[MUSIC] The board's coming out of it, there's Marner in front of the net. And on another shot, he scores. And Marner times the game. Off a stick to the far side, knee lander. Lace it to the front, it scores. That had ice. Well, he knee lander from almost the full line. Leaps have it again, another shot, scores. You're in front sense, it's in the front of the net, and Tamaris gets a piece of it to knock it home. Humber got the center and shot in. The two of the big boys look at one another and center ice. And here we go. Ding, ding, ding, the main event, right and center ice. >> The knee protect is sent the game to overtime. Two goals on the night, slowly into the zone. Top of the circle, coming into the middle, holding and shooting, off the goal pose. Lace went in and a shoot out. And it's good again as we've seen in this building this year. [MUSIC] >> I mean, what more can I say when Bonesy said it all, good morning, yes. The dulcet annoying, threatening? I don't know, I'll leave all of that up to you. Brent Gunning returning to the fan morning show. Of course, Ben, no, Ben Dennis isn't here, sorry. I have a feeling he'll have some tales to tell tomorrow. I don't want to cut his grass on that and maybe he doesn't want to tell you. So he'll be back tomorrow from vacation. >> We think airlines can be a little finicky sometimes. Marquesi, you and Daniele held down the fort so well for us. Thank you for that and how's it going, bud? >> It's good and after that game on Saturday, I mean, what more could you ask for? It was a game that literally felt like it had everything. >> I got no shots to the beloved. Chris Cuthbert, CCU calls a great game, but we really did need the. >> Oh, baby, everything is happening. >> From Bob Cole, we really needed that because it felt so fitting. I mean, what do you like? You like leaf swings, you like extra hockey, you're like, you're like, William Neelander, turning back the clock going full. Cody Franzen with the C&I Rister and you love, love, love. I was about to call it the garden because fight night at the garden just sounds so much better. >> It does. >> Sorry, it's Goshebank. Then fight night, it's Goshebank. But man, everything you wanted in that game, and again, I never hide where my emotions fly in these things, including two points for the Leafs. Max Stomi shootout winner. >> On his birthday. >> On his birthday, regular seasons can be long. No regular seasons long in the baseball. Just ask anyone who covers it or plays it, they'll remind you all the time. But this hockey season has felt incredibly long. It feels like we've had 15 seasons. The Kings were a cup champs a month and a half ago. Then they fired their coach. That's how long the years already been. You need games like that. They just, they got a little juice because of the standings. They got a little juice because of the sweaters. They got a little juice because of a couple of mutants in Revo and Rempe. It was just games like that do not come along all that often, and you got a cherish when you get them. >> Well, especially in February, right? Because now, because we're in that time where it's like, okay, we've had enough of the season, but now we really want the playoffs. And the players feel like that as well. So to get that kind of, I don't want to call it animosity. Because it wasn't like it was a, it wasn't a rough and tumble game. But it was a very good game. It was a very, I had a lot of energy in the building. >> It was a hard game. >> It was a game. >> It was. And you talk about having everything. It had a Willy Kneelander benching in the first period for almost a half of it. It had a heavyweight tilt, like you mentioned. By the way, speaking of you said two mutants. I don't necessarily disagree with that. Did it not feel like Ryan Reeves looked like a child, comparatively to Matt Rempe? I'm just watching this. I'm like, man, Revo looks really small here. And that just tells you how big Matt Rempe is. That was a really good fight. And I do want to say this kind of, because I know that you are of the same mindset as I do, as I am, sorry. >> Yeah. >> Don't tell me people don't like fighting. >> No, okay. >> They cheer, they want at center ice on a Saturday night. >> Yeah, man. >> And people were cheering. They were booing that they didn't fight previous to that. And I think the most poignant thought that someone had on it, was Mattie Rose from our pals out in Calgary. >> Yeah, go on with him in a rest of the time. >> He said it may be selfish, but I really wish it happened at the beginning of the shift and not the end of the shift. >> Yeah, for sure, of course, right? We have, we have seen that tale as old as time in this game where there's two guys who are trying to get out there. Maybe the coaches are keeping them apart. Maybe it's just the flow of the game. They're like ships passing in a night. And then we've seen it where one guy just dog tired and he goes, I have to take it. >> I got to do. >> I got to go over to get this chance. >> And Rempe was like, and you knew the time that was left, they both thought about it like, I'm not getting another chance of this. >> Yeah, that was it. >> The other thing about that fight too was, and I was thinking, and I want to ask Gordo this when we have one in the next hour. And I'll pose this question to you. >> Sure. When was the last time that you saw the hype for a heavyweight bout like this in the NHL? >> So it's been a while. >> I thought we were going to get it like monthly in this division. Just look at the way things sorted out at the very beginning of the year. You had Wi-Fi coming in Montreal. No, obviously he's been up and down this year. But that was a guy who, if we're doing like the Max Kellerman, top 10 rankings, it's like he was definitely a top 10 fighter in the NHL heading into the year. >> So yeah, sure. >> Luchit, it's longer in the tooth. But once you get, you don't never totally lose it. You might lose it sometimes, but you never totally lose it. >> What's the line from the Godfather that our pal Silvio Dante? >> Yes, just when I thought that was out pulling me back in. >> And yeah, I mean, you look at it there. You see that it was feeling like, okay, Montreal's got their guy, Toronto's got their guy, Boston's got their guy. This is going to be a thing that's on the dance card once in a while. And then Revo and Wi-Fi went in the first game. I don't think they've even been in the same building on the same ice since. >> Well, they haven't barely played each other since then. >> We know what's happened with Duchit. Obviously, he's out of the equation there. And then you get a guy like Rempe throwing into this. I'm trying to think all of the other fight animosities we've had, or I shouldn't say animosity, but build ups to fights we've had. And this is a big time throwback. I'm going to throw at you. But it's been much more of a Milan Luchit running Ryan Miller. And Patrick Kled is going to go over there. And he's going to get beat up my Milan Luchit to show him a lesson. That has been a lot of what we've seen of big bad guy. >> It's reactionary. >> Yeah, big bad guy runs around. Okay, I'm very tough. Who wants a piece of it? You would like it? Great. And guess what? Generally speaking, it goes pretty well for the big bad tough guy. But just two heavyweights. I mean, we've seen it with Rempe already. Look at the guys he's gone. It hasn't had to build up to what it had because of Saturday night and Reeves. But the Laurier, I mean, he's on our top 10. >> That was a really good fight too. >> Incredible. He's in the top 10 list for sure. Matt Martin, he's on the underrated fighter list. I don't know what they were putting him true top 10, but that is a guy who's had a million. >> He wasn't at one point, though. >> Sure, he was at a million scraps in this league. And I know there are people out there rolling their eyes that. Because I also think there's room for nuance in this conversation, right? Like I can understand somebody saying, the people who go, oh, nobody likes fighting. Who comes for this? >> And get lost. Go watch another sport, honestly. >> Because people do come for this. >> Yeah, and it doesn't happen all that often. But when it does, do not tell me that people don't stand up for these things and get excited. >> They do. >> You mentioned it early in the game, there was the moment where they're out there together. And the same way, what do we always hear about the crowds in Montreal is, oh, they're such a such an intelligent hockey audience. The way they can appreciate a good zone entry and they'll applaud for, no, guess what? That was a locked in hockey audience on Saturday night. >> Sure was. >> Second Rempe, hey, it didn't even have anything to do with Reeves. They're more excited to see Rempe quite honestly. It felt like the second he was over the board. So the second he touched anyone, and we'll get to LeBouche can hit here. But the second any of that happened, everyone in that building was itching for it. I've been in, I'm trying to think it was the year. So it wasn't last year, it was two years ago, Matthew scored. I believe this was the night of 50 goals, not 60. But it was a night against the Jets. People want to win against the Jets. They want to 50 goals. You know what might have been on the top of that list? They want to fight because elites and Jets were always fighting at that point in time. >> Yeah, and they still are today. >> They still are to this day. And I'm going to borrow a line from your buddy, Jeff Merrick. It's not always a fight. Now this is where I do disagree with him, just a hair. I do need the fight. Like I want it so bad. But what is almost as exciting? The threat of the fight. The idea of violence lurking out there. And that guy's got a screw loose. He's been looking, he's been yapping. The kachucks are the king of this. They'll always go. But at any given moment, just look at one of them the wrong way and it might happen. And look at all the different sports we have, the kind of big four. You want to throw soccer in there too? Sure, it's completely different. So it just adds the point of making. They all have things that separate themselves. Okay, the NFL is the king because it's once a week. Although it's not once a week anymore, but it's the king. Okay, it's on a tier of its own. The NBA has the most, I would argue, impressively athletic. I'm not getting into who's the better athlete. But just feats of greatness that you see every single night. The petty off court drama. I think that is what kind of defines that league. Okay, baseball, it's there for you every day. It's like your dog. Okay, sometimes it's really exciting. You go play fetch. Sometimes it's just there sitting beside you. It's there every day. It's comforting. The thing that hockey has that separates itself from most of these is just tremendous skill, tremendous speed, all of that violence and the ability to see it and play out in different ways. And in even NFL, the sport that I think most people would say is the most violent. You're not allowed to just square up and settle your differences right there. And I know some people don't like it. That's fine. You don't have to. But don't tell me I'm not allowed to. And don't tell us that everyone agrees with you because that's the other thing. Where I do think there is a little nuance for the conversation with Rempe is, and I'm going to trust the Rangers here, is I don't think Laval, let's tap him on the back every night going need another one kid. No, they got to pull him back a little. And I don't say pull him back to tell him not to fight, but to tell him he doesn't have to do it every day. Now, if he was like, he is though. Well, here's the problem. Poor guy sometimes man, this is where life, it's about breaks sometimes. And life comes at you. And I'm sorry, kid. Sometimes you come into the league and you're a goalie and you got Crosby and you got Ovechkin and you got McDavid and you got McKinnon five in a row. Good luck. It's not easy. Welcome to the NHL. Yeah. The luck of the draw for Rempe here. I mean, it's not wasn't luck. Martin offered it. He took it on the first one. Awesome. What a way to start your career. The Deloria fight, those are bitter divisional rivals playing for post season spots right now. And that's kind of what he's there to do is to wake his team up and get him going. And guess what? It got everybody going. And then unfortunately, I'm sorry. These are just the rules. This is the way it goes. He didn't have to have to fight. Revo, but this is the way respect among those guys go is if Revo asks you, you can't really go away from it. If you're them, he could say, look, man, look at my face. I'm good tonight. OK, and would we have killed him for it? No, would it have knocked the legend a little bit? Of course it would. Oh, yeah. Yeah, his face was battered. It's tough. It's a tough looking mug. I'm not sorry. Sorry, Matt. I don't I don't mean it like that. But you know, you look at that thing every day right now. It's rough. Yeah, it's a tough one. Actually, he caught Revo too because Revo had a black guy as well. Well, he had again, not that not that there are a lot of guys who fight for a living in the NHL that it'd be fun to fight. But a guy who can just stand there all day, hold the collar of your jersey and just rabbit punch you in the chin as long as he wants. Yeah. That feels like the least fun thing ever. And that is what again, like Revo got some felt like Revo landed the bigger shots. Yeah, if you're just doing like, oh, you know, how hard was each punch or whatever. But the idea of sitting there for however long that fight was minute, minute and a half of just boom, boom, boom, rabbit punches to the chin. Oh, no, thanks. This is this is a this is to what you are speaking of. It's a text that we got. This is from Dan and Brampton. My wife was locked in, stopped scrolling on the phone and was zoned in on the fight. The only part of the game she watched, everyone loves scraps. She even asked who I thought won. That's kind of that is kind of the epitome of of that moment because and I know we're spending a lot of time talking about a fight, but things like this, this type of heavyweight buildup just doesn't really happen anymore. It's like you said, everything seems to be so reactionary now. And you get some good scraps because of it. Yeah, ass ass is teammate Jacob Trooba. Yeah, exactly. And he has to do that a lot actually. But I think the fact that there was such a buildup and it it when when fights have that kind of buildup, they don't usually live up to the billing that one did. Like it was a good scrap. I thought it was kind of you got the you got a little bit of good in everything in that game. The fight, the score, the fact that you got extra hockey out of it. It was great. Yeah, we'll move on. We'll move on here. Last thing I'll say on this is the only way. The only way it could have been better. And Revo had the muscle memory that he started to do it and had to stop himself is if they went full Joe Thornton Jamie Ben and just threw their buckets aside right before. Revo, I think he was about to again, like guys just get into that mode. And it knows what we do. And I think I also think part of it is no visor for Revo. Yes, that's kind of why. But you know, understand rules or rules. Even my cave membrane can say, all right, I guess they're allowed to keep their helmets on. Lastly, the fact that happened at center ice would have been amazing if that was in a scrum in the corner somewhere and the play is back at the other end. Everyone's going, whoa, but just the peel off, the slow come back, Rempe, Toss and his gloves. It looked like Jay Bareshell directed that. I thought leave Shriver was going to hop over the boards. It was phenomenal. Okay. So again, I'm sure there will be plenty of discourse regarding the fight today. And I don't think so much of the fight, but more Rempe and all of it. Sure. Ryan Reeves, good job. And actually let's before we move on to too much from that. Ryan Reeves playing hockey. Like, yes, he fought in the game. But scored a goal this week or last week. It's all this a fresh show for me. Everything's happened for the last week. So he scored a goal the other day. He's skating. He's finding purpose. And once a guy like that is able to find just a little bit of a role, it allows him to be the Ryan Reeves they expected him to be. And I don't mean that to be what he did against Rempe. It's the, you know, bumping shoulders with knee lander on the bench and being the team party captain and all that hard to do that when you're dash a million and you're not playing. So, so important for him to have a role on this team. You know what strikes me with him? He looks a little bit faster than he did at the beginning of the season. I don't know if, you know, I, he was, I know he was dealing with an injury. I wonder how much that played into it. But I also think Ryan Reeves said to himself, I know I can't just be in the lineup just to fight all the time. I actually have to play. And I think, you know, when we talked about him at the beginning of the year, he was a liability on the ice. Let's, let's be real. He is not that guy. Now, could it be because of maybe who he's playing with now? It adds a little bit of stability to his game. Maybe that's the case. But I think that full, I would give full credit to Ryan Reeves because I think that he has really taken on this idea of I need to be better in order to stay in this lineup. And when he is better, when he is in the lineup, I do think that he offers something that, like you mentioned, other guys just don't have. And it's not even the fighting aspect. It's the leadership aspect. It's, there's a reason why Ryan Reeves has been acquired by so many other teams. There's a reason why Minnesota acquired him last year. The same thing is why he was such an important piece for Vegas on that first Stanley Cup run to the final. I think Ryan Reeves plays a role on this team, but he does it if he's, you know, not able to get from point A to point B before the puck moves. Yeah. And I think so much of that is confidence as well, right? If every time you take a stride, the puck ends up in the back of your net, you almost get caught in her paralysis. And I think he's finally got himself out of that. And this is a mean thing to say about a guy who I'm sitting here gloingly praising, but all of a sudden, the idea of the Leafs need to maybe move that contract to the off-season, not completely undoable. Like, I, you know, I don't know if you've seen the stuff coming under Chicago of Lazarus without a column, or a column basically saying, you got to leave our poor, caught up a dart along. They're maiming him and killing him. But let's just say that Ryan Reeves has served that role plenty of places before. And hey, we know the 1-3 on the cap and how these things work, all of a sudden, not immovable, but you wouldn't want to move him right now. Plenty to get through from the game. I think the biggest hockey thing of it all was the, the, the knee-lander benching. It's funny how much accountability was maybe the thing most focused on coming into the year, at least from a how the team would be coached perspective. You know, there was a, we don't need to relitigate at all, but there were the belief or not the belief, the flat-out walking back of comments that were critical to players, how critical can Keith be. And, you know, I think, quite honestly, I'd prefer that. I'd rather him, I mean, I, you know, I would rather him not have bench rolling knee-lander, but I'd much rather him say, all right, you're going in the dog host for a minute, you're going to come out. Guess what, you go score a goal. Now, no one has to talk about it after the game. It kind of worked out perfectly there. And no one, no one deserves kudos for being benched, but knee-lander's been honest about this his entire time in Toronto. I, I am not a carrot guy. Give me the stick. I needed occasionally, okay? You got to do it to me. You got to pump, you got to pull me down and line up. You got to take me out of power play. He has said he needs criticism. He needs to be coached hard. Keith clearly unafraid to do it. And I think that that's a sign of, you know, there's been so much talk of, is he the right coach for this team as he warren on the core, whatever. I think he has a tremendous understanding and ability. And I don't mean this say he doesn't have for other players, but specifically with knee-lander, it really feels like he has a handle for what it kind of takes to get him going. I think this is also, it speaks to the new style that is coaching right now. And I, okay, I've never coached at the, I've never coached at the NHL level. Obviously, I've never coached higher than minor hockey. But what you learn coming up is that you now in today's society have to be like a psychologist for 20 players or whatever it is. So it's not the one size fits all approach. And I think that's part of it with Sheldon Keefe and figuring out he knows, he knows what he needs to do with William knee-lander. And that's not the same thing as maybe what you need to do with Mitch Marner or what you need to do with John Tavares, although that's working out very well right now as well. But the William knee-lander thing to me is, I agree, he's, he does need, and he's, and like I said, he said it, he needs to be coached a little bit harder, but credit to William knee-lander for going out. He could have sulked after sitting for eight minutes in the first period. He didn't. I thought he came out and played very well after that. He kind of got that, you know, kick in the pants that he needed. And this team needs William knee-lander to be going much to the chagrin of so many people that are out there that are just constant willy haters. The guys having an incredible season and in order for this team to go far, they need William knee-lander to be that player all throughout the playoffs. And if that means making him accountable for something in, you know, late February, early March, then that's totally fine. Well, that's fine with that. Well, it's also the only way you can do the three lines, right? Is if all, if you can, I suppose, I don't think this is going to happen, let's say knee-lander's off. I suppose you can put him with Matthews and that insulate to him and then you allow Marner to, you basically just flip the wingers where we heard that before in this town. But the way this works is if all four of those guys, and it's, it's to degrees, right? William knee-lander going doesn't mean he's going as well as, you know, 80 goal season or whatever he's on pace for now, 70 something, Austin Matthews doesn't mean he's going that well, but his ceiling is there. John Tavares, you need him to go the way he's been going as of late. The only way this thing works is if all four of the core four are pulling whatever, you know, however much of the rope they're expected to because with knee-lander, he's been able to, you know, him and Tavares have been able to insulate one another, play off of one another, quite honestly pull one another down with their play at times. That's not the case now, and that's why I think to see the, and again, you know, I'm sure there are people saying, no, no, no, no, showing maturity is not getting benched. That's actually showing maturity. Okay, sure. There's no perfect hockey player. Everyone's been benched in their life. And even when Gretzky probably should have, I know it's hard to sit him down, but he's probably made a mistake or two that you could have sat him down for. He actually called out a coach for that if I'm not mistaken. Oh, that's right. I do remember. Who was it the Barry, was it Barry Melrose? Basically, one of his coaches came in and started blasting everybody. And he looked at the coach and said, why aren't you blasting me? I'm the main culprit of this, whatever. So yeah, maturity is also recognizing, you know, when you need to see and to see a player be able to understand that, take it in stride, go with it. Now part of it, I think I will say, and hey, like, you rather arise to moments in games that matter than games that don't. I just think part of that is that it's Saturday night against the Rangers and it's a raucous atmosphere. I think I do think there's some element of that that pulls him into the game. There have been nights where you see that happen and the benching happens and there's a still less engaged version when it's a sorry Arizona against the coyotes on a Tuesday. We have seen that movie before, but it is crucial for each one of those guys to be going the way they are now. The thing I think maybe the next most important player in all of this that we talk about is, you know, obviously the court for you need them to be great. This also doesn't work if Max Domie's not playing the way he is. I mean, again, this is, it's such a funny position we find where we talk about a guy who cannot, cannot play third line minutes for a cup. I don't know, he was on Dallas and they were in the Western Conference final last year. I think the Leafs would have signed up for that be weird if they were in the Western Conference final, but they would have signed up for that in the heartbeat. So important for him to be able to thrive and find a role. And I think, again, Max, Domie is never, you don't want to turn somebody in. I mean, if you could turn them into a complete player, of course, you take it. He's not going to become that. Okay. He is the die to a certain extent is cast the way it is, but you put him in positions to succeed with other offensive players. And you say, hey, don't worry about defending our best defenses. You have in the pocket and go in the other way with Will. I think you look at that and it again, it allows the player to thrive. Part of its pucks going in, part of it is it's a long season. You have your ups and downs. But when I look at the most, the next most importantly forward after the core four, you know, I know you can make the case for Bertuzzi, but I think it's got to be Domie because he's the next guy that allows these pieces to fit together. I think that's a really good point. I, because Bertuzzi offers something that is different that that basically nobody else on this team kind of offers. No, and that's going to stay in front of the net when you need them to. But the problem is John, it's John Tavares, but it's like the guy with a with an MBA who's the world's greatest Walmart greeter. It's like, you know, that's Russell Wilson. Yeah, exactly. So I, the Domie thing is very interesting in that I don't think anybody thought that this is the role we were going to see Max Domie in. I don't think we, I don't think in our wildest day there was going to play center. Remember, for the longest time people thought me line it was going to play center. And also Tyler Bertuzzi was not supposed to be on this line. He was supposed to be the guy that was playing with Matthews and Marner. That was why they brought him in. And now we look at this and say, Max Domie has also helped elevate William Nielander. So, and here's how I look at it. We kind of touched on this a little bit last week, but we can go a little bit more in depth in that. William Nielander needs to play with players that are a little bit faster. And when he was playing with Tyler Bertuzzi and John Tavares, not the fleet is the foot those two guys, but Max Domie. Bertuzzi may or may not tie a skate. So maybe that without sure. Yeah, as far as equipment goes with him, I would really not be surprised if he did. But I think what we've seen is Max Domie has allowed William Nielander to play at a pace that is different than he has been able to. Now, here's the other thing that Max Domie, he's a very good passer, but he's also a pass first guy, which when, if you look at any iteration of lines that William Nielander has played with, outside of William Nielander being, you know, playing center on the third line with nobody's type thing, it's always been that William Nielander has never been the guy that has always demanded the puck in terms of the skill set in terms of the fit when he plays with Austin Matthews, awesome Matthews demands upon when he played with John Tavares, John Tavares demands the puck, right? And we haven't really seen him all that much with with Mitch Marner, but that's kind of along the same line. I mean, look, the only time you see it is when they go, they go nuclear. Guess what? I'm sorry, Will, your third line. Yeah. And so, and so this fit with Max Domie, who is the pass first guy and with Tyler Bertuzzi, who is the guy who just goes to the dirty areas, does what he needs to do, especially of late. That has been the perfect fit. It's very hand to glove. And that's why I think Max Domie plays such a key role. Not only does it allow you to spread things out, but I think you're getting the best out of William Nielander with this player, which also bodes well for Max Domie to stick around for a while because last time I checked, William Nielander has an eight year deal. He does. He does. And yeah, you definitely want the best version of that player. I'm happy you mentioned the speed part of it as well because Tavares, you know, and obviously he's a good player or he's a great player. You can find ways to be effective in just about any game, but I feel like you can go to, and I want to be clear, don't accuse me of being a nerd. I don't do this, but you all can go to like the NHL edge stats or whatever it is. And just sort teams by average speed. And the slower the team is, the better John Tavares is going to look against them. I don't say that as a knock on the play of a Bay Lightning last year in the playoffs. Look how good he was. Okay. So you look at it. And this is a guy who go back to when we were talking about him when he was the wonder kid at 17 years old. Man, imagine how good he'd be if it was a good if he was as good a skater as he was everything else. It has always been the knock on him. So it's not lost on me. See a game like the Rangers game where it's a little more slower, a little more plotting. And that's not say the Rangers don't have skill like, you know, Panerica fly around Fox is flying around. But it's like to play the game a little more methodical. They're happy to chip and chase. They're happy to slow it down. A very Peter Laviolent style. And guess what? John Tavares playing hockey against Peter Laviolent teams his entire career go back to the Metro or whatever it was called when it wasn't the Metro. That is that's where he thrives. So the idea of taking that away from him. And you know, it sounds weird to say you take a player like Neelander away from Tavares and it allows him to play better. But it just allows him to play the game at a pace that's more comfortable to him. And that is why I think, you know, in this way, looking ahead now, but that's why you can, I think you can make the argument that, you know, there's so much talk about, you know, how would a marner fair in a series like against team like the Panthers we saw it last year. I think Tavares is the guy who's going to be impacted the most by matchup in this first round series. If you get your, you know, Boston a little slower, I'm probably probably going to see a really good version of them there. But if it is a track meet series, that's still where I think you have your your concerns. I'm glad that you brought that part up because I think also having John Tavares slotted in this role that he's in now allows you to manage him differently. For sure. I think that I think a couple things. One, I think that you're going to get a better version of John Tavares because they're just less wear and tear later on in the season, which I think is important for an older player. And I say older, he's still younger than we are. However, I also think that you don't need to play John Tavares 18 minutes a night. So you may get the best 15 minutes out of John Tavares, and he doesn't have to play because you really want William Neelander out on the ice doesn't have to be with John Tavares, who then maybe gets overexposed. So I think that's, I think that's also part and parcel for the success that they're having and the potential success that they could have because they have put John Tavares in a spot where it's more suitable for him at this stage in his career, where he doesn't have to be relied on as the guy. But if you play in a seven game series and he chips in three goals, you're happy with that. Yeah, that's good. He's a third line center now. No, that's that's it. With Tamara's, that's exactly what you what you see. And then you still have the option, right? Like we, I know you don't know this or you know this, but we get so regimented in moments guys on this line. You could pop, you could pop Tavares on the left side for the offensive drive. They've done it. It's not the end of the world exactly. I mean, they got scored on when they did it, but they did it. Ah, no play the results. But it's, but the thing, but the thing is is that yes, that is absolutely an option. Why wouldn't it be? Because we we bandied about the idea of John Tavares playing the wing for a while now. So there's nothing that is out of the realm of possibility. I think the only thing outside of injury is that you're not going to see John Tavares centering the top two lines the rest of the season. I don't think outside of injury. I just I don't see how that works right now. Like if they go into a bit of a lull offensively, I don't see that as being the move that they make personally. I think it really, although I think that is dependent on Max Domie. I think Max Domie has the car keys to that decision. If he keeps playing like this, you're right. You won't see it. He's given us no, since they've made the change, he's given us no reason to believe that he's going to. We talked about it with, I actually forgot who we were talking. Oh, it was Ryan Reeves, how important confidence is. You know, look, you know, it's his skills competition. It doesn't matter. I know, but Max Domie scoring that shootout winner. He looked like he was a world like he knew he was going to score. He looked like he was world juniors, London Knights, Max Domie. Okay. Those, those, those London Knights guys, when they get feeling like they're back there, that's a whole mother super power. You see it with Marner every time there's kids game going around. So confidence is important with all players, but Domie and I don't want to overstate this because it's not like he's taking ownership of the team or anything along those lines. But, you know, Mitch Marner is steeped in the tradition of the Leafs and, you know, being in the city and sometimes it can feel like the weight's getting to him and John Tavares obviously appreciates all that. Max Domie is steeped in what it means to be a leaf with some modicum of success. He sat there listening to Matt's and dad and all these guys talking about it and is a little touch of it saying the right things because that's what you're supposed to do for sure. When he gets asked about Matthew's self key stuff and don't care about individual awards, is a little, is one percent of that putting it on? Sure. But just listen to how he talks after games. I know some people will say, mmm, that doesn't matter a lick, go show me what you do on the ice. In this market, it does. And that is a guy who is just, for some people, they would find themselves. Second line center at the Toronto Maple Leafs all of a sudden and go, whoo, this is a big spot for him. Hmm, it's where I grew up. Literally, it's where I grew up. This is not, he appreciates it. He's very, you know, welcoming of it and understanding what a great opportunity it is. But it's clearly not eating them alive either. It's, it's, he has a perfect mentality and makeup for this as well. And not only that, the guy played in Montreal too. Yeah. So he understands, he's, he's seen both sides of the coin as well. And if I know coins only have two sides, but if we want to include the thin one that goes around the edge, he's seen the other side of it where he plays in Arizona and Dallas too. And Columbus. Yeah. And guess what? It's like, did they, did they win games in Dallas? Yes. Did the people who cared cared? Yes. I guarantee you winning. Not the same. That win on Saturday night probably felt bigger than not the actual result of getting to the conference final, but in the city might have felt just as big, honestly. It was a, it was a, it was a massive win. And one of those wins that you look at and say, there is a recipe for success for this team to play a certain brand of hockey. And we didn't even mention the goalie. No, we'll get it was fantastic. Later. But that, I think that they've given this fan base hope that you can see it. You can see the style that they've played. You can see them go and beat a team like Colorado in Denver and then beat the Rangers at home to really good hockey teams that a lot of people expect will be near or at the end of the line here. Once the season is done, to me, that's where this thing gets, you know, where you get a little bit excited about it because this does feel, I don't want to say feels different than last year because we do this all the time, but it feels different in the sense of you can see stylistically that they can play a certain way. I don't know how I haven't asked for this yet at some point in time. I'm Santos. We don't have to, we don't do it now because it's be rude of me to just throw it at you. But we really do need the hope is a dangerous thing from Shawshank. Just any time we take a turn positively talking about the Leafs there. I'm with you starting to feel hope that terrifies me. Obviously, gourd style will have plenty more. He's, he's both eternally hopeful and pessimistic. He walks the line incredibly. So we'll talk plenty more about that with gour coming up at seven. Also, you know, I know, I know other things happen in the NHL, but what does it mean for the Leafs? Elias Pederson, he's got a new contract sticking around in Vancouver on an eight year deal. What are the ripple effects that are going to come out of that? Also just plenty else going on in the NHL, little standings check in. I haven't talked hockey for a week. I was rotting on a beach in Jamaica. I know. He says rotting. Poor me. Poor me. There was a hockey trade to discuss. I had no one. I'm just looking at my child. I'm like, hey, three-year-old. Do you have thoughts on Elia the Buschkin? Eh? Okay, good. No, I'll talk about it with you. We'll talk about the Pederson contract. A lot more hockey is what I've tried to say. Good morning. It's a failboarding show with Gunna Gabarcazio at Sportsnet 5.9 in the fan. Hey, it's Ailish Forafar. And I'm Justin Cuthbury. Join us as we discuss the most important sports stories of the day and tee up the biggest games of the night. It's the fan pregame. 6 p.m. weekdays on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 5.9 in the fan. And wherever you get your podcasts. Good morning. I always get mad when Ben doesn't say something. I'm just going to give you all an extra one extra two actually. I'll say one more time. Here we go. Good morning. Brain cutting Matt Marchese alongside me. Ben Ennis returning from parts unknown tomorrow. Allegedly. I don't know. You might want to keep the undertaker parts unknown. You might want to keep that ringer on Marchese. So I am very aware of the situations I could arise when traveling to and from certain locales. And I don't know where Ben is, but just being on an airplane with stale air. I was going to say you'd leave your house and who knows what could happen. I am fully awaiting the text. Yes. Okay. So Ryan Fabro. Marchese can't say no. He just agreed to it already. So good. I'll be ready. Good job by me doing a little bit. I was keeping there. Yeah. Well, there's no cell job. I just told you to pick up the phone you agreed to. I don't know if this bad is bad on sales job by by you. Good sales job by I don't know. Maybe you maybe you feel one way. Maybe it's a lives better since agent. Maybe it's Patrick Alvin. But this is the this is the latest news in the NHL. You know, it's not quite the NBA where all we do is talk about player movement and trades. Yeah. All we talk about is contracts, baby. We finally got a big new sexy one. The eight year banger comes in under 12 million bucks. Just first blust reaction when you when you saw the number, not that it's overly surprising. I mean, this has been trending feels like this way for, you know, a week or so now. But what's your first blust reaction when you saw the number? Not surprised. No, I actually I went on on one of the shows out West with Thomas Johnson, Jamie Dodd. And we talked about the Patterson contract. And I said, if he was asking for anything less than Austin Matthews, what he was asking for, then his agent wasn't doing a good job because he was never going to get that. Of course. But you should at least ask for that number. Sure. He comes in at the fifth highest AAV, I think in the league now once that contract kicks in. And by the time he starts playing that, it probably won't end up being the fifth highest AAV. I would assume Lee on dry so it was going to get a big ticket. So I'm no surprise. I think it's the right number. And if I'm being honest, I actually think the fact that he's played a lot of wing with JT Miller this year, and it's been kind of flip flopping actually hurt his number. Because we've seen him not that he didn't have success before, because he's had a ton of success. But I think that that number came in, you know, closer to 11, 5, then 12 for a reason, if I'm being if I'm being sincere here. No, I think I think there's when, look, we'll play everyone's favorite game. I'll tease it here and we'll play in a minute. What does this mean for the Leafs? There are two things that make this contract a massive outlier from the one Mitch Marner is going to be asking for. It's not saying I don't think the numbers will look very similar. I bet they will. But it is that he plays center sometimes, sometimes in name only, but he is a center and the RFA. That's the part of it that just will always color this now. So I get five years of RFA, it was one. So that doesn't, it changes the picture slightly. But you're not lapping off millions of dollars a year. You're not buying a bunch of UFA years. Exactly. So you look at this and you say that that is a wholly fair number for the player. The thing I have to go to with it is I was sold to Bill of Goods by all the NHL insiders. I was told that Austin Matthews was going to be a trend setter. I keep waiting for someone else to follow in the trend that these Leaf players have set out on. Now William Newland just took the eight years. I do wonder if now there is more certainty with the cap. If maybe we see guys willing to take it, I would think it'd be counterintuitive. I think now that the cap is only going to go up, you would only want to take shorter deals so you could ring the bell as close to the end one last time. But that's where my mind immediately goes with that contract is another guy. Now, he's coming off a bridge. This wasn't a guy who did the eight years right away. He did the three times seven three five before. So this wasn't a player who has always just okay, my ears will be happy to do it. But lo and behold, an eight year deal gets put in front of him. It is a number that, you know, I don't I don't want to overstate it. I don't think this is, you know, some amazing contract. I think it's fair market value. I think it's a little below it. But it's a guy who took a little bit of a haircut and he gave the team all the term. And if this is the trend, it's only going to vote worse for the Leafs. Now, Matthew's again, I don't think there's a bad contract he could sign Austin Matthews for. Mitch Marner, I think it's going to be very tough and unpalatable. And look, you know, he'll get the contract he wants. But for him, now go six years or something along those lines. Kneelander took eight, Patterson took eight. I'm sorry, bud, you're not Austin Matthews. That's the thing that jumped out to me immediately was the number it was going to be what it was. It was going to be 11-7. It was going to be 12-2. It was going to be somewhere in there that we would spend time arguing about a couple hundred grand. But in the grand scheme of things don't really matter. The only number in this deal that matters to me is the one at the beginning and it's eight. Yeah. And I think when you look at Patterson and his only hesitation was I want to see where this thing is going. And obviously it's trended in the right direction under Rick Talkett. That is a really good hockey team. Yes. And they have pieces locked up around him. They have JT Miller locked up. They have the goaltender locked up. They have Quinn Hughes, Brock Besser, has really turned a corner and Brock Besser's been excellent. It's a good team. They got a goalie a D in the center. You can start building after that and they've checked all the boxes. 100%. And so with the, you know, it's funny, your head went to the Marner thing and my head went to no, my head went to so many people comparing this to the kneelander deal because that I had someone that told and I can't remember who it was. It was one of my friends. I'm sure of it. And they said, if this number comes in anywhere around the kneelander deal, I will be pissed because Willie should have taken less. But then, you know, you break it down a little bit and you look at the season that William Neelander has had and he's sixth in scoring. He has the fifth best points per game in the NHL and he's a really good player. Just checking that box. But on the Marner thing, well, hold on. Let me, let me jump in on the kneelander. I think the massive difference is, is that one of these players had or the organization had leverage over them. Neelander was not going to be traded. There was not a trade to be and this isn't say you couldn't have done it at the draft. You couldn't have done it two years ago. But contract year, you have walked him to September. Boy, where have we heard this before? And you say, you know what, we are going to do because there is some belief and, you know, this were the insiders. This is where we believe them. They'd say, hey, they're maybe going to trade him. If he didn't want to sign a deal, that there was no contract that William Neelander could be traded for. There was going to make the Leafs a better team when they needed to be right now. And I suppose you could make the argument with that with the Canucks, but they had the leverage of the RFA year where they could do it this offseason. So I think that's the massive part is that the Leafs were in a position where not to say you couldn't play hardball with Neelander, you can always play hardball. Sometimes it may not work. Sometimes you might get the old bow ties and all them Ryan calls it right around right around the neck. But you can always try. And I look at it with Neelander is that they just didn't have the same leverage that the Canucks had. Now that's not. Now, look, this isn't to say I think the William Neelander deal is a great contractor, a steal. It is, I think it's like Pederson's is market value. I think I think it's I think it is fair to say that Pederson took a little bit of a haircut. Again, this is 12. Okay, that's what I'm getting. Yeah, so it's 200 grand. It's 300 grand in the grand scheme of things. It does not matter. It's not even enough to pay a guy League men. It really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. But I do think you can say, okay, that's player who took a little bit of a haircut. It felt like Neelander now signed the deal with the peak of his powers. I'm the greatest season he's ever had. When the team needed him to be that guy, you understand what goes into it. But I just think they're, it's funny. They're both Swedish. They're both kind of young. They're both skilled offensive guys. So you look at it, but I just look at them as completely different players. I love the Pederson contract much more than the Neelander one, but it doesn't mean I think the Neelander deal is a bad one. That's that's kind of what I think. I think that's fair. I think you're I think you're kind of right on the on the money with that one. I you know, it's just so funny because this this notion of Neelander, and I don't mean to turn this into a Neil, but the notion of Neelander and oh, well, you know, they could have traded on them. They could have done this. It could have done that. You know what happens when you move on from a player like William Neelander? You're looking for a player like William Neelander. The guy oozes skill. He's certainly shown an improvement. He's not the best defensive player in the world. We know that, but he's certainly shown an improvement and and I keep going back to this and this guy, we could tie this to the marner thing for sure. William Neelander's been their best forward in the playoffs consistently over the last four years. Miles better than Austin Matthews was. Miles better than Mitch Marner was. Miles better than John Tavares was. So to me, that's where I'm very intrigued on whatever the marner number looks like because and people are going to go crazy for this. I don't know that you can pay Mitch Marner more than you're paying William Neelander. And you know that he's going to ask for more than that. Sure. He's going to ask for that. But I don't know that you can. Well, but the problem is and we're here. The problem is is that you're in the you are already in the exact same boat with marner as you were with Neelander. There is not, you know it again, like not that not because Sam and I bandied the trades about in the preseason when me and McKee were doing a show together. But we we did we did a full show an hour long. Here's our William Neelander trades. And guess what? There were two types of trades that got bandied about. One where one of us was being ridiculous and gone, no, the red ones are going to give you most cider for William Neelander. Okay. And the other one was what about a brand Clark from LA? And you know, Victor Arvid's in tight piece to me. That's not making your team better. Okay. And marner is going to be in the exact same boat. And guess what? He got a no move and there's no world unless unless you wanted to go full nuclear and you make him the bad guy and the villain and make it be seen that he's not all he needs to have is a bad playoff though. Well, the narrative side itself, but he even then, yeah, do you honestly think the players going to look in the mirror and say, you know, that's right. I should be a blue jacket. I should. No, he's going to say, I'm not going out like this. Yeah, I'm gonna come back. We get my 12 million plus and I'm going to do it all over again. It just, it seems the way these things are trending. I, I'm happy you bring up dry settle because obviously we're so bogged down in Leafs contract land here. But man, that is an interesting one. I don't have the exact quote in front of me, but I think you'll remember what I'm talking about here when he was asked about him and McDavid. And I'm going to do its best for me. And Connor is going to do what's best for Connor was, you know, the paraphrasing of the quote. Did you imagine we had that here from a marner or an elander or a Matthews, the full meltdown mode. And you know, I think part of it is just dry settles a little pissy and surly. And I kind of like that about him. So pissy because I'm me. I woke up and I got to talk to you every day. That's why. But that's the one I'm really excited to watch because, you know, we can sit here and it's funny with the peterson of physio center. Is he a wing? He's been playing with Leon dry settle. He's a center until the oil needs to get cooking. And then guess what pops over to the left side and him and Connor McDavid are pretty dynamic duo. And that's why I think that one will be interesting. It's not interesting in, is he going to get 11? No, no, he's got he's getting 12. Leon's getting paid. But Leon dry settle may end up being the highest pay player in the NHL when his deal comes up. Yeah. And you know who I you know who I bet would love to shake his hand and do that? Not Connor McDavid's former agent Jeff Jackson. I feel like he'd be he'd be not so fond of that. But gone with David's current agent would very much shake Lee on dry settle saying defeat becomes the highest pay player in the league. Because guess what? Whatever the number is Connor's going to eclipse it when when this time is up. So 100% man. It is funny like I kind of started the segment talking about it this way, but in the NBA, we do do a lot of off court stuff. Who's wants to go where who wants to team up contracts? It's all we ever talk about the NHL. We've we've done we've done now a nearly an hour of the show. We in passing mentioned a leaf game that played. We talked about Matt rent pay and Ryan Reeves punching each other in the face for I don't know. Well, they didn't do it for this long. We talked about it for about 40 minutes. And then we just talked about contracts and the NHL for for the the other 20 of the hour. And guess what? That's the league. Now, I I love nothing more than dissecting the games and breaking it all down. But so long as the cap stays the way it is, this is always going to be where the conversation lies in the league. And that just to bring it back to the beginning of the hour. It's why it's so important to have your Matt rent pays of the world. Give you a little spice of life and something different to talk about sure is and that's where you know that this is where the GM's make their money. How can you because everybody, you know, go is all over the Leafs on their contract set up and their cap situation. The league is kind of going in that direction. So you better get the most out of your guys of your stars, but you also better be able to draft well. And then you better be able to figure it out. Look at the Dallas stars. Yep. They've got the they may have the best developmental system in the NHL. It allows them to go and deal a second and a third and a prospect former second round pick for a guy like Christina who may not be on your team next year. The Leafs are not in that same boat. No, they're not. And just last thing on the contracts. Patterson, he completely reset the team structure in Vancouver. Highest guy before him was was Miller at eight. And now you've got a guy making, you know, not double that, but you know, a third of that on top of what he what he's making there it is. And that's always been the thing that Tampa had going for them was that they had the internal cap of Stamco's and then had been barely eclipsed it. The Leafs and don't take this as they shouldn't assign John Tavares. But the second you put an 11 million dollar player on the books, that's where the numbers start to climb to immediately. And it's just it worked out very, I won't say fortuitously because they planned it out to a certain extent, but you get Miller locked up at eight. I mean, the Hughes contract to your laughing forever with him with four more years at 785. But now you can pay your big dog in Patterson and there's nobody coming behind him until he's a new contract in five years that you're going to be looking at at that number other than you know, Demco. But guess what? He's at five for two more years after this. So they're in a really, really good spot. I have to be honest, pain me, say that many kind things, but thank you for coming. It's weird. Not want to. You have to you have to applaud the job that they've done. A lot of people thought Jim Rutherford lost a little bit off the fastball last year. Ah, that team looks pretty good. Yeah, it is amazing what happens when you when you make a couple smart moves and you make a couple of big saves. They've certainly been getting plenty of those this year. Gotting a Marchese one hour in the books. Stellick coming up next to this. This will shock you with the both of us here. Talk more about hockey one hour in the books. Fan morning show with Gunting a Marchese on sports net five nine of the fan.
