount, the applicant spent on due diligence. - Yeah, I'm guessing Alex Morello spent a lot more than that to prep this, but I'm not sure we'll ever know that figure. But at any rate, this is a live auction. With an auction, it's like a livestock auction. It's gonna be crazy. It's actually, I think if there are other bidders, if other bidders show up and we don't know right now, there have been reports, Richard Rodier, of course, who was very well connected, says there are going to be four bidders at this, including Alex Morello. Recent news reports on what the Arizona State Land Department told me are right now, there's only one registered bidder, but they don't have to register until the day of. So just because there's nobody now doesn't mean there won't be a day of, that said, I also been floating for a very long time, Leah, that the vast majority of these land auctions only have one bidder. So that's a distinct possibility still, but it's gonna be wild to be in this place with actual Coyote's fans, with media, and watch an auctioneer, like just going back and forth, people raising their paddles, upping the bid, if again, there are multiple bidders. I mean, I'm actually almost looking forward to covering this because it's something new and bizarre, and it's gonna be lively if there are multiple bidders again. - It's a new government-esque thing for you to cover as a sports journalist. - Yeah, I keep deepening my well. - Exactly. - Government knowledge, so there's that. - Exactly. A couple other things that the winning bidder has 30 days to pay the amount in full. And you also asked about if there's a time moment to back out or a monetary penalty, and based on what you wrote, it sounds like there isn't a penalty. He could decide to not show up on the day, and if there's no other bidders, he'll just get refunded the due diligence money. - They won't if they back out day. - Oh, day out. - Yeah, so they won't get the due diligence money back. - Okay. - But that's, I mean, it's a very minor amount. Listen, I-- - No, would not be a reverse, I understand that. - I can't speak fully to everything that I have heard, and based on my reporting, Alex Marlle is gonna be here. This is a big deal to them. I've been saying this all along. A lot of people think, no, he's not gonna show up. He's gonna take his money and run. But again, everyone that I've talked to says he's showing up. This is personal to him. He does not wanna lose. And in spite of all the other hurdles that will come after that, and we can talk about that as well, I really think he's going to be here and really try to win this auction. I don't know what his ceiling is. Nobody's suggesting, okay, he won't go above this amount, but I do get the sense that Alex Marlle will be there for the auction. - Yep, so we will only find out. It sounds like it's all gonna be kind of on the day of when we find out if there's other people. If he's gonna win it, who knows if it'll be five minutes long or an hour, like who knows? You know, it's gonna be really interesting. I, for one, am very interested. A lot of people asking about whether or not it will be livestream. We'll get back to people on that. Not 100% sure, but if we have more information, we'll let everybody know on Twitter or in our Discord as well. Because I'm sure, like you mentioned Craig, that would do pretty good numbers. - I don't see land department cares about ratings, but if they do, you know, this might be your opportunity. - Yeah, sell some ads on that video. - There you go. - I'm saying, help the stadium. - Craig in there with a phone. We'll do it live on PH&X. - I mean, listen, don't, don't, never say never on that. But let's just say, I guess, so, there's a lot of questions too. What happens if Alex Morello does not win this auction? Is that the end of his five year window? And it's a little bit unclear. - It's fuzzy. I mean, Alex Morello could come to the league and say, okay, that's it. I'm done. I relinquish my, you know, my five year window, my exclusive rights. And at that point, sure. But he has this five year window. And we can talk about benchmarks within that, because I did speak to Bill Daley. And really, it comes down to that three to three and a half year range where you gotta have land ready to go by then, because they have to reactivate the franchise one and a half years before that five year window. So it's really a three and a half year window. Not only do they have to reactivate it then, they have to have the arena, you know, 50% built. Do I believe that NHL will pull the plug if the arena's 40% built? No, I don't. But those are the stipulations within the agreement. And he's also got to put down a significant deposit on the purchase price of the franchise. So it's really more like the three year window. Now, if he loses this land auction, does he walk away? Or does he pivot to a couple of those other sites that we know he has letters of intent out on one and Mesa? And at least one other, I've been told the problem with those is they weren't zoned for an arena. But we don't even know that this site is now zoned for an arena. That's one of the many hurdles that he has to cross after the land auction if he wins it. Yeah, but I know it's not what we should be talking about on a hockey show. I mean, this is what we're used to talking about, at least Craig, others don't. I thought it was really interesting, Bill Daley in the story said he owns the rights exclusively until he doesn't. Okay, what does that mean? Like, I just... Oh, listen, Bill Daley's an attorney. There are lots of attorneys involved in this deal in this transaction. So there are, it's probably certain things that they're not going to speak about publicly. They're probably not going to provide all those details. I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen if he loses the auction. If he wins it, we know what the process will be from that point forward. He's going to try and get his own for an arena because the city of Phoenix has told me that they're not certain that like it was, as we said before, zoned for the Legacy Sports Project, right? But that was youth hockey rings. And what a spokesperson for the city said is, look, that's entirely different than a 16, 17,000-seat arena. We're talking about an entirely different thing. It might involve a public process that could go before the council and the mayor. It might even involve... We should have foreboding music and say the word. - We should have like a trigger warning. - Yeah, for the word referendum. It might involve a referendum and listen, we all know what happens if this goes to referendum. That might be the same thing that plays out in those other sites because they have to be rezoned. So it's difficult. Like, I know a lot of people are saying, this is the fastest path. You can't say that definitively. You honestly can't. Like, I can see a scenario where if he backs out after this and another group comes in, could they speed up the process possibly? But again, like, we've told you that we know that there are groups that are interested in owning an expansion franchise in Arizona. I've spoken to these groups. That said, and the skepticism is warranted by some critics out there that are in our Discard channel or on Twitter. You don't know how real that interest is and how committed that interest is until we get down to brass tacks. When it comes time to put up the money and get going and can they get tax breaks? 'Cause let's face it, just about everybody needs tax breaks at this point. To build an arena, you know, I know people say, well, rich billionaires, they need to build their own arenas. That might be true in football. I don't think it's true in hockey where you have people who have enough money in this business, maybe a couple of them, where they're gonna just go fund the arena on their own. It's not that simple. It really isn't that simple. So we'll see how it all plays out. - Yeah, I think the hard part about next Thursday is the May, for example, the May 16th date last summer. That was a very definitive date because if they won the ad election, it would have gone forward. And that's great if not, you know, we saw, we obviously saw the consequences of the no vote. But this is the kind of date where, okay, if it's no, we don't know what's gonna happen for sure. And if it's, if he wins, we don't know what's gonna happen for sure. So that's the most frustrating part of all of this. You almost just wish there was a magic thing that said, okay, if he wins the auction, then like it's a sure thing. Everything is gonna go really smoothly and the team will be back here in five years exactly. But you can't say that for sure. And if he doesn't win the auction, you also can't say for sure that his time is up. Or like, you don't know what he's gonna go to next. But I guess the next date if, you know, we want to focus on dates, though if he, if Alex Morello really, you know, keeps trying, if he doesn't win this auction, but he keeps trying is that December 31st, 2027 date. Because he has to have something underway. He has to have a deposit by then. And if he doesn't, then he really includes the right. So it's not like five years from April 18th, it expires. There has to be some movement, which I think is a little bit more helpful and better to hear three years, as opposed to five, as far as having definitive answers. - Yeah. - Unfortunately, one of those definitive answers might be more questions. And this is the life of being a coyote's fan. - On that note, like I'm begging the local news stations and AZ Central, please do that reporting. I don't want to do that reporting. - I'm supposed to be a coyote. - In the land auction, you do the reporting on zoning and all the other issues with government. - Craig, I don't want to learn. - I love how my knowledge has, my knowledge take is filled up. I can't take any more. - In the weeks since Craig's been announced as our pH next Cardinals beat reporter, he's hosted the show many times. And we've talked about local government and zoning. So Craig, thriving as always. Couple of other notes and rumors from this week specifically. More rumors about Matt Ishpia, whose name seems to come up again and again in relation with the coyotes. There was a tweet out there that inferred that Matt Ishpia would be one of the bidders. Our own Gerald Borgay reached out directly to the Ishpias and they said that wasn't true. What is your opinion on this? - Yeah, I'm not even sure who Gerald's source was to be honest, but Gerald is well connected there. So he did shoot that down. And honestly, like when I looked at the logic of that way, we're going to build an arena for Matt Ishpia in Northeast Phoenix that might house the G... No, the G League team's never going to play an arena that big. It doesn't make sense 'cause they're not going to draw that well. And they're happy with their situation, that mullet. And here's the other thing that I would say just based on my understanding, and this is obviously not definitive, I don't think the sons are ever leaving downtown. I don't think the city of Phoenix is ever going to let that happen. So the idea that Matt Ishpia would suddenly become involved bidding on this land and trying to get arena built up there. First of all, he's got a lease that runs through 2037 at Footprint Center. There are a lot of complications with that idea. I looked at the tweet and thought, there's no chance that's real. So thank you, Gerald, for reaching out to whoever you did at the sons to clarify that. - Yep, a couple other rumors about Mayo as well. - Yeah, this keeps coming up. I spoke to Mayo, I had it in a previous story. And then people, I've had multiple people reach out and say, "Well, I think Mayo might be involved now, I've heard Mayo's involved." So I reached out to Mayo directly, and Mayo told me once again, no, nothing has changed. Mayo has a lot of land that it can develop on the south side of the freeway. They were pretty firm in telling me nothing's changed. We're not interested in purchasing this land. - Well, there you have it. It feels like we got a rumor bust every week on the show. Craig, one other note that you tweeted actually just before we went live on the show, having to do with the sale of the coyotes to the league is Andy Beraway's stake in order. - Yeah, Andy Beraway got paid, I guess. So, 'cause he's no longer a part of the deactivated coyotes franchise. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daley confirmed that for me today. And they've been trying to get, honestly, they've been trying to buy Andy Beraway for a while. I know that was in the works. I think, I even talked to coyotes' visuals about that, but it never happened. Now with the sale, Andy Beraway is no longer with the franchise. So you can close that chapter of ownership. We'll see about this one. - Nick asks in the chat, what would a Salt River Indian tribe ownership look like for the coyotes? This is something you've looked into. - It's really hard to gauge that. We've told you before, I've reported that there is a site on tribal lands that is ready to go. It's completely zoned for an arena. It has greater height restrictions. It allows for a lot of things that they would want to do now. Sportsbook, of course, is one of the complications there with the gaming pack. But it's ready to go. You can literally put shovels in the ground and build an arena in two years. But there's never been, and I know there's interest from at least somebody representing the tribe right now to build an arena. But there's never been great interest either on the part of the Morelos to work with the tribe. Probably, you know, part of that is probably because of the sportsbook and another because you can't build residential on tribal lands. But also by the league, there's never been any substantive talks with this group about going forward. Maybe part of that is because that wasn't an interest of the actual ownership groups here. But I've also had sources tell me that the league really isn't interested in getting in bed with the tribe, which really surprised me. The source who's very well connected would not tell me why, but that was surprising to hear. Because what an incredible story that would be to have tribal ownership of professional sports teams. - Especially with how easy it would be to get things built. - Oh my god, the location. And can we, let's talk about inclusivity, like a buzzword in the NHL in spite of, you know, all their marketing, they don't do a very good job of it. What, how would that alter the picture? But I guess right now, it's just not on the table. - Very interesting. Ben there done that, asked what's the feeling in AZ? Well, we know who wins the auction today. Well, no next Thursday, then there, but what is the feeling in Arizona? I feel like there's a lot of skepticism, mostly because we've been here before and I think the May vote kind of jaded a lot of people. There's just not a lot of hope. - It's the whole track record, right? Listen, there were issues in Glendale that predated the Morello. So I'm not gonna put all of that on them, but they didn't handle those negotiations very well. So they end up leaving Glendale, not kicked out because they didn't pay their bills. I can't believe I have to say that again, but I have to keep reiterating that they were not kicked out of Glendale 'cause they didn't pay their bills. They got kicked out because Glendale wanted them to sign a long-term lease of what city manager Kevin Phelps told me was at least 12 years, the Coyotes would not do that. So they had to, the Glendale decided to move forward without them and did their year to year lease and the Coyotes had to find another home. But then you end up at an arena, you're hoping for the Tempe vote. That failed. You ended up losing the team and oh, by the way, you tried to move the roadrunners up north without actually talking to the stakeholders first and that also failed epically. You're gonna pay just play six games at Molot Arena instead of, you know, a chunk of the games or what they had hoped, all of them. So a lot of missteps along the way, a lot of missteps and we can talk about, you know, minor ones too, like when you're trying to get the support of the City of Phoenix, maybe you shouldn't tag the mayor of Phoenix in those tweets. It's probably not a good idea to put her on blast. So anyway. - Yeah, so not a lot of optimism, I would say. I think there's a couple camps of people. There are ones who are fully in the camp. Like I want Morello to win the auction. This is the fastest way. I want a team back, which we did. Yeah, well, actually I'll go look at the results of the poll. There's people who just want him completely out of the way, either to lose or not show up at all. At this point, it doesn't seem like he's not gonna show up. It seems like he's very much going to show up, but there's people who want him to lose and just want him to maybe at that point, he would then walk away. We're not sure it's right now, the leading result of the poll with 30 minutes left. So if you want to go vote @PHNX, I'm score hockey on Twitter. Morello loses is the outcome people want to see with 36% of the vote. Okay, what are the others? Marilla wins being 31.2% of the vote and doesn't show at 29.2%. That was a show, wow. So interesting numbers, it seems like there's everything segmented into thirds there. Let us know in the chat what you want to see happen next Thursday. And as a reminder, this show will be live after the auction. So we will be going live to discuss the results of the auction, whichever way it goes. So we hope you tune in and set a reminder because we don't have an exact time yet. Again, we don't know how long the auction is going to take, but set your YouTube notifications on the PHNX Sports YouTube channel so you don't miss when we do go live that day. And of course, you can follow our Twitter account @PHNX on your score hockey for all of the coverage. Craig, is there any part of this that we didn't go over that just you want people to know ahead of next Thursday? Door is open at 10.30 if you plan on going. - There we go, that's the other piece like that. And the land department does sense that this is going to be a popular auction so you might want to get there a little early. One favor that I would ask is don't take up all the seats. Let the media actually sit down because we got to cover this. If you want to stand in the back and heckle up until the time the auction starts, you can do that. Sure, if you want to heckle me, that's fine. Just let me have a seat, let me cover this thing. I need to actually see what's happening. So thanks. - Yeah, as his fourth guy said, Alex had multiple chances to fix this. I don't think he can fix this. Nicholas says, I want him to lose. The fans deserve a better run franchise and that starts with the right owner. And Ben there done that says, as a Utah guy, I'm rooting for the fans for Arizona. I want them to have a team more than anything. So thank you for that. Should be interesting. It feels like every week on the show, we talk like we discuss something and we're like, yeah, we don't really have the answers. But we'll do our best for more, of course, go read at Craig's article, go peachnext.com. Very detailed answers there. And he asks a lot of questions. I know a lot of people had. So hopefully your question gets answered. And if not, you can let us know and we can try and get them answered before next Thursday. - Yeah, there's a lot of aftermath questions too, right? Well, so it would probably be time for another story. - Exactly, there I'm sure there will be. And hopefully we'll have some more answers next Thursday as well. So well, that'll be an interesting show. But it's a busy week for us next week, Craig, 'cause after that's Thursday and then Friday is the NHL draft. And you and I are actually going to the draft one last hurrah. I know we don't have a team to cover, but there's still a lot of interesting story lines there. And of course, a lot of hockey personality. So be great to talk to them about their thoughts in Arizona, especially with whatever happens the day before we can get people's reaction on that as well while we're there. But we will be making the drive to Vegas with a few stops. - I'm not driving. - No, I'm driving actually with a few stops at Circle K or on the way. - Are we gonna push it with the gasket? - Well, the gas game, not sure, but we have to stop for the snacks, guys. - We will definitely stop for the snacks. - What is your go-to road trip snack from Circle K? - I can't believe you have to ask me. - The donuts. - And I feel like we don't know each other. - It's the donuts. - Yeah, to sleep it up. - But what if I don't allow you to eat donuts in my car? - Because of the powder? - Yeah. - I mean, I could support that activity. - I know, actually, yeah. - I mean, you saw me cleaning the kitchen earlier. - That's true. - I kind of get that. - You gotta house the whole sleeve from the walk from Circle K, I'm sort of, I don't know, big tray to catch the powder. - Yeah, well, a bib won't do it for your seats. - Yes. - You know, like the silicone bibs that have like-- - Yeah, that catches the car bubble. - Yeah, it's like one of those. - You know, something to wipe it off my fingers too. - We'll get some wipes in the back seat for you. - I can see it on the back of the seat. - Okay, well, we'll be stopping at Circle K when we'll document. - Chains hair. - Oh yeah, perfect. We'll document our snack stop at Circle K on the way to Las Vegas. And I'm part of the Inner Circle, so we can save three cents per gallon along the way, 'cause I already did my first five Phillips that saved me 25 cents, plus you can enjoy your member exclusive beverage deal, and you can get any size puller pop or froster for just 79 cents now through September 3rd, any Arizona location, which will be useful for us because that is a hot drive. The AC will be on last and we'll have our puller pops. - Which way are we going? Do we know yet? Do we know the route? - We don't, we'll have to discuss. You can join the Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today. Terms and conditions apply at participating locations, visit CircleK.com for details. And Craig, I hope you make a stop at Desert Financial Credit Union before, 'cause snacks are on you. - Yeah, snacks are on me, so I will. - Since I'm driving. - Go to the vault, you can see the vault. - I would love to see the vault. There's actually a desert financial right by my house, so we can stop there on the way. - But my personalized vault is elsewhere. - Oh, it's a Gilbert, I'm sure. - The one that glows from the gold. - If you wanna be like Craig and bank at Desert Financial Credit Union, you absolutely should do that because Desert Financial has been around for more than 84 years, and they have it all, whether you're looking for checking and savings account, mortgages, loans, credit card, investment options, and more. Plus, if you're a Cardinals or ASU fan, you can get a personalized debit card, which is awesome. When you open a free checking account online, of course, you get $200 in bonuses. Who doesn't want a bonus? $200 gets started by visiting desertfinancial.com/200. All right, we're moving on from land zoning and auctions. And we're gonna talk about nicknames. And of course, this comes up because the voting just closed for the final six Utah names and just to-- - Have they announced? - They haven't announced, but the voting closed yesterday. - It did, yes. - The last day to vote in the six finalists were Utah Blizzard, Utah Hockey Club, Utah Mammoth, Utah Outlaws, Venom, and Yeti, majority of this list, Craig, singular nicknames. - Yeah, first off, what do you think of this idea for a show, Leah, he's curious, you know? - Kind of sounds like the worst idea I've ever heard in my hairline. - That's just me personally, though. - Okay, just for context, 'cause we don't wanna keep you in the dark here. I did pitch this for a certain show, and I don't even know if I wanna give it props now or even attention because my idea was shot down by Eric Ruby. You know, I pitched this for Eric's show, which is doing quite well, by the way. Do you wanna talk about that a little bit? - No, I would rather this just be bashing me. - No, I'd rather we just focus on the best. - Yeah, shot it down, so. - I inserted it into a segment of today's show. - Yeah. - We're gonna talk about singular nicknames and whether they're good or bad or somewhere in between. If they're, I'm a guy who believes in nuance. - Listen, and to be fair, I did say, hey, Craig, I'd love to have you on my show and I'd love to talk about this specific topic. And it was met with, actually, I don't really wanna talk about that. So, you know, I think we're even-- - Which particular topic? - Oh, that was just bashing the jerseys. - Of the new Utah franchise. - What did you say about singular nicknames, though, when I pitched the idea? What was you afraid? - I just didn't know if it was enough to fill a whole show. - I don't know if we can-- - We can brand that. - I think a segment on the show, Craig, if I ask you, hey, this is a land auction show, but let's do the thumbnail and the headline about singular nicknames. What do you think that people would click on that to say? - I think you, there's a way of selling this. No, I mean, land auction is-- - I told you I was always a big deal. - I told you I was always a big deal. - Yes, you can't put that as the undercard. Okay? But if you do this and sell it the right way, which, you know, we'll find out if we-- - I'll tell you what, on this particular show, because Leah agreed, well, Leah didn't really agree. I did the work while she was in Hawaii. But we do have a number of guest videos for people speaking on it, which we'll show you shortly. But we're gonna talk about those singular nicknames. You can read them off, okay? Because, you know, I can't read it. - I already did. - You did. - I already did. - You got so distracted by your-- - The madness. - With Eric. - The outlaws, which it would be okay if it weren't Utah. - Yeah. - Like, do you think outlaws, when you think Utah, maybe you think Arizona or New Mexico or Nevada, but in Utah, I don't think outlaws. I think highly law abiding citizens, actually, when I think-- - Mostly in laws? - Okay. - The Utah law abiding citizens are perfect. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, okay. Okay, so, but that was, that's the only plural one. All the rest are singular. - Well, I mean, I had to argue with some guy who's insisting that Yeti is plural in the common vernacular, whatever the hell that means. It's not plural in any dictionary. It's not plural in AP style. We're journalists here. So, maybe you're speaking slang out there in your world. And that's okay, but I'm an actual journalist. So, I have to go with singular and plural by rules, okay? We follow rules here. Not whatever common tongue you're speaking out there, okay? So, Yeti is singular. And I don't like singular nicknames. Now, there's a lot of nuance here. And we're gonna hear from, we're gonna hear from Charlie O'Connor, a PHLI. We're gonna hear from A.J. Haverly in D.N.B.R., who had a really nuanced and really good take on it as well. DJ Bean from what chaos who had an utter trash cake that I told them so. And we'll hear from Jay Zwoski at CHGO as well. They're all gonna weigh in on this topic. It's a lot of good stuff, actually. And we might even hear from somebody else a little later. From PHX, 'cause I feel like I'm not, like Craig, we know, adamantly against singular nicknames. - Well, here's my problem with singular nicknames. And A.J. introduced some nuance that I had thought about, but he stated it well. The thing about the NHL in particular, so maybe they work better in the NHL, is it's team first, right? That's the culture we always see. We always hear this criticism of the league not marketing its individual stars, but that's part of the lure of the NHL as well, that it's not about me. It's not a me first league, like, let's be frank, like the NBA or the NFL often can be. They don't focus as much on me. It's always about we, so I get that, you know? But then when you put it into practice and say, "I am Yeti, we are Yeti." What? It just doesn't work in language. It doesn't work. We are coyotes, that makes sense, we are Yeti. We are mammoth, what? Does that mean you're big? I mean, that has dual meaning for me. I don't get it. I am walrus. But even them, they say, "I am the walrus." Yeah, you're right. You're right. I prefer plural names, I'm not a huge fan. I do like, I like lightning a lot, but also lightning is like something that I can imagine and say the same with avalanche, I can make the argument. Wild loses me a little because what is that? It's maybe the worst nickname, and it's certainly in the NHL. You think? Wild is terrible, like what is it? Yeah. What is it? It's the wild. Is it the outdoors that we're talking about? Lightning at least is a thing. And you would never say lightnings, that's just not even a word. What I liked about some of those names that there's a way of pluralizing them. Like abs. Yeah, we call them the abs, we call them the bolts. Yeah, on the bolts. You're right. What do you do with mammoth? Do you say mammoths? Okay, well why didn't you just say that in the first place? Exactly, exactly. So I'm definitely a team plural. I can see if it's a really good name, fine. And that's a good point about the pluralized version. There's no nickname for wilds that you can make plural, or even Kraken. The Kraken's, the Kraken may be plural, actually. Kraken, I don't know what plural is. Can we call them the Kraken's? I don't know. The cracks? I mean, I was lobbying to call the arena the crack house, but what do we pick up on that? I love that. Well, let's get into some opinions of our friends across the All City network. And we'll start with our good friends. We'll start with AJ since you brought him up from the DNVR with a very interesting take. So here is the DNVR Avalanche's take on singular names. Singular nicknames, plural nicknames. Look, I'm a writer by trade. Singular nicknames drive me absolutely crazy. I never know what to do, what is correct when I'm trying to talk about them. But plural nicknames are boring. We're talking about team sports here. We are one. We are only one. It's all supposed to be about the name on the front. When you think of trying to win a championship as one unit, it should be singular names only. I like the perspective. And also he covers the Avalanche. So he, you know, maybe a little bit of a biased opinion, but I like his argument for said. I do too. But like I find when I write about the Avalanche, I call them the Avalanche on first reference 'cause you're supposed to do that in journalism. And then after that, I call them the abs. Yeah. And with the lighting, I go volts after the first time. Okay. 'Cause it works. I don't have a solution for those others. But I know we have some other perspectives from around the All City family. So yeah. Well, let's go to our friends at CHGO Black Hawks. And here's what Jay's thoughts are. Hey, what's up, PHNX? It's Jay Zawoski from the CHGO Black Hawks podcast here in Chicago, home of the six times family cup champion Chicago Black Hawks chiming in on the singular name thing in hockey. Well, I liked it to beginning with Avalanche and Wild and so on. Isn't it a little bit played out at this point? I don't know. It's now, it seems like it's becoming the default for new teams. You got the Kraken. And now the former Coyotes are probably gonna be the mammoth or the Yeti. Eh, let's be more creative here. It's kind of like the winter classic where hey, we've found something that's cool once. Now we're gonna beat it into the ground for the rest of eternity. Let's get more creative. Let's be a little bit better. Come on. Hey, mammoth, we gotta do better than that. Jay's on the same page as you and I'm on the same page 'cause I do not really love the nicknames that are like remaining for Utah. Yeah. But Jay definitely leaning a little bit torn. I think so. But I like the fact that he dropped in the home of the six times family cup champion Chicago Black. I think that was for you, Espo actually. Yeah, Espo standing behind. So who has a rivalry with the city of Chicago at this particular moment in time if you watched "Pewch" next Suns yesterday? Don't make me start the Chicago thing again. All right. I got Chicago beef and I ain't talking about the sandwich. Have you visited the wing at the Art Institute of Chicago Titles? You seen those? No, because I only go to Chicago because of my wife and her family. And I don't partake in the things you try to pass off as culture. If I want culture, I'm going to New York, not Chicago. Can I ask you a question? What was your wife wearing yesterday? Oh, the 93 Bulls Eastern Conference Championship shirt that she wears once she's angry with me. Wow. She watched the program. Wow. Okay. Well, Espo will be joining us momentarily to get his take. I'm not sure if Espo will, but somebody else will, so. Oh, okay. Yeah. Well, let's hear from our friends at PHLI next here. Charlie O'Connor. You know, when I first looked at this question, my initial instinct was they're bad. Don't use them. And then the more I thought about it, Avalanche, great name. Lightning, pretty good name. Kraken, I could take it or leave it. And some of these Utah names they've thrown out there are terrible. But the real answer here is not that non-plural names without an S are bad. It's that just don't name your team something dumb. Give it a good name. Whether it has an S at the end or whether it doesn't, just pick good names, don't pick crappy names. That's my take. I love Charlie's take. Thank you, Charlie. It's great. Don't pick stupid names. I think, I mean, I think that has to be my stance going for just don't be dumb about it. I love it. Thank you, Charlie, from PHLY. Oh, man. And last but not least, we have our friends from what chaos with their opinion. I know Craig has some problems with DJ Bean's take, so. Is that his name? I thought it was oil man. Oh, yeah, you're right. Let's take a listen. Okay, I'm here to voice my support for singular nicknames. You know why? There just aren't enough other nicknames. Do you know how many plural nouns there are 50? There are only 50 plural nouns in the world. I know this because teams repeat team names all the time. There's got to be a lack of options. So I say explore other avenues. Go to singular nicknames. I got no problem with it at all. As long as it's a good nickname. Don't make it like the walking or something. That's weird, but make it good. You know, he has a point because, you know, you look across the leagues. You got the Kings multiple times. You have the Cardinals multiple times. Like be original people. I just, I'm think every time I listen to DJ, I'm educated. I learned something today that there are only 50 plural nouns. I didn't know that. Now I know the number. Oh my goodness. It's a good trivia answer. All right. Well, that's the opinions of every, all the hockey beats throughout the All City Network. But now we're going to go to our. We're going to welcome in. Our our little. Father Guido Sarducci. Oh, okay. For his take on singular nicknames. And he is the, you know, the certified jersey and name expert here at Page Next. So I'm going to get up and we'll let Espa. Come take a seat. Now you two need to behave. Say Mr. Morgan. Now you're doing it. I forgot my role. Thank you for joining us today. You know, we have a particular topic. I think you've heard the topic. I want to ask you your opinion of singular nicknames. Yes, no. Is it black and white? Well, right now here in Arizona, we have the Arizona Coyote because it's just Alex Morello Jr. Sitting in his empire that isn't an empire anymore by himself in an empty office building. So we got the singular name here, the Coyote. Look, again, like you've heard a lot. It depends on what the name is. Like Yeti, unless they're coming out and they're actually like Yeti coolers and not the fictitious animal. Like if they came out and they were like, it's actually the first name sponsorship in all of sports. Were the Yeti coolers? Were the Utah Yeti coolers? I'm taking it. Like we're just the Utah Yeti, but it's by the Yeti sponsorship. I'm fine with that, right? That would be original, it would. It would because it would be outside the box. Questionable choice. The mammoth, like, what? You could only find one? Like, we went through the state and we dug up all the fossils and there was only one mammoth that ever lived here. So we're the mammoth, right? Like the Kraken, I don't mind, right? Because it's released the Kraken. There's, you know, it's a mythical, powerful thing. Ayo, I'm okay with that. But, you know, the avalanche, it makes sense in some ways. Like multiple avalanches, like, it's just kind of weird. Now, when you're writing, it's frustrating is all held. Yeah. 'Cause I love our WNBA team, the Phoenix Mercury, but what am I, you know, it becomes-- I don't know. Complicated in that-- I don't feel a wild. Minnesota wild. Well, the problem for me is, when I think of Minnesota, I don't think of wild. I think of somebody that looks like Petey. And nothing screams wild about Petey. And that whole group. So, like, that, to me, that doesn't scream wild, right? Minnesota isn't wild. I understand you're trying to talk about the nature portion of it, but even that, like-- Are we? 'Cause they have an animal, some kind of animal to represent, I don't know what Minnesota's a mess. Why did they not just sue Dallas for the North Star's name? Because that's the perfect name. And then Dallas could have been the cowboy hats, or whatever. You know, the 10-gallon hats. Yeah, I don't know. The cowboy hats. The cattle, yeah, the cattle. The, yeah, yeah, there's all sorts of things. The Debbie's? They could have been the Dallas Debbie's? (laughs) That has multiple connotations, so yeah. I know. You probably do that. Okay, I gotta ask you this last thing. So, thank you once again, Dr. Potter. I've not called you Dr. Potter. Dr. Potter. You've got your PhDs, so. Well, you know, I wanted to put that out there, just to give you props. Is it as simple as just Adonis to Yeti or Mammoth? Well, those would be good nicknames if they added a nest. Okay, so Mammoth, I don't know. I mean, no, the Utah Mammoths is just a weird-- They're slow moving, but they can handle the cold and they're strong, I don't know. I mean, okay, if I have a Mammoth in the gold, that makes sense. There we go. But anywhere else on the ice? Now, look, the Yetis maybe, but just, I actually don't mind Utah Hockey Club, because when I think of Utah, it is, you know, kind of like Minnesota, but even more so bland. And Utah Hockey Club is bland. It's-- I don't mean, I don't mean that as an insult, but when you think Utah, you don't think, you know, you think, well, you think, hey, they never changed the name of the basketball team after they moved to New Orleans. And I'd like to be playing into this, right? The singular nicknames. Well, I mean, if you're gonna-- Let's be in sync with the jazz, which is a horrible nickname for an NBA franchise in Utah. The name at the Utah Mardi Gras, if you're gonna steal things from New Orleans, keep the theme going, right? There you go. Hey, there you go. The Utah Benier, like, if you're-- With this. You know, I mean, because, you know, if I'm gonna do that, if I'm not gonna change jazz, because Utah ain't a hotbed of jazz, I'm sorry to break it to everybody here, then why not name my other team from-- Or steal from any city? I mean, you don't have to just steal from the beautiful culture of New Orleans. Why not just name them coyotes if you're gonna steal things, right? I mean, or coyote, you can take Alex Morello Jr's. Yeah, and if you wanted to go with the ceiling, you could just call them the pack. Wait, I've got it. Utah pack. I've got it. What, the Utah Morelos? Yeah. Mm, I'm not sure how well that marked it. Well, at any rate, Father Guido Sajochi, we really appreciate you, Greg Esposito. Thank you for weighing in on this topic. Hey, Mr. Morgan, I appreciate it. All right, let's bring Leah back in before we move on to the next segment, because I think we have someone in the waiting room that's been waiting quite a while. We do, and we're gonna make him wait just a little bit longer before he can defend himself again, as opposed to slander against him. First things first, I'm wearing my deactivated fan shirt. I know a lot of people have been receiving them this week, receiving their coyotes forever shirts, as well as their hockey belongs in the desert shirts. A few weeks ago, if you want to buy any of those shirts, or any of our new shirts at pHnextlocker.com, including our new Valley collection, make sure you check it out, pagenextlocker.com. Diehards get 20% off on merch all the time. New diehards get a free shirt or hat upon sign up and every year after that. So, plenty of reasons to become a diehard. Over at gophnext.com/diehard. Also get access to our diehard only Discord, where a lot of the questions that people had today about the auction craig has been answering all throughout the week. You can talk to me, Peter and Craig, directly in our Discord and just chat about things that you love to talk about and the playoffs we've been talking. So, it's a lot of fun over in our Discord. One of the many great reasons to become a diehard over at gophnext.com, but I think it's time. We've made him sit there long enough and he's an Edmonton. So, let's give him something to do. It's PD, live from Edmonton. Look at that background, huh? - Yeah, I'm not sure about the lighting. So, if it gets really annoying, let me know because it just got dark in the arena. I thought it was a good shot in the bowl and then they turn the lights out. So, I apologize for the bad shot. - Well, hmm. - It's all a good PD. - Is that an omen, PD? - PD, how happy are you to be back in Edmonton right now? Let's start there. Okay, no, like hard no. I will say this though, and all kidding. After game three and we thought, "Hey, we're gonna go home." I actually, I'm gonna go where it's lighter. I really apologize for this. I thought they would turn these back on. In all seriousness, after three, I said, "Let's go, let's sweep and let's go home." We're past that now. We're to the point that I think it would be better if let's do seven. I'm to the point where I think this would be historic if we could get it to seven games right now. And I think that's where we're headed. It's amazing what a different series this has become now from what we had earlier in games one through three. - PD, you're walking around. Eric just said you're walking and talking. - Yeah, I was trying to find some light and I apologize. So I hope this is a little bit better. - Yeah, sorry. - PD, I wanna talk to you about a narrative that I think is a pretty strong one now. Honestly, even at six games, I think it's okay to think this. Given what Edmonton has been able to do against Sergey Babrovsky and given what Connor McDavid has been able to do against Sasha, Sasha Barkov, is Connor McDavid the envy? Is he the consomite trophy winner, regardless of what happens to the rest of this series? - Honestly, Craig, it's over. And it's not even close. Connor McDavid is the consomite winner by a landslide. And I tell you what, after game four, when Babrovsky was less than Babrovsky, I think that's where it started to shift. And I said that after game four, when David was outstanding and he got four points and he led the team through to get them onto game five. If this, I said if this series goes six or seven, McDavid wins the consomite hands down. It's his. Babrovsky could throw a shot out tonight and he's still not the consomite winner. I think his performance in game four and five really brought him back down to earth. If he is good in those games, especially in game five at home, if he's good in that game, then we're done. Like they celebrated, they raised the cup. He is below average right now. His numbers are poor over the last two games. If you look at what he has done has not been, not even just good. They have not been at least there, they're nowhere near consomite numbers. McDavid has done this all on his own. I know that you can look at other players jumping in, but this is McDavid pulling this team through to game six. - Yeah, and a couple of points on that. Connor McDavid now has 42 points. Remember that right? 42 points in the postseason. Five points shy of Wayne Gretzky's single postseason record. And people have pointed out, well, Wayne Gretzky played less games to do it. And I get that, but there's also the truth that goaltending's better than it was when Wayne Gretzky was doing it. Coaching's better, defenses better, players are better. So I don't like comparing errors. I just, I have to look at the number. And he needs five points to tie Wayne Gretzky's record for points in a postseason. That is a meaningful stat. And it tells you what sort of performance Connor McDavid has had in this postseason particularly in the later rounds when they needed him even more. He is, I have never seen a team, and I said this on Twitter, been carried by special teams and just the other worldly talents of one player. That is what we're seeing right now. Edmonton is break even at five on five in the postseason. It would be, again, we talked about this. It would be the worst goal differential at five on five for any cup winners since the NHL started tracking this stat. And if you watched that last game and I know you had talked about Edmonton adjusting and, you know, chipping pucks up the boards and that was a problem, that wasn't the issue in this last game. It was special teams. They scored four of their goals on special teams. Connor McDavid was unstoppable and they forced a game six. It's unbelievable to see this script playing out. I don't think we've ever seen anything like this before. - Well, that's the fear, Craig, is Edmonton's winning in different ways now. And I think if you're the Florida Panthers, you have to show a level of concern 'cause you go back to game four. They won it on team speed, getting through the neutral zone and creating odd man rush chances against the Florida Panthers. That's not what happened in game five. Actually, if you look at what Florida did through the neutral zone in game five, they were really, really good. Edmonton had no room to move in the neutral zone. So like you said, they adjusted their game and they found a different way to win. If you're Florida, that's concerned. Because now what? Now what do you need to do? - I firmly believe the only way this game ends tonight and this series ends tonight in Florida wins the cup if Bob Rossky is the best player on the Florida Panthers. We saw Kachuk lead this team in game five. Wasn't enough to get over. We've seen Barkov and Gus Forreling play great. They haven't in the last two. If this team is going to win the Stanley Cup here on foreign soil, they have to have outstanding goal-tenning because that top end talent for this team is so good. And economy David, three on three, four on five on five, it doesn't matter. That when he's on the ice, Florida has to do a better job of defending Connor McDavid. Craig, we've talked about this for years from the Coyote's perspective, defend Connor McDavid. Even when you have to defend him, he is better than he's ever been in his career. I think this is the best hockey he's ever played and they have to find a way to stop him. - Yeah, absolutely. It's going to be a fascinating game tonight. Couple of numbers from our friends at BetMGM. Connor McDavid, first of all, now minus 250 to win the consmites. So, I mean, a runaway favorite right now. I think the next best odds were Barkov at plus 300. So, huge disparity there. The Panthers are still favorites to win the cup at minus 300, which is really interesting, but they're plus 100 in tonight's game six. The Oilers are minus 120. So, just interesting tidbits from BetMGM. It's always fascinating to see what the books put for odds 'cause they're usually pretty on the nose. So, we'll see what happens. P.D., I'm glad that you kind of just accepted the, what a game seven would mean 'cause it means approximately 5,000 more miles of travel for you. But at this point, I guess it is what it is. I feel for you. But, and I'm personally happy because I wasn't fully dialed in while I was on my vacation, but now I'm home. So, ready to sit down on the couch and watch tonight. The good news for both of you is, is if Edmonton, Winston, I will be flying Air Canada Red Eye. And you know, I always know how much we love Air Canada at PHNX and how the travel woes of Air Canada. So, I will see, I've got a 1 a.m. flight taking me to Toronto, end up in Miami 12 hours later. So, we'll see, we'll, we'll see. You know what though, and this travel is so tiring. And we've all traveled. And you've had a long flight. So, Leah, you had a long flight from Hawaii. I've done that every other day for three weeks. I'm exhausted. And I don't play, these players have to be, have to be absolutely exhausted. And I know they're traveling unchartered. And I know they're traveling first class. And everything is great. I don't give a shit, this is hard. This is hard. And those guys, you're seeing some players diminish. And I think you're seeing some guys that are injured that are trying to play through it. I think Leondry settles playing hurt. And I think it's knowledgeable. Kane was trying to play hurt earlier than she is. And he just can't do it. I think you're gonna be surprised when this is over. How many guys are actually playing just physically beat down? Because this is really hard. I have completely changed the league. I do want it to go seven. Now, I think it's good for hockey. I think with basketball being done, I think all eyes will be on the Stanley Cup final. Game seven, Monday night from Fort Lauderdale Sunrise. I do think that would be great for the game. It'd be great for Conor McDavid to see us go seven. - I'm so on board with that now. I wasn't earlier, but now I do. I wanna see, honestly, I think I wanna see Edmonton complete it. It hasn't happened since World War II. - Wow. - When the Toronto Maple Leafs did it. Sorry, I think is that the last time they won the Cup? Oh, not quite. - No, not quite. - But it's an incredible story. If he carries them on his back all the way back from 3-0 in the final, what a story and what a capstone on. We already know he's the best player in the world, but this just cements it. But I'm glad you brought up the travel. There's been a lot of chatter on the site formerly known as Twitter. Sorry, I don't wanna give him any love. About how long this season is. And while I agree that maybe the season is going too late, I don't agree with the narrative that there's too much time off between games. I think this is one of the failings of the NHL in the past. It used to be that every other day we're gonna play in the playoffs regardless. What that did is it ensured that you weren't going to get the best hockey because guys were banged up, guys were exhausted. I like the idea of giving them rest to recuperate as best they can. You mentioned there are injuries that some guys simply can't play through or they're not gonna heal up till the offseason. But I think the rest gives them a better chance at providing a quality product on the ice. Curious for your thoughts on all that. - You know, I agree 100%. And here's the deal. Earlier in the playoffs when you're talking about divisional battles, you are usually geographically closer than where you are in the cup finals. So I don't necessarily have a problem with it early in the playoffs. I think you do need to get those games done and get played and teams are fresher then. But when you're looking at what's happening right now, if these guys were playing every other day, two things are gonna happen. One, guys are gonna hurt. No question in my mind, guys are gonna be hurt because not just are they more physically tired. They're gonna make mistakes on the ice. And when you make mistakes, you put yourself up to be more likely to get injured 'cause you're not doing the right things on the ice. So I think that would happen 'cause you're not reacting as quickly. And number two, you want to see everybody at their best. Like you want to see Conor McDavid playing his best hockey. If this game would have been held yesterday, I just don't think you're seeing that. I don't think you're seeing the teams the best playing their best hockey. So give them that extra day only in the finals. I'm totally fine with doing this for just the finals because of the geographical differences. And it's going to happen like that all the time. You're traveling to maybe three time zones, which is another part of this too. Your sleeping schedule changes every single day. And it is hard. And if it's hard for us to sleep in the hotel after changing time zones, can you imagine for these players? So Craig, I'm on board 100% just for the finals. They need to have that extra day in between traveling. And if we go as a couple, two, three days later, so be it. - Unless it's like a Chicago Detroit Stanley Cup final, then you don't need to do that. - Oh, no, give it to me. Give me an extra day in Chicago. Hell yes, let's go. Like that's a full day off. We travel like two hours and then have the whole day. Like that's the other problem. You cannot get there. If you go on your apps right now and try to get a flight from Edmonton to Miami to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow, try it. You cannot get there. Everybody is flying from Edmonton. And guess what? There's not that many flights from here. It's really, really, really hard. This is, I'm gonna say this is really hard to get from here. This might be one of the worst places to fly out of because even Winnipeg, they go all these flights to Minneapolis. This is hard. There's a lot of people in our crew that are driving to Calgary three hours away to catch flights from Calgary 'cause you cannot get out of Edmonton. So yeah, without the extra day, I think I don't think media would be able to cover games quicker. I really don't. Like they need that extra day off. - There's quite a few Air Canada flights tomorrow. One way, $854. - Don't we deal? - Two way. - And all of them have layovers in Toronto. Which is like-- - Yeah, that's me. - Boom, boom. - That's a horrific-- - That's me. - That's me tomorrow. - Listen, I don't even mind time off in the conference finals 'cause I wanna see the best hockey. - Sure. - But I get your point. - Well, here's the thing that I don't like. And I understand the reasons behind it and like the people who are whatever. The fact that the NHL draft is one week from today and there is a game six of the Stanley Cup final tonight. The fact that game seven is on June 24th. The NHL awards are on June 27th. The draft is June 28th and 29th. And then free agency is July 1st. I think that's ridiculous. And I also wanna give a shout out to the team staffs, the NHL staffs, the media and the media staffs who are not like for a lot of people, PD luckily gets to come home when this is all done. But there's people who are working for ESPN, for Sportsnet, for the NHL, for teams that if this goes seven on Monday, then they're right to Vegas for the awards, the draft and then it's free agency. So I'm not a huge fan of that. I don't like that we're playing hockey this late into June. I do like that all eyes are on the NHL with the NBA finals over and all that. But I just think there needs to be some adjustments 'cause I don't like how late it is and we're playing hockey this late into June. Just start the season two weeks earlier. I agree. But I get those reasons for not for doing it, but whatever, it's frustrating. But PD, any other notes on things to look for in tonight's game before we let you go? Yeah, I think there's two things. I think this is all about this city is absolutely on fire and the energy you feel here on the streets of Edmonton. It is amazing what's going on in this city. And you do not see that in Florida. You don't see that vibe. I think this game is gonna boil down to the first period for me. The Florida Panthers have not been able to come out in games four or five with a good start. They've really struggled up to start. So for me, on the Florida Panthers side, Bob Rothke has to be their best player. If he is good, average or above average, Florida wins. He has been below average and that's not good enough. I also think the key for the Florida Panthers is they need to get through the first period. If it's zero, zero after one, I like the Florida Panthers. If they're ahead, I think it's over. That's how good I think the Florida Panthers are at locking it down. They just haven't done that the last two games. So look for there to survive the push of the crowd, the push of McDavid. They need to get clean through the first period. Edmonton, it's almost the opposite. You need that crowd to push you through and get a goal in the first 10. And it's all, everything is on number 97. It is all on number 97 because he is, when he's got the puck, something's gonna happen. And Bob Rothke seems to be intimidated. That goal that went off the inside of his leg, he's got a problem right now with me, David. And you don't, you cannot have a problem with Conor McDavid if you're a goal tender playing against him. So I look for Conor McDavid and Bob Rothke to be the two keys. Kachuk was outstanding in game five. He needs to do that again in game six. All Breckman Larson's gonna get one tonight on the power play. They moved him to the number one power play. And Nick Cousins, former Coyote slides in tonight for his first taste of Stanley Cup final action. And I look for him to be a little bit of a disturbing out there because he does skate so well. I think Nick Cousins could be a factor note. I think he's gonna get on the scoreboard. No, I do not. But I do think he skates well enough that he's gonna frustrate those Evans and Oilers and keep your eye on Nick Cousins tonight. - All right, well, Petey, best of luck, best of luck with your travels as well. And we'll talk to you soon. - Yeah, we'll see you guys when I see you guys. I literally, is it Friday today? And I wasn't joking. I had to think of Thursday 'cause we were doing a show. It is Friday. So I will maybe see you Monday from the beach. We'll see. - All right, well, if so, we'll check in then Petey, best of luck and we'll all be watching. - Thanks, guys. - ESPN tonight for Game Six by Petey. - Thanks, guys. - Oh, man, gonna be a really interesting one. - I wanted to go seven now. I do. - I'm glad that Petey's on board. - 'Cause I was feeling very bad. Like, I was feeling very, very bad. And now that he's on board, I'm on board. So let's go. - I remember covering post seasons like this where you just, you know, you were gonna sleep 'cause it was flying back and forth and you had to be there. Like, I remember covering NBA series between the Spurs and the Suns and Grandin. That's nowhere near the length of the flight. But you're riding 'til late. You know, you gotta get on an early morning flight the next day and be at availability. So you just accept it and it sucks early. But once you get to this point, like Game Six, you're like, yeah, let's go seven. Let's have the best story because both 'cause you know the end is in sight at least. - That's a good point. And JJ said, "Black Hawks won the Stanley Cup "on June 24th in 2013." That was the half-year lockout there. So I did get questions. - Yeah, special circumstances. But interesting, thanks for pointing that out. JJ could happen again. We'll see, but should be interesting. Hopefully everybody is gonna tune in tonight. I know we will. And again, get in our Discord 'cause there's been a lot of good conversations throughout the games of the Stanley Cup final. And we'll talk about it early next week. Whatever happens, we'll know by the time we do our audio podcast early in the week, we'll know what happens in the Stanley Cup final. So make sure you subscribe. But wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss our weekly audio only shows, PD's done a couple from The Road, which have been really great, giving his opinions on things and also with some tidbits from things on the ground there in Florida and in Edmonton as well. So subscribe and make sure you subscribe to the PhNX Sports YouTube channel. So you don't miss when we go live. Like I mentioned earlier, we'll be live next Thursday after the auction. So stick around on our YouTube channel. Hit the notification bell so you don't miss when we go live and make sure you follow us on Twitter @PhNX_Hockey. So you can get all of our updates as well, Craig. Any final thoughts before we wrap up today? I'm just looking forward to a wild week next week. - It's gonna be wild and that is a good use of the world wild unlike for the Minnesota hockey team. Thanks so much everyone for watching. Be sure to hit the thumbs up on this video before you leave, leave us a like. And if you're listening to our audio, be sure to leave us a five star review as well. Thanks so much for watching everybody. Enjoy the rest of your Friday and we'll see you next week.
