[MUSIC] >> Fan morning show, continuing here. >> Break on it, Matt Marchese. >> Two hours until my weekend starts, eat it. You, driving to work, hey, I love you. You helped pay my bills by listening, but, you know, misery loves company, and I'm miserable all the time. So you'd be miserable at your work for the rest of the day. Not as miserable as that drive today. >> Yeah, by the way, be safe if you're out there, especially on the 401 or the DVP, because that was a nightmare driving in this one. >> So you gotta be, we're doing traffic talk. You threw me the kind of nip of mentioning one thing about the car, and I'm like, I got some thoughts. >> Sure. >> You gotta be, I won't say the only, but like the amount of fan complaining I hear, not like on the air, although a little on the air, but mostly, you know, passing each other in the halls, talking to friends, of complaining about the gardener. You gotta be like the only guy not affected by it. You're going north, right? >> Yeah, so I try, I don't want to, I don't want to give people direct directions to the palatial, my crazy estate. >> Yeah, I tell people that I live in a small town called Beaten, which is fine. >> But I play, well, not anymore. You just play Sunday morning hockey with a guy from there. >> Oh, really? >> Yeah, so the one of eight people that live there. >> This will narrow it down, his name's John. >> Yeah, surely. >> It is a very Caucasian town, village, whatever it might be. >> But no, I'm actually lucky because I don't take, I mean, I could take the gardener, if I so chose, but I don't, yeah, I don't do that. I just kind of go the back way around. But even the 401 today, like, that was a lot of rain. I was like, we're going to get flooding again in this city. And then the drive home will be fine because it was the last time. >> It was, I mean, no, it's dangerous out there. Like lots of pooling, like, I think I hydroplained once. And I was like, two hands on the wheel today. >> Yeah, I had a guy in front of me, he did a like, and again, like, you know, this is a little driver's head tip for you. Steer out of it, people, okay? >> Yeah. >> Like, you don't need to accelerate. You definitely don't need to hammer on the brakes. Just stay calm, steal yourself out of it. I feel like this guy, like, tried to do a burnout in the tunnel in front of me. He clearly was just like, whoa, it's not, and like, hey, I don't blame you, but we're all driving up. >> It can't do the off guard. We're all driving to work in five in the morning, okay? Like, we're not the most sharp we're ever going to be in our lives. >> And it's dark. >> No shots here. But yeah, it was clear as day just like, okay, I got my draw. Oh, it's raining, this stinks. Oh my God, I almost crashed into the medium. Not me, guy in front of me. We're both okay. >> Yeah. >> So, yeah, there's lots of, there's, I mean, there's lots of bad drivers out there. >> Boy, I really know what they're doing. But yeah, no, especially at five in the morning when you're trying to get to work, because I think it's like a 75 or 80 kilometer drive from where I am. So like it can get. >> That's very- >> It gets a little long. >> It's funny, I've seen this thing going around. That's very worldly of you to refer to your drive in that way. Because- >> I could say minutes. >> Well, that's the thing. >> Very north. It's very like North American thing to be like, it takes me X minutes to get somewhere. I feel like elsewhere in the world, they'd be like, oh, I don't know why you're telling me that. How far is it? You've set an hour. >> Are you taking a car on a plane? Like what's going on? >> Yeah. At least, yeah, you have an idea that you can't walk to work. >> Yes, this is true. >> I mean, you could, but you'd have to leave yesterday. The other thing is too, is like just commuting in this city. I know there was a study that was done by Tom Tom, and Toronto has the worst traffic in North America, because they base it on how long it takes you to drive 10 kilometers. It's 20, and the average is 29 minutes. >> So it seems like a lot. >> It's a lot. It's the third worst in the world. >> Yeah. >> Which tells you something, because there's a lot of bad places to drive in the world. But also, I have family that's in Italy, and when I told them that I commuted like an hour to work, they're like, pardon me. >> Well, it is. >> 20 minutes is long. >> It's funny, you know, it's like you get fed these clips on the internet or whatever, and I saw the story, but like, oh, a guy, like the employer was trying to do him dirty, and it's like, and they switched me offices, and it was 40 minutes from my house. >> Oh, no. >> And I was like, when's the bad part? Sounds like that was good. I don't know. >> Yeah, it's funny. >> How long does it take you to get in in the morning? >> Well, get in 42 minutes or something like that. >> 55, it's not like a stark difference. >> No, and then going home is again, you know, I am not like Mr. Complain about the gardener, but yeah, I like eating on the gardener every day, going home. >> But welcome to life in a big city, pal, like I also have no sympathy for like, I love to complain about drivers around me, of course, of course. We all know the line, like every person going faster than you. It's like, whoa, slow down speed demon. Every person going slower than you. It's like, wake up have you had any coffee yet? >> As long as they're not in the left lane, I won't complain about them, but >> We all know the line of how fast anyone is supposed to drive is just however fast I am going in my car at any given time. That is the acceptable within five either side of that is acceptable. But yeah, it's I'm not Mr. Complain, but yeah, we eat it every day. But I also think it's like, that's part of living life in a big city. But you don't want traffic. Go find a job in like some Swiss town where you can have seen these videos, people like swimming to work and stuff for them, like take the canal downstream, and then they bike home or whatever. >> Yeah, that's weird. I mean, I've seen people that do the snowmobiling to school up in my area, because I mean, we have one stoplight in the entire town. So that kind of tells you everything you need to know. But yeah, it does become a little bit dicey. But I mean, here we are. >> Here we are. This is a job that beats working for a little boy does it. >> So speaking to dicey, we're going to talk to Anthony Petreli about this a little later on in the hour. But I heard her tale from I could have swore everyone who'd ever spoke a word about the Toronto Maple Leafs, other than the Leafs themselves, that Yani Hakampah was on this hockey team. >> Yeah. >> I could have swore I'd heard that. I, however, I dare say I said it into, well, not this microphone, because it would have been one that was here. But that one that you're sitting in front of right now, I dare said he was on the Leafs into that mic. >> Yeah. >> But he's, but he's not. >> No. >> There was a picture of him wearing a Dallas Stars jersey going around. Now, who knows when these things are from, but I don't know, little weird. >> Sounds like it was this summer. >> Why has he not been signed yet? We understand this stuff about medicals and, but I figured if this was some insurance issue or something, the Leafs would surely just, you know, rubber stamp, whatever, check that would have to cash. This is super weird, this Hakampah situation. I don't want to overstate what it means. Like this doesn't completely change the complexion of the Leafs blue line. But you know what this is? This is one of Bradtra Living's upside bets that he is looking at with this team. We talk a lot about the idea of, yeah, they're not being a ton of change and fair. Like there hasn't been a ton of change in the grand scheme of things. But if any of the guys who are kind of different or looked at that way, you know, tan of a side here, have a chance to be a difference maker for this group, it is Hakampah just because of what he has. And I think that from Tra Living standpoint, again, I don't think he changes his off-season in any way if he knew this was a non-possibility. >> Yeah. >> But it's just really weird that it seemed to be so linked to the team. And you know, as far as like talking about it again, like this isn't just, this wasn't Twitter scuttlebutt of him signing with the team. Tons of reputable people talking about it. >> And Bradtra Living talked about about him, which we never hear. >> Yeah. >> And they're still know as far as we know, pen to paper. >> The curious case of Yami Hocken, honestly. You know, the Steve Simmons report came out about his knee and how there's no basic degenerative knee issue. >> Yeah, just bone on bone sounds bad. >> And that's usually not a good thing. But like Anthony Petrielli talks about in the article, like, he made two calls and got two sources on it. And is that not something that the Leafs GM could have done? Like, are there red flags about Bradtra Living and some of the guys that he's signing? Like he signed John Klinger who had the hip issue. Ryan Reeves has, as Ryan Reeves referred to, loose knees and plays with braces. And now this Hocken paw thing happens. Like, is that something that Leaf fans should be concerned about in terms of a red flag of these guys that he's signing? Like, maybe the other thing is too is they could be signing Yami Hocken paw and paying him just to put him on the LTIR. >> Yeah. >> So that they can accrue that space. Like, it wouldn't be the first time that the Leafs have done something. I don't even want to say nefarious, because it's within the rules of the game. >> No, it's actually only nefarious when the Leafs do it. Everyone else is just playing within the rules of the sport. But when those dastardly Leafs get up to it, like Kevin forbid they try to like, I don't know, pass someone through waivers, for example. >> Yeah, how they could ever do that. >> Can't allow it. But it is a really interesting thing because he, like you said, he's not listed anywhere. He's not on the team site. He's not even on Puckpedia. >> No. >> It says that the contract is not registered. You know, Anthony was one of the guys along with David Altru reached out to the agent for Hawkenpah and received no response. This whole thing, like, again, the fact, like, if someone had reported it, like Elliott, I believe Elliott was the first one to report it. And he puts it out there and we're all like, okay, that's fine. Because I thought when I saw that deal, that was a guy that I had circled. And I really wanted Brad for living to go after because I really liked the player. And I think he brings a different element like you had mentioned. But then for Brad, you're living to go and talk about the player. That's where this thing gets really weird. Because had it been reported and never happened, then it was reported and never happened. >> Right. >> But the fact that it was reported, GM talks about said player and then crickets is one of the most bizarre things that I've seen. And we've seen some bizarre things in sports. This has to be up there. I do wonder if maybe the contract isn't registered because they have to, I mean, you still can go over in terms of your cap. >> 10%, yeah. >> But also there's a part of me that says, is this part of the idea of maybe trading a Nick Robertson? >> Well, I thought more Lillegrine honestly. >> One of the, anybody on the team, because a team, what did you say earlier in the show? When you're sinking, teams aren't throwing you a life preserver. >> Anchor. >> They're throwing you an anchor. So if they think that, they're going to sign this guy, but they're going to have to pass this guy through waivers, we can get him for free as opposed to paying something for him. So maybe this is part of the process. It's, they got to get Nick Robertson signed and then maybe he gets moved or he gets moved before that. Like maybe that's part of this. And the fact that the contract is there, and it's signed, just hasn't been registered. Maybe that's part and parcel of what's going on here. >> Yeah, I think the thing, and this has happened in the past, like I'm trying to remember the player was Paris. There were a few cases of the aisles, Lulamarello, with everyone understanding that, and it was Paris and I think there was somebody else, but I can't remember the name off the top of my head of, they're still technically out there as free agents. >> But they're not. >> But they're not talking about it because it's just, yeah, they're going to go to Long Island and lose keeping it a secret and it's in a drawer. And part of that is like, Lou doing Lou things. But I also, that wouldn't be the first time. I just think the wrinkle with the hawkenpaw thing. And again, like social media stuff, sometimes you read into this, sometimes we don't like God, would we do two weeks of Craig Berube, arms fold conversation after he was spotted having a coffee with Mitch Marner. But it's just, you throw in the hawkenpaw being spotted out in public wearing a stars jersey, and that is just super odd. This isn't, this isn't a guy who, you know, like he's not Ray Bork leaving Boston, where he'll always be connected there, have a nice couple here run with the stars. I don't, but grudge him for liking the team or having fond memories of being there. And you could understand if it was like, you know, he's signing it for a chair or put it, but there didn't seem to be any context around that. There's a picture of him wearing a stars jersey, add that into it. And I don't know, I don't know how you cannot think that this one just feels a little different. You mentioned, I wonder, I wonder, I do on that point though, before I, before you continue, I do wonder if the Leafs said like any appearances or whatever, you just can't wear our stuff because it's not registered. Yeah, I can totally get that. But like they make, they make shirts that don't have any hockey team logos on them, right? True. Like he didn't have to wear a stars jersey, I suppose. Like, I don't know, he's playing, maybe he's playing some road hockey event or something. It's like something tells me to have like a finish league jersey, poking around in a closet, what it looks like. I know, it's a weird one. You mentioned the true living thing. Every GM, every coach, every player, you know, with players who talk about his holes in their game, with coaches and GMs, it's more blind spots. Everyone has flaws, right? There's no such thing. Oh, I mean, Wayne are existed, but there's no such thing as a perfect hockey player. There's no such thing as a perfect general manager. I do wonder if that's one of the flaws we have to kind of be on the lookout for true living in terms of not playing fast and loose. I don't think he's doing anything wrong. But just having a, having more stomach for signing a guy who has injury history and being willing to take that risk, then I won't even say his predecessor, just other GMs in the league. I also think the thing that I think has to be tied into that is part of Brad's living taking the leaf GM job is the accoutrement that come with it, the gravitas of being leaf GM. But a big part of it is that there's nowhere else where you have access to the checkbook that you do with the Leafs. And I imagine part of him looking at these, and I don't know this definitively, but it's entirely possible Calgary's ownership would have looked at that and said, no, we're not cutting checks for Jon Youngberg. I've seen, I see, let's show me the medical report. No chance for giving you that money for him. And I wonder if this is a similar case of, hey, in my last stop, I never would have been able to get away with this. I would have loved to have taken flyers on guys that had similar track records. And he's now kind of finally able to do it. I do wonder how much this is just a case of a guy who is, to a certain extent, always wanted to kick tires on players like this. But now he's just in an environment where he's actually able to do so. Yeah, I think that's part of it. It's a very good point by you, it's just that the Leafs, the organization plays with monopoly money. They really do, and other organizations do not. And I think that's a very fair assessment. The only thing that, I don't even know if it's a red flag, but it's just like, at what point do you stop taking chances on the guys with the red flags? Because they're not working. Like the Ryan Reeves thing was great in theory, but giving him the extra year was kind of like, don't love it. But the cap's going to go up and you can probably bury that contract. It's fine. But having a guy like John Klingberg on the roster when Matt Dumbo was available, and probably making a bigger impact for you, because guess what? Matt Dumbo is probably the guy that you wanted, and you couldn't get, because you didn't want to pay the price for him at the trade deadline, and Tampa did. It didn't work out for Tampa, that's fine. Yeah, and I mean, just to going back to the start of Free Agents, like Dumbo was a guy you could have had, but both sides were a little out over their skis, is my recollection of that. Dumbo had to ask higher than what he ended up getting, but the Leafs weren't able to kind of capitulate to go the kind of Klingberg-ish route. Yeah, and Matt Dumbo ends up in Arizona. Yeah, good job. Where hockey teams go to die. Literally. But that's where I, the track record is not long enough in this city, because it's not something that he did in Calgary. Because again, maybe there were restraints on him for that. And it's going to, you know, only time will tell. But there is a point where you get to where it's like, okay, I'd rather just have the sure thing here. And the Hawk and Paw thing is just, it's very interesting to me, because I also didn't see a scenario in which even with Hawk and Paw and having to sign Robertson, like they're not going 10% over the cap with Robertson and Steve's and Hawk and Paw. It's just not happening. But I do wonder about the idea of not being registered in teams going, well, they're not really desperate to move any of these guys, because they still fit under the cap once the season starts. You can also give players away for basically nothing. But you don't do that when you believe that you have assets that are useful pieces. So that's part of this conversation as well. Yeah, I think that's all going to be part and parcel of it. And yeah, we'll dive into that a lot more with Anthony. Anything else like quickly thought from you before we go? Or like, I want to dive back into some more of our titles that are not or sports events, we would have changed. Yeah, that's fine. Before we do that, though, we have to report that another bronze. That's right. Good job. The C to 500 meter canoe kayaks, Brent, Kate Vincent and Sloam McKenzie, bronze medalists, as Rash Madani points out, the first of what should be at least a three-metal Friday for Canada. Tonight, women's beach volleyball gold medal match, which they will be guaranteed one. And Sarah Mitten in shot put, who I believe was second or was she first or second? I believe she was first. Oh, no, that was the hammer throw that was first. I think the final, so I'm not non-tourless. I think she was second going in, but another opportunity for a big day for Canada in the metal count. Yeah, women's beach volleyball. I, this will shock everyone what my phone looks like woke up after an elite morning show nap to a flurry of texts about women's beach volleyball. But like they were actually talking about the game. There was some of that other stuff going on in there as well. But Fred's excited about beach volleyball. And hey, anytime you can have it, like we have our sports Summer Olympics much less so where we are expecting a medal or hopeful. This isn't quite frankly one of them. And anytime you can have a kind of story like that. And also I just think it's a, again, we talk about this all the time, like a different sport that we, again, like it's going to go away. We're not going to watch a beach volleyball for four or four years. Record volleyball for that matter. So exciting stuff there. And again, yeah, good job by Canada pushing the metal count closer and closer to Tokyo. Seem likely to pass it. All right, got a few more of these. And again, if you want to hit us up on the text line 59590, please include your name and location, data and message rates. Standard ones do apply there. You know, I, you want to go next? I could jump one in here, whatever you want. No, go ahead. Okay, I am going to take it. We're going to hop all the way in the way back machine to LeBron James playing in his very first NBA finals with the Cleveland Cavaliers who the second best player on that team. The gymnast, Elgowski. Okay. Who else is on that team? It doesn't matter. They're boom, I would say booby miles and that's the wrong name because you want to win football Friday night Friday night lights. All right. I was talking to me, but I can't hear Friday night lights isn't an exceptional movie. But yeah, they had just like Daniel Gibson. I want to say is that his name? Yeah, they had it. There was a cast of characters and LeBron was on that team. What does it do to the course of NBA history if LeBron wins the title that early and in Cleveland the first time around? Does he go to the heat? Does he become the pipe piper? And all of a sudden everybody's dying to go to Cleveland. Does it change how he acts? Does it change? I mean, it absolutely changes the way we talk about him. Skip Bayless, he would have had to take an entire slant for the last 25 years. If you would a guy would have won a title with that team early on in his career. It wasn't remotely close, but that is the kind of team I keep coming back to. They got waxed by the Pacers. It was four enough in there, never close, never had a chance. But that final, if it goes the other way and LeBron is able to do. Or sorry, what did I say? Pacers. Yeah, that's wrong. Great Buffish, never coached them Spurs that you just have a completely different version of the last 20 years of the NBA. I don't even know which way it goes, but there's no way that that does not cause the butterfly effect of all butterfly effects that kind of happened across the league. Yeah, that's a good one. I mean, boy, not only does it change the course of history, but it also, I think it also changes the perception of LeBron too. 1000% like we're talking and on because I still think Michael Jordan is the best player ever. And people listening over like, man, I hear an idiot. Well, let's be honest, most people listening to sports talk radio were like, that's right, Marquesi, you tell him Jordan was better. Let's be honest. He was better just because the style that Michael Jordan literally got beat up every time he played, and especially every time he played against the Detroit Pistons. But point being is that it just it changes the. I just don't know. Like I have a hard time and I have a hard time with the thought of Cleveland being the destination. No, it's impossible to see. But a little bit of a state was the destination as well. And I mean, anywhere around there is kind of a poop hole, like kind of like Cleveland. But yeah, I boy, I don't, I do not have the answer. That is a, that is like 37 hours of locking myself in Aaron Rodgers' darkness cave and thinking about it before I could ever begin to think the answer. But there's no way that doesn't change literally everything we've seen. Like the Raptors don't win a title. Sorry, folks. It's like that had to be such a one-of-one situation for the stars to all of a line there. Maybe the Spurs never, you know, go on and continue their run. If it's LeBron, this kid who beats them. What does it change? Again, I have no idea what the answer is other than everything. It is truly a Kevin Garnett after winning the title, which, who knows? Maybe that doesn't happen if LeBron goes about it this way. It is truly anything is possible if that title gets flipped. I'm trying to, there's, there's another one here that, and I'll go with, I'll go with football. And it's the Pittsburgh Steelers defeating the Arizona Cardinals. I put this on my list, but I bet for a very different reason. So what was the reason that you put it on? Well, because I feel like I'm insane in that I, I, well, I mean that, I know that. But this is why I feel like a crazy person is I have two eyeballs. I have watched football my whole life. And I don't understand how anybody thinks San Antonio Holmes got two feet down in that catch at the corner of the end zone. So I want that change just so I don't have to every time that the Steelers or your San Antonio homes or that Super Bowl comes up that I don't have to go. But it was wrong. Cause everyone looks at me like I have 17 heads. They're like, okay, sure. We have replay and his feet were in. So I don't know what you're talking about. That is the reason why I would change that one. Cause I feel insane. I could picture it in my mind. And I'm telling you the black of his cleat was touch of the white of the sidelines. So if we change that, the Arizona Cardinals win 23 to 20. And it changes the narrative of Kurt Warner as one of the great quarterbacks of all time. You're going to say you had the total or something. No, I was too, I was too young for the total. Although I was boy, I say I watch that game. I was going to say we're around the same age. I was almost 19. I watched that game in my university bar. Yeah. So I was almost 19. So definitely that. But it changes the perception of Kurt Warner because Kurt Warner, even without that Super Bowl still has one, but it changed it. Like that's one of the greatest careers that we've ever seen because I know, I know we've heard the story, like the guy was stalking grocery shelves and then somehow, you know, months later ends up in the NFL and becomes one of the greatest of all time. But if we have, if we have a second Super Bowl for Kurt Warner, he's looked at at an, in an entirely different light than he currently is. Yeah, and this player doesn't wear it the same way. Cause we only hold quarterbacks responsible for this to a certain extent rightfully so. Like what could Larry Fitzgerald have done? Like what more could you have asked, right? Including nearly running down James Harrison on that incredible, that incredible return. But we think about him in a slightly different light again. Like now that we're so far past it, no one sits here and goes, oh, but he never won the big one. But in the moment, that was definitely a thing of like, couldn't get steam over the hump. He is just as much a part of this as Warner. And yeah, I think you would have loved to have seen that for for Larry Fitzgerald. Quite honestly, do you have one more you want to do or should we save him for later later? No, we can do one. What about the Harbaugh Bowl? And brother John beating brother Jim 3431 at Mercedes Ben Superdome in New Orleans. What about Jim Harbaugh winning that Super Bowl? Yeah. Does he, does he ever go to Michigan and win a national title? I probably not. So I don't know that it's Michigan, but I think he winds his way back up in college. I just think that his style, he is a, you know, he's not a Mike Keenan, but he's a Mike Keenan. Like this is not a go, build up a program, be there. I know he had a long run at Stanford before this whole thing kind of started. Yeah. Well, that's a different version of Jim Harbaugh, quite frankly. He has had a lot of success and made a ton of money in the in between time there that I just think that that person was always going to kind of end up back at college. Maybe it's not Michigan, maybe. I don't know. Like maybe like takes over for Saban after a really long run in the NFL. And that's where he is now. I don't know. But it changes things. Absolutely. I just think that that was a guy. You see the way he is. He just, not that he can't coach in the NFL. And I think he's going to have a ton of success. But that guy was always going to go back to being a college coach at some point in time. You just, it feels like it's in his blood to me. I would, the other one was, you know, one of those that you had money on. That would definitely have been Seahawks and Patriots. No, that Super Bowl is perfect. I have no idea what you're talking about. Um, it's still the best part about that Super Bowl was what the writers of the league did afterwards in season seven, when Taco is sitting on the beach with Marshawn Lynch. And he's going to throw a beer to his brother and he's like, I could just walk it in, throw it. He throws it. And of course, disaster, he's right there. As I see, I could have just walked it in. See, I thought for half a second, you were just making the NFL a scripted joke, but you meant the actual show. Yes, the actual show, because it's fantastic. I'm also using that as a recent reference, because I've watched, I think, for the fifth time just recently, because thanks to our friends at Rogers and Ignite, we get Disney Plus with our subscriptions on certain ones. So you guys are, you guys are allowed to have Rogers up there in King City. Don't go. I wish I was in King City, but a little town called Beaten. Yeah, don't get me. Don't get me started on that. You're a cogico guy out there? I am not. We will just leave that alone. But I will say, as a company man, God, do I miss my sweet, sweet Rogers and Ignite? All right. We're going to talk to Anthony Petrielli on the other side. As Jeff has a party, he's going, please stop talking about the cable business. He just panicked. Look on the other side of the grass glass. And I want to talk to Petrielli. What's going on with Hawk and Paw? What's going on with the lease? We had half a second to reset. Think about it here. Have we changed our minds? He joins us next on the other side. Fan Morning Show continues on Sportsnet 5.9 of the fan. Unrivaled insight, analysis and opinions on all things Blue Jays, Blair and Barker. Be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Fan Morning Show,gunning Mark Hazy alongside you, shepherding you through the start of your Friday morning here. Oh, end of a work week. Hopefully for you. I don't know. Like people got to work on the weekends. I go to businesses and people like provide me with goods and or services. So, you know, like somebody's got to work on the weekend, but I hope you're all enjoying your Friday out there. I've enjoyed this Friday so far because we've talked a lot about the Leafs and the 2016 North American young guns team from the World Cup of Hockey. If that's not a show, basic. Oh, and LeBron James legacy. If that is not a show catered directly to me and the things I find interesting, I really don't know what is like what would be your version of that if we just talked about like the Sopranos and the Godfather and like, I don't know, you've like the Leafs and the bills, but yeah, that would be good. I mean, honestly, and between that, the league, the office, those are those are good ones for me. Okay. Big fans of all of those throw some NFL football in. You do like throw some Leafs. We're good. Okay. All right. You're a happy man. And so am I. That's because our next guest joins us right now. Love reading his Leafs notebook on Maple Leafs Hotstove. You can follow him on Twitter at @Petrieli. That's Anthony Petrieli joining us now. Anthony, how's the summer been treating you, man? Going well, guys. Thanks for having me today. So this is this like a pointed question that I know the answer is no, but did you know what's going on with Yani Hockenbach? Because I don't feel like anybody seems to have a clue, including maybe the man himself. I haven't been trying to piece it together, but what we do know is that deals not officially registered. So there is no deal. That's the best we know. We're playing deal or no deal with Yani Hockenbach right now. But he's the problem is he's just standing there. They're like, you got to make a decision. You got to say deal or no deal. And he's just just sitting there staring. Well, we don't even know if he's standing really. That's a great point. Do you like, can you remember something like this? I mean, we've had, I was saying, we've had the Lulee Morello stuff in the past of, yeah, okay, Zach Paris is like still technically unsigned, but I think we all know he's going to end up on Long Island there. You know, John Klingberg is a guy who had, you know, insurance issues or questions, at least the injury stuff, but his contract was signed. No problem. This is just such a strange one. I'm trying to think across the league. If there's anything kind of close to it in recent memory that I can remember, and I'm coming up dry. No, and when you think about it a little bit more last off season, there was an example of what normally happens with an injured player that you think is going to return, which was with Max Pacharedi and Washington, where they knew he was hurt. He was, you know, slated to come back December, January, they signed him, they announced it, they acknowledged that he's not going to be there for a while. And, you know, it played out as it played out. This is not like that, especially because they spoke about him. Like he, you know, Brad traveling in his availability after free agency, specifically named and discussed them. So it's not just, you know, people reported it and we thought that he was signed and he was, and it was the general manager quite literally named him and discussed them and then nothing, you know, happened since. So even if you thought, you know, maybe he's not ready for training camp, or maybe he'll be back by Christmas, it's a two year deal. Like you would have, you would have acknowledged it and you would have announced it at this point. Okay. So I put my tin foil hat when Gunnar and I were talking about this just previously. And I wondered about, and as you pointed out in your notebook, Nick Robertson, Alex, do you still remain unsigned? There's, you know, there's an Alex Neeland or thing that if he, if he does end up sticking with the main beliefs that he's going to have to sign an NHL deal, that's part of the conversation. But do you think there's anything to the idea that maybe it remains unsigned, but it's kind of in, you know, in the desk drawer, it is signed, but just not registered. And that Brad your living is kind of playing the long game here because he may have to deal one or two or three players and then trying to, you know, get all of this to fit into the puzzle. Do you think that's a possibility here? I mean, I mean, anything is technically on the table, but they could go over the salary. Sorry. I meant the other caveat was teams don't throw you. They don't throw you life preservers to throw you anchors. And it was that, you know, oh, we can get this guy for free because he's gonna have to pass through waivers or whatever. And maybe that's part of it that Brad your living doesn't want to, you know, have these distressed assets type thing. Yeah, I mean, like, I don't think Nick Robertson would go on waivers. I just think that situation will need to resolve itself. The interesting one with that is whether they they just stick him to the qualifying offer or if there's any wiggle room because the qualifying offers and like the 800,000 range, which is well below, you know, whatever you think of a player that he that's well below what he's earned. But if they were to stick to the qualifying offer and you had the Yani Hawke and Pa $1.5 million contract, you could fit both in without Conner Tim and salary. So like the math will all work. And you would have 13 forwards and seven defense men, which would be a luxury for this team. They haven't had that in ages. And you actually feel pretty good about it. Like good players would be sitting every night. They'd be very, very deep. But yeah, like, like, look, like there's no, there's no downside for them to officially register the deal. I they just, it's hard. Like at this point, we're kind of just trying to, you know, make up scenarios to give some, some leeway benefit of the doubt to your point. Like not usually that blue and Morello type operator, or it's like, yeah, we'll see who shows up the camp. But like, we think like three veterans are on the steam. Yeah, it's not, it's not that way. Do you tie the, and again, like, I suppose we're kind of operating from a who knows scenario, but let's operate with the fact the Brad for living talked about the player. So the Leafs, like, again, like it's just so odd for him to have mentioned the player by name that that is the reason we keep kind of coming back to this. But let's say they are able to get this contract on the books, whatever it ends up looking like. If it's what it was reported, they do the Klingberg thing last year. Do you worry at all about Brad your living have it having a type? Like, we know he loves big defenseman zero problems with that for me. I could certainly do with some big burly defenseman on the leaf blue line. No issue. But I also wonder if this is a guy who, you know, well, he was in Calgary and the purse strings were probably a little tighter. Wasn't necessarily able to kick tires on every injured player, like a Klingberg or even a Hawkenpah. Like, do you worry that this is more of a feature than a, than a bug now that we're two off seasons in a row where potentially he's looked at guys that are distressed assets because of the injury. Yeah. I mean, you know, he's, he's obviously trying to find advantages. And this is part of them keeping all of the top guys and not moving money around it. At that point, you have to, you know, push Christian of salary down by giving him six years and you have to, even all of rekna Marston, like you have four years. And I was looking back at some of the original reporting and the contracts being thrown out were more of, you know, four million dollars for three years. And then the Leafs ended up flipping that almost to three and a half or four years. Like they're shaving dollars as best they can. And part of that is just you've kept four guys making, you know, $46 million or whatever it is this year. So you have to try to find advantages. But I do think there's something to be said of he's really just brought in older players to this point to date, right? Like, you know, yeah, it's not even evoking power or not. They haven't find anyone under the age of 31. Yeah, this summer, you know, Alex Neuander wouldn't necessarily even count. He didn't get an NHL deal. So they brought an older UFA's last year, you know, Domi and Bertouvi admittedly a little bit younger for your standard UFA even told me he was 29 years old still, right? They re-upped him, which I have no problem with. But yeah, not exactly a spring chicken. Yeah. Yeah. So it's generally, yeah, shaded older veteran more experience. But with that, some mileage and wear and tear. And they've been, you know, I guess pretty liberal when it comes to is this kind of injured or not. And, you know, what's the state of his, you know, health and, you know, can he play through this? And, you know, more, we'll deal with it later kind of thing, which, you know, honestly, that's going to get you in trouble. Eventually, I think everyone is aware of that. Yeah, I don't know about your life, Anthony. But generally speaking, when I say to myself, I'll deal with that later. I'm not like super happy to deal with it when it comes time to do that. If it's something I want to deal with, I'm like, Oh, I want to do that. I'll do it right now. Generally speaking, yeah, the other shoe dropping, rarely, rarely fun. You mentioned it, the idea that they weren't able to move off any of the big four here. I don't think anybody's surprised by that. I really don't think, you know, in the aftermath of the draft, there was the possibility of, maybe we do get that kachuk deal. And I think the ship is sailed on that. I think we all though, the big four are going to be showing up and they're going to be part of the team this year. What do you expect the kind of tenor of the marner conversation? Because I think the perception for the other three guys are kind of baked in as to what they are. Hosta Matthews is Superman, William Neelander, you might roll your eyes at him, but he just shows up and performs. And especially was coming off the playoff he had after he got going. It seems like it's all going to end to Varas. I think we've all just kind of argued enough about it. It's the last year of the deal. We are where we are does seem like marner. Obviously without goes without saying is going to be a bit of a lightning rod. But what do you think the like fan perception will be what happens if he gets off to kind of a slow start this year and conversely, what if he gets off to an awesome start? Does that kind of win everybody back over immediately? No, I don't think it would. I agree. I don't think there's anything you could do before. Well, the other problem, Anthony, with that is that the bar for a good start to the season is back-to-back hat tricks courtesy Matthews last year. So sorry, like it just needs seven goals in the first two games. Yeah. And I think to the flip side, if he does get off to a slow start, and you know, I think everyone has at least a rough idea of maybe not exactly how much money he wants, but, you know, what the low end of that barometer would be considering his salary at the moment. So that I think any sort of slow start, any sort of slump of note will probably draw a lot of, you know, this is how you're playing and you want this much money coming up. But I mean, he's also capable of just having an unbelievable season where he doesn't have any sort of note. I think the thing that I would look out for, and I'm very curious on my end, is, you know, just Craig Ruby come in and just sort of load up the lines as we have known them to be, right? You know, do Matthews and Marner play together? Is Matthew Nye's on the other side? Do we have John Tavares and William Newander back together? And then it's an open competition for that left-wing spot, probably Bobby McMahon, which would, you know, reunite the Domi Yarn Crock third line and the camp doer fourth line and off you go. And not much creativity in that, but still a very good team. I mean, that should be a very good team. And they've improved the defense. And I think they have talent in that. So it's not to disregard it if he does that, but everyone's kind of seen that movie already here about a million times. Yeah, honestly, Anthony, just because of that, I'd be shocked. Like, I would imagine Barouba would want to come in here and at least off the jump, just kind of spread everything out as far as he kind of possibly came with the forward group. Wouldn't you think that? Yeah, I mean, that's what I would probably do. I'd shade to test them out and separate them. And if he doesn't, then they kind of just get off to another slow start. It's just, you know, people are gonna be aloof to us. Here we go again. It's the exact same thing. You know, a different guy behind the bench, but, you know, it's the same look and feel, whereas I would personally be more interested in kind of guy, you know, such as Marner Drive, a line with Max Domi at center for 40 games and see what that looks like. And, you know, we saw Matthews play without either of Marner and you and her did not impact his game whatsoever. I mean, he, if anything, actually thought he looked better. He went and got the puck a little bit more. He was a little bit more aggressive on the forecheck yet to, you know, kind of create a little bit more of his own offense and facilitate teammates. And he did it, you know, can he do that again for 40 games? And what does that look like? And things like that. So, as much as we talk, what will the reception be on Marner? And what will that look like given his production? I think part of it too will be what kind of situations are they put in and is it is it more? This is kind of fresh and new and we're seeing some newer things, even though it's the exact same forward group, minus Tyler Rotuzzi, or is it just back to the same old lines? And if they do that, they better, you know, they better be amazing that to me. If you're going to just go back to the same old lines, they better, they better be challenging to win the division from day one through through the whole season. Alex Neelander is, to me, a very interesting HL signing in that we saw what he did with Columbus, you know, down the stretch in 23 games. He had 11 goals. And that was after, you know, just a five game stint with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He's a guy that, and I know everybody's like, oh, if he plays like his brother, then we don't want him on the team. But the one thing that we know that Alex Neelander has is he's got a very good shot, much like his brother. And he has the ability to score. One thing that we have had criticisms about this leaf team is they didn't have a lot of depth scoring outside of, you know, their four guys and their bottom, their bottom six did not have a ton of punch in that regard. Now, part of the issue is is that if Alex Neelander plays, he doesn't really fit in your bottom six and probably needs to play in your top six because of that specific role. Do you see this as a guy who could break camp with the Leafs? And does that make things a little bit more complicated with the roster? Or do you envision like he's a guy who starts out in the AHL works with some of these younger guys as you pointed out in your notebook. You know, maybe it's a Fraser Minton that he plays with. And that gives, you know, mint and a solid AHL score that he can play with. Or do you see a scenario in which it's like, this guy's just able to score goals. It's something that they could use in their bottom six, or maybe in their top six and Bobby McMahon kind of shifts down the lineup a little bit. How do you see this situation with Neelander playing out? Alex Neelander, that is. So I think part of it depends on what happens with Nick Robertson. If Nick Robertson is signed, they have 13 forwards. I think it would be, you know, unless one of them gets injured, I think it would be very hard to beat any of the 13 forwards on the team. It's honestly, it's a nice mix if they get Nick Robertson to round out the group. I think it'd be a very, very difficult team for anyone to make. Easton and Cowan included. Like he would have to be very, very good for, you know, the Leafs to put any of those guys on the trade block similar to what they did with Sam Lafferty last, last training camp. Now Nick Robertson doesn't sign or they move him or that, you know, it doesn't resolve in a way where he's a Toronto Maple Leafs. At that point, who's he competing against? Potentially Alex Steves, another RFA that needs to get signed. Easton Cowan, for sure. What I think has a very legitimate case to make the team just given, you know, going back to the OHL, there's not much for him to do there. He thoroughly dominated that lead to a level where you would say ready for promotion. So at minimum, he's probably at least pushing for the nine game, you know, start to the season. And then from there, I think, you know, things open up, which it's not too big of a deal if you don't start the season with the team, you know, Bobby McMahon obviously didn't. Simon Benmore got sent down on Waversey technically played for the Marley's. So, you know, I'd think he would have to probably go down, probably put a good month in kind of thing, and then depending on whatever's happening with the Leafs potentially look at an NHL deal, I think what's interesting about him is you're right, he can score, and he can shoot, and he can shoot from distance, right, which is a big deal. There's not a ton of guys that can go down from the top of the circle and get a look on an NHL goalie and score, you know, a ton of guys that really just can't throw at the league. And he's a guy that can't, because he does have a great shot. I just often look at him, and honestly, a bunch of the Leafs forward mix and just say, who would go get the puck on that line, right? Like, who would be the guy on the four check? Like, if we compare it to, you know, he signed a 26, he had a great 23 game stint. Michael Bunting was like in a very similar situation, right? He was also 26 when the Leafs signed him, he had 13 points in 21 games, and I think Nylander had 15 and 23, so very, very similar. You know, the NHL, a little bit different pedigree in terms of Nylander was an eighth overall pick, and Bunting was a later round pick. But the difference is, and stylistically, is Bunting, you know, four check to win to the net. He was kind of the first guy to get the puck and do a little bit more of the unsexy things. And that's not really what Alex Nylander does, so I would be kind of on a skill standpoint. Yeah, I think he completely fits on what would his role with the good players be. That part, I would start to wonder about, because, you know, if he plays with his brother, like, who's going to four check? Sounds like the center, to be perfectly honest, it sounds like the center. You mentioned the goals that he's capable of scoring there. Yeah, that G per 60, very important. But for that role, I think you mentioned it with the Bunting, like, they need a different G per 60. And that's grit per 60. And like, hey, Nylander, feel free to prove me wrong, either of you. Quite frankly, I know I'm kidding. Willie showed a lot of that. It just, you know, the hair and he's too pretty for us to call him a gritty guy. Anthony, I could chat about this stuff with you forever. And because of that, I'm sure we'll bother you in like a week or two's time. But go enjoy the rest of your summer. And thanks for coming on with us today. Thanks for having me on, guys. There he goes. Anthony Petrielli, check out his stuff at Leafs Notebook, including the or Leafs Hotstove, including his latest Maple Leafs Notebook there. It is now time for the Wakenrake presented by Sports Interaction, your home growing sports book and 19 plus bet responsibly. It's not often, I'm going to get to say this, but here we go, the Blue Jays favored in tonight's ball game starting up a series against the A's. Barrios and Mitch Spence are your starting pitchers. J's minus 133 on the Moneyline. If you want to get greedy, minus one or plus 165 on the run line, total is eight and a half. The over minus 115, the under, minus 105. You know what? The A's stink and the J's had a fun night last night. Let's see if it continues. Just give me the Blue Jays straight up on the Moneyline. Got to pay a bit to do it. But that's what I'm like in there. I like the Moneyline. I also like, I like the over in this one, just the way that J's offense is going. And while the bullpen hasn't been very good, so Jose Barrios can go his six innings and then all bets are off. And the way that the J's have been swinging the bats, especially Vadi, I kind of like the, I kind of like the over. It's lower at eight and a half. And I know the athletics are not some sort of offensive juggernaut, but hey, the J's can score five or six. The A's don't need to score that many. And they probably can against the J's bullpen. So I will take the J's on the Moneyline and the over. Yeah, I'll follow you blindly there, not blindly, because I agree with you. That was a wake-up rate presented by Sports Interaction, your homegrown sports book 19 plus bet responsibly. Blue Jays chat continues next. Ben Nicholson Smith going to join us to lead off a jam-packed final hour of the final hour of the week on the fan morning show on sports net five nine of the fan.
