[MUSIC] >> Fan Morning Show 4,7,5,9 in the fan, Matt Addis. >> Brad, you got it. >> Song dedicated to the 2024 Toronto Blue Jays offense, that's right now. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Hello, Darin, that's my old friend. >> Yeah, that's the joke. >> Yeah. >> I know, I'm making, I know. >> I got the joke. >> Yeah. >> That's the joke. >> So, talking about baseball, being a baseball analyst, just having smart baseball opinions. >> Okay, I was like, I'm a baseball analyst. >> Having smart baseball opinions is not difficult, but it's nuanced. And you have to add the appropriate caveats. They go without saying, okay, we almost need some baseball talk. >> We almost need like a disclaimer before any conversation. Like of course, it's only seven games and the Astros are two and five, okay? And the Blue Jays are three and four and a five and five road trip is just fine and Andy, you know, this is like the old Lucy Kay, like of course, but maybe it's like, of course, all of those things, but maybe. >> Yeah, but not all three and four records are built the same way and not all narratives early season wise are the same. And when you bring back the same cast of characters and the big problem you had over 162 games is an even bigger problem in the first seven to the tune of being the first team in major league history to be both no hit and one hit over the first seven games of regular season. >> Yeah, like the takes are a little spicy, okay? >> Yeah, they're allowed to be. >> Yeah, totally permitted. Let's talk to our insider brought to you by Don Valley, North Lexus where you can expect excellence online and in the showroom, visit Don Valley, northlexus.com. Here is a smart baseball man, Ben Nicholson Smith at the At the Letters podcast. What's up, buddy? >> Hey guys, how's it going today? >> Doing okay. So yeah. >> A little angsty to be perfectly honest. 55 more of those bad boys, okay? So yeah, understood, lots, lots can change, lots can change tomorrow. Like by Monday we could be talking about, okay, there, there it is. There's the, the offensive game plan that we thought there's Don matically doing his work, yada, yada, yada, yada. But Ben, you've been around this game a lot like that's, that's, that's quite something to put forth that offensive performance, not just intuitive, I mean all three games in the Astros series and the two losses in Tampa. Is there anything more than a early season blip to be taken away from that? >> Well, I mean, if it's an early season blip, it's a pretty notable and pretty painful one. So, you know, to that end, I don't even know if you would put it down as a blip. I think after one game, right, when they were no hit by Blanco throwing just the game of his life. >> Yeah. >> Sure. >> You know, it's baseball. Weird stuff happens all the time. And okay, then you're facing Fromber and, you know, he does his thing. Then it's like, all right, that's not great. Not all of a sudden you go to Christian Javier is just like shutting you down. You get one hit for the second time in three days, like on a certain point, you're just not doing your job. And your job is to, you know, produce runs against Major League pitch. They're not doing that. It doesn't mean they won't. It doesn't mean they're doomed to fail, but certainly they're not giving us a lot of reason to believe that this year's team is different than last year. So, you know, we're kind of in neutral in some ways where you're kind of sitting there like, all right, which way is this going to go? But, you know, it certainly looks like it's going to go one way and that's not a fun indicator at this point, even if we all understand that there's a lot of time left. >> Yeah, no, it's not a remotely fun indicator. It's actually a lot like what I see like the check engine light come on in my car. It doesn't mean we're doomed, but it could be very, very bad. In terms of what we've seen, like there is a lot of talk of a new approach and boy, the conversations we had after game one of the season have been very different here. How long do you think, and this isn't the annual, how long before we can have wide-swaping, you know, opinions on this team and it's no longer early. But if there is a new approach or a different approach, how long do we need to give it to kind of take hold here or see enough things that are different because, man, again, like, I don't need to state the numbers again of how dreadful the offense has been outside of those two games against the Rays. But how long do you need to kind of give a new approach to take hold or to see it pay dividends if it exists at all? >> Yeah, you know, it's so funny. Baseball offensively, like it's such a nuanced thing, right? And, you know, approach can be so different from game to game, hitter to hitter, even in a different count. Laddie's approach is going to be a little different on 3.0 than it is on 1.2. So, approach and baseball is such a nuanced thing, and it should be and always will be, and that's the case on good teams, and that's the case on bad teams. I don't think that there's one unified approach that the Blue Jays have that is at fault for why they're not hitting. I really don't think that that's the case. It's not a philosophical thing. It's just a matter of executing, and, you know, at a certain point, you've got to execute. They all know intellectually and academically what pitches they should be staying at, right? You swing at the strikes, you let the balls go. Everyone knows that. But it's hard to execute. It's incredibly hard to do that in real time when you have to react, and there's no thinking to be done when you're facing 95, you're facing a nasty change-up. So it's really a matter of execution. I don't think it's a matter of philosophy, it's a matter of getting it done when you're in there in that batter's box. Yeah, I agree with that. And I would say for the top four guys in the order, it's like, yeah, those guys are going to be better. There's just no question. Like, a big part of what we're talking about here is those guys getting off the slow starts, which is that is just randomness of a season. Let's say with you, Will, about Vlad and I have, like he's not a 500-OPS guy, neither is Boba Shedd, neither is George Springer. Those guys are going to hit. I will say, though, that like the five through nine guys, especially if David Schneider's not in there, I do have my questions. I had my questions going into this season. Those have only been more reinforced, Ben, like that's the deal, right? Like I can, you can sell me on, it's an early season, seven-game sample, and boy, it's never going to be as bad as this. And you're right. Again, top four guys. Those guys are still good. More than half of the lineup, though, there's a lot of questions about how much offense they can expect out of the, not even the bottom of the order, like the back half of the order. Yeah, that's totally fair. And I think you're right to say that nothing that we've seen so far would answer those questions in any kind of an encouraging way for the Blue Jays, right? You look at Isaiah Falesa, he's got four singles. You look at Ernie Clement, he's chasing, he's expanding, he's not doing what you'd want to see. Kevin Kiermeyer has essentially done nothing offensively for this team. Dalton Bar Show really quiet at the plate. Kirk, I would tend to say that we have a strong track record with Kirk, where you kind of know he's going to hit to some extent. I mean, I really believe that, you know, I'm not saying he's going to want to solve or slug her again, but he can do some things. But yeah, you know, the bottom of the order hasn't done anything to say, hey, this is going to be different, nor is the top. So you're really looking at a collection of hitters. They're averaging, you know, around three runs per game, nowhere near enough to be a consistent competitive team in major league baseball. Yeah, nothing's really going well offensively for this group. I mean, that's putting him mildly. Yeah, Justin Turner's been OK. But yeah, and Davis Schneider, when he's allowed to play, has been very good. So I've been bearing the lead. It's a bad job by me, only 10 minutes into the segment. I avoided asking you with my first question because I wanted to seed ground to you. And here you are, 10 minutes in, not having yelled at Ben about this. Here's the thing. Again, reset the because I feel like, you know, my my take has been it's been extrapolated and expanded over time. And like, I don't think Davis Schneider is on the verge of being the best player in baseball or an MVP candidate or anything. I think he's he's shown the ability, both in his minor league career and his very brief major league career to get into good hitters counts, take walks. And when he gets mistakes, punish them, hit home runs, which on this team in this lineup seems like a valuable asset to have. And especially considering, again, the bottom half of this lineup, he has the what at the end of the season, we might look at that home run off. Josh Hader is like one of the the the best moments this team has had, like, and that's not to say that this there's horrible days to come. That was incredible. They're down to their last out and down one, nothing. And Davis Schneider hit a two run home run off one of the best relievers in the sport. And I get I understand the argument that John Schneider's making and his laptop that tells him top of the zone, fastballs, coming out of the hand of Christian Javier and you know, David Schneider's not hitting an eight run home run yesterday to change the fortunes of the game. I mean, it's just it's a little insane to me. Again, part of it is that it's it's Davis Schneider, a guy that I believe in to a certain extent. And part of it is like the guy he'd be replacing in the lineup that we don't see him in yesterday's game. That's his nuances I can have as far as a take on that. Yeah. I mean, look, I think that anyone who's saying David Schneider should be in the lineup, like that's a reasonable take. He hit a whole run the night before you need the offense that you can get. He's been really good as a major league hitter and certainly was really good in the minor league last year too. So he's you're looking at a guy who's just produced really consistently. So I see that take. I actually agree with it. I think that he should have been in the lineup actually, like as if you don't agree with any of my takes, no, no, no, no, hold your ground. Say actually. Well, I mean, yeah, the words are out there. So everyone heard it now, you know, basically, at the same time, at the same time, like, I think that if you're if you've decided that Davis Schneider is something less than an everyday player, which I think is also reasonable, I mean, this isn't, we're not talking about, you know, this is, you know, this is, this is not Mike Trout here. Yeah. So if you've decided that he's something less than an everyday player is not going to play every single day, then I can get the case that, all right, Javier is a guy who, as you said, Ben, pounds the top of the zone, this is really not a good matchup. David Schneider, very open about the fact that he's not good against high fastballs. So, you know, I could see, all right, yesterday, maybe that is the day that you get more rest and you get him back and against scrolling who, as we all know, is the guy who throws down into zone. So, you know, tomorrow in New York against scrolling, that's probably a really good chance to get him in. If he's not there, then maybe he have a, you know, then we really have a discussion to be had here. But yesterday, again, I would have started him, but I don't think it's egregious not to. Yeah. I like we all understand the baseball argument, but there's also like some team aspect of it as well. The guy just hit to Ben's point, like the days could have a successful season. And that is still a Mount Rushmore moment that we think backs, especially from the regular season part of it. The other thing that I think is so interesting about all of this and the Schneider discourse is, and I understand part of it is they're getting asked very pointed questions about why he's not playing when he's playing. But it seems to me that they are going over and above and beyond to outlay the flaws of this player. I mean, Dalton Varshos certainly has some flaws to his swing. And we don't hear the, he kills upper zone fastballs as we, as we know, coming out from the rafters and saying, here's all the, here's all the pitchers that Dalton Varshos is going to struggle against. And yeah, is it easy to pick on him because of the Moreno trade, but is it not jarring to you how open, honest, and quite honestly, loudly they are talking about this player's flaws. It just seems such a stark departure from how they kind of talk about other guys on the roster and in the lineup specifically. Well, I'll say this as a media member, like, I appreciate the transparency. If we're asking John Schneider questions like yesterday, you know, I'm in there, I'm asking him about, you know, he's playing time decisions, how this is unfolding, right? So what do I want, do I want him to protect his players at all costs and never say anything bad about them? Or do I want honesty for me? I want honesty. I think that's what fans want. So I have no problem with him acknowledging that David Schneider has some trouble with pitches up on his own, but I will say this as well because, you know, both you guys mentioned that, you know, possibility that this is one of the best moments of the season and man, if we're looking back at this in six months time, early April and Houston, and we're talking about the David Schneider home run, Josh Hader is one of the top four moments of the season, that's a bad year. Like, in my opinion, they look so much more than that. Like, yeah, please go clip it, go for it. You got to do so much better. This is the Vlad and Bo era, this is the team that's supposed to be winning playoff game. We shouldn't be talking about a bench player, a part-time player. Bad and Bo and babe. Yeah, you got to do more than that. I mean, he was, he authored the best moment of last season, like, I don't know if there's any. I agree with that. I 100% agree with you there. It was late in the season, but it was an irrelevant series against a Boston Red Sox team that had packed up and gone home, seemingly. Yeah. The last year was a bad year. They won 89 games and made the playoffs, right? The last year was a bad year. I agree. I agree. I mean, not compared to the Yankee season or the Met season or lots of other teams, but yeah. No, I agree it was a bad year. I mean, you can't even help yourself in calling him a bench player, right? Like, and I maybe that's the way it is. Like, I don't discount the possibility that David Schneider is not an everyday player, but at a certain point, like, honestly, I do get to the point where I'm like, Oh, well, pedigree matters so much like it's like it's not a meritocracy. We're not talking about it. The great thing I thought about sports was like, doesn't matter where you're from, where you were drafted, how much money you're making. You perform. You play. And it's not nice and 40 games is not 162. But at a certain point here, like that is part of my frustration as well, Ben. Like, I maybe can't play like maybe he like righties are his kryptonite and, you know, he's going to be exposed to such an incredible degree that you he's not even a bench. But maybe some minor league player, can I see like, can I see it? Can you can you let it play out? And again, like, what is the risk? Oh, no, we're going to miss out on a couple of weeks of seeing Cav and Beijio or Isaiah Kiner-Folefa. It's just insane to me that this is not the point where we're like letting it play out. Yeah, honestly, like that's, I think that's pretty fair. I think that, you know, again, I don't think he's I don't think he's earned the right to be in there seven days a week. So I'm fine with him getting the occasional day off, but I do think he should get some run. And even as even as they're about to face, if you look at the probable for the Yankees and the Mariners, it's all right handed pitching. So to me, that's not an excuse to put him on the bench. You know, when I say bench player, I'm describing what he's been to this point in his career. It's not a death sentence. Right. You know, certainly there's room for him to prove that he's more than that, and you need to look no further than Justin Turner for a guy who broke out late in his 20s, defied a bunch of odds and ended up having a great career. Same with Max Muncie. Now, I'm not putting Muncie or Turner on Davis Schneider, but to your point, that is kind of the best case scenario. That's the ceiling is a legit everyday player who hits from the right side and probably isn't, you know, an elite defender, but is someone who can hold his own at a few different spots. So that's the best case for Davis Schneider. Now, even if he's short of that and he's able to go out there and, you know, he's a 110 WRCA plus player who can like he's not a great defender, right? If he can sort of hold his own defensively, then you're fine with that. And that probably does warrant a five day a week run. And so you can use some combination of cure my or IKF and physio, take them each out of the lineup, put Schneider in one extra day, and then all of a sudden he's getting four days a week. And I think at this point, if he's in there, you know, three days a week, that's fine. Four days a week. That's fine. I don't think it has to be more than that personally. I, I, I would just like to go on record based on the facial expression he's making as the person across the table for me would like to see it more than the three to four, four days there. Yeah. The, the other thing that I think we is because of the offensive struggles that we've kind of skirted past a little bit of this, I don't want to overstate it. Part of this I do think is early season, you don't want to make too big a sweeping over reactions. Blue Jays defense has been kind of boomer bus. Like we've seen great plays guys getting gunned out, but we've also seen kind of the routine sloppy stuff. I mean, some of it is the Kirk play in the Houston game. The other night, I mean, he throws out L two vase, he have to give him credit there. He also gives up second base by not paying attention. Where are we out on the blue Jays in terms of, you know, we can, we can sit here and have all the Davis Schneider arguments we want and told that we're blue in the face. I think this team is going to win. If they're going to win a lot of games, it's going to be because of pitching and defense. Where are we out on the defensive aspect of the blue Jays and how they, how they kind of look through the first seven games. I think they've had their moments, like anything, it's, you know, a small sample this time of year. I thought Dalton Varsh was sliding catch in left field with Boboshette running out and was just spectacular. I mean, that's the play that very few left fielders make. I think Kirk has had some good moments and some bad moments. At the same time, he's shouldering a huge load with Danny Jansen injured. So, you know, Kirk's been okay. I think that, you know, Beshette obviously has been dealing with the neck thing. I think incidentally, I don't know if you guys have any takes on this, but just watching Jeremy paying your place short, wow, is he ever good? Like he might be the best shortstop in the American League defensively. But yeah, I think, I think the Jays have been fine defensively. You know, they've made a couple mistakes, but I think they've been fine. Yeah. They've been so fine and there's so many good defenders that like maybe you can take one out and put a guy in that like swings a mat better than uses a glove. If David Schneider should have really worked on his defense a little bit better, a little bit more, you know, throughout the course of his professional career because yeah, then it would be unassailable, but I digress any who Ben, thank you for doing this and also like responding to my texts because you don't have to do that. Like that's really nice. Like I needed a place to vent and you were my sounding board. I appreciate that. I'd also like to thank you for that because then I didn't have to field them. So good job by you, Ben. You know what, you can consider me your baseball text hotline any time. So yeah, happy to chat the text or call. All right. Thanks, buddy. Enjoy the Bronx. Thanks, guys. Yeah, there's Ben Nicholson Smith at the letters, Sportsnet and Sportsnet.ca and he was our insider brought to you by Don Valley, North Lexus, where you can expect excellence online and in the showroom, visit Don Valley, North Lexus.com. I think ultimately that's the thing that is belying my entire anger. I mean, it's it's multi-fold, right? Like it's it's multi-pronged like there's lots of tentacles. It's an octopus of anger. Yeah. And I wish that was a iteration on a rangatang. They just got the two arms though. So David Schneider hits. This team doesn't hit. And so like that's obviously the number one reason I'm like, why is any playing score and he runs. He runs into one. Yeah. Yeah. But ultimately, and the other thing is like John Schneider, the manager is not like it's it's not even a gut feel thing. It's just like a brain thing like over laptop thing. That's part of it. But the overriding thing is what I said to Ben there, sports, meritocracy, it's great. It's like you can have your your bonus baby first round pick that you like get every opportunity to. Yeah. That's unfair and like that allows them like Spencer Torkelson, first overall selection in Detroit. Like he kind of stinks. Yeah. But like he gets run out there every day because they're like, whoa, what are we gonna do? Yeah. You got to be good. Like and he's starting to sort of kind of figure it out. And if it was some other, you know, guy playing that position first base and he had the offensive production that he has, he wouldn't get those opportunities. But like ultimately, it doesn't matter who you are. Yeah. So how much money you make, where you were drafted, if you produce and Davis Schneider is the embodiment of that because he's in the major leagues right now, nobody has anything invested in this guy and he's only arrived because of his performance in the minor leagues. And only on this roster because of his performance at the major leagues. And like we can talk about long samples and we can't we can't evaluate Vlad now. We have to wait until the whole season plays out. Guess who didn't have the luxury of that? Davis Schneider. Yes. Davis Schneider, when he arrived, if he didn't perform, like, obviously it was an extreme case, the incredible start that he had, but how many starts does he get if he doesn't hit a home run in his first game or like whatever it was two home runs in that series? Like he could already be over and maybe he never gets another shot. I thought we lived in a society. Like I thought we I thought we watched sports with the same understanding. You perform, you play, like, what are we doing here, man? Like, and it's not the biggest sample, but it's not it's not a three game series at Fenway anymore. Like we're going on 40 games and we're now separating the two starts he's had this year from the entirety of last season and in off season, like I just, that's the part that gets me because it's part of the reason why I love sports is because you've got stories like this and like ultimately nobody can stop data Schneider if he keeps performing. Apparently you can though. It's it's so funny to be because I agree with everything, but I actually look at it from the flip side. I'm like, who is the bodice baby that is being protected? It's like, I know you paid kind of Falefa and you have some investment in BGO. Yeah. Those like the name brand of cabin BGO and yeah, I say a kind of Falefa. That part. No, no, no, that part. It's like that. Yes. What I can't get behind though is that I would understand if if David Schneider was just a left fielder and he was never allowed to play anywhere else in the world, I would kind of be able to, I would still be livid by it. But I could at least understand the idea of we traded our best prospect for this guy. He has to play. He has to get burned in Varsho, but it's not a one to one. It's cabin BGO. It's kind of Falefa who, yes, they paid money to and there's a literal, what is it, $10 million or $9 million investment in the player. But there's no investment beyond this year. This is not some piece of the Blue Jays future and maybe David Schneider's not either, but he is a piece of the present and that's the. So I agree with you, but I could even look past the meritocracy thing. If there were these tentpole players, like if David Schneider was trying to steal Bose job, then it's a very different conversation. He was trying to steal Kevin Kiermeyer's job to be a different conversation, but he's not even trying to do that. It's cabin BGO. It's kind of Falefa. So it's not so much about the meritocracy isn't working for him. What is the, who, where's the ivory tower that he's up against that he can't possibly overcome? That's the, like, we're on the same, we're on the same lane in this, but the opposite sides of it are what's driving us nuts. And you know who should, should know and should feel that pain and should understand exactly what we were talking about? I don't know where you're going with this. The man. Yes. Who spent his entire professional baseball career in the Blue Jays minor league system. And he didn't perform at the minor leagues and as a result, never got his shot at the major leagues. Not even for one second, didn't sit on a major league bench as a player, right? But he, I'm sure looked around him and saw guys grinding and, you know, saw the frustration guys had trying to make their dreams become a reality and to, and again, like just from the outside looking and treat this so callously and so by the numbers and so laptop E is making me want to throw my laptop. So again, like we can make this about the Schneider's, but it, I just refuse to believe it's not also a little bit an organizational thing. It has to be. But this is a great organizational story. I wholeheartedly agree. It's just the angst with this. I'm not saying the bulk of it can't go to John Schneider. It just can't stop there because I refuse to believe that he is doing this without at least the thought that my boss is really wanting to do this other thing. I refuse to believe that that isn't at least entering the equation. Sure. Sure. Again, like I said though, earlier on in the program, that's all well and good and you want to make your bosses happy. Winning game doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how much your bosses enjoy your process. If you lose, you're going to be the sacrificial lamb, you're going to be thrown overboard. So better at some point, try and save your job and do what you think is in the best interest of your baseball team for winning, you know, today. Not today because there's enough day tomorrow against Marcus Roman who throws with his right hand. Ben Nichols and Smith is right. Oh, Marcus Roman throws with his right hand, but not known necessarily for the high fastball. He's known for ground ball artists. It's hard to imagine me being more upset tomorrow, but like, yeah, if David Schneider's on the line of Yankee Stadium, is it bad for the show, but good for me that there's a very real possibility that we're like 72 hours removed from you finding out about that decision from when we get to a mic again, like for me again, bad for the show. Good for me personally. We'll see. All right. Take a deep breath, take a little time off, and then we'll come back and we'll talk to Luke Gazdic, hockey central analyst. If that doesn't get you feeling good, like, I don't know, oh, yeah, I love talking to Luke. Yeah. See if he's ever been a line brawl off the opening draws. I was actually going to say, like, if there's ever a guy that you feel like would be riding the hardest for Davis Schneider in the world, I feel like Luke Gazdic would be right there. No kidding. Maybe we'll talk about that. I mean, he is a Canadian former hockey player, chances are he has some J's takes. Yep. Luke Gazdic next as the fan morning show continues, Ben and his brain gunning sports at five nine of the fan. Diving deep into leaps, rafters, J's and NFL, the JD bunk is podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Man, that's got to be exhausting. Fan morning show sports at five nine of the fan, Ben and his brain gunning. Yeah, the, the, the story in the sports world yesterday was the opening face off at MSG Rangers and Devils and all five players on both teams, grabbing a partner and Chuck and Knuckles. Um, and it actually being a pretty good hockey game as well, unfortunately for the devil is they're done. They're cooked because they lost some regulation. Basically had to run the table. But yeah, Matt rampet, like the, the story book season, I guess that you would consider yes. Yes. The season at MSG, it, it continues with yesterday's performance. Let's talk to Luke Gazdic, hockey central analyst for a sports net, a host of the Mitzoff podcast. How's it going? Luke. Good guys. How you doing? How'd you like that? Yesterday. That was awesome. Yes. Correct. Correct. Hey, also good answer. Also, uh, that was unreal leading me in with D 12. I haven't heard that song in forever. Um, no, that was, um, listen, I know like the whole fighting thing is, um, I don't want to say a little iffy these days in hockey, but that's just, to me, that was, that was pure like electric. Like it's at the garden. Um, Travis Green has the chance to put in his lineup first, uh, visiting team on the road and I'll be able to let match is it, um, it was just, it was unreal. Like I, I was watching the leaf game at the time. And so I didn't see it live, but obviously then it started exploding all over and, uh, watch it back a couple of times. Some great tilts in there. Yeah. I mean, obviously, obviously, Renpe McDermott is the, uh, is the main event there. But yeah, plenty of good undercards, uh, Miller getting involved as well. And I'm sure you've seen it now. The overhead shot of all the guys kind of figuring out their dance partners. It is so, so good. Uh, have you, have you ever been in something like that? What's the closest thing to a line brawl you've been a part of? And man, again, like we wouldn't want this if it happened every week in the NHL. But God, once a year, twice a year, maybe three, if I want to get greedy, like it does feel kind of perfect. But what's the closest to a situation like that you've ever been a part of? No, I think you're so right. And the last point too is I don't think we want to see this every single weekend or whatever it is. But, uh, every now and then, um, keep the fans in their seats. That's, uh, that's good stuff. Honestly, I've never been a part of anything like that, like off the opening puck drop. Um, certainly in the American League earlier in my career, we had a couple of dust-ups where everyone just grabs a partner. Uh, we had an absolute rivalry with this team, uh, St. Louis's team from Peoria, which if you've ever been to Peoria, have a lot, just don't go, uh, it's a place to play. Um, I don't know if you ever had plans to, but yeah, we had some absolute dust-ups with them and playing San Antonio and Houston 12 times a year. Uh, so we had some juzies, but nothing like that off the opening puck drop. It's a scrap Curtis McDermott, a fair amount of times towards the end of my career. He was, uh, in AHL Ontario, which is LA's team. And I was with San Diego, uh, we played them 14 times in, uh, in the last time, the last year I played them. Me and, uh, Curtis had a couple of great scraps, um, and I don't truly, I don't miss that too much to be honest. God, 14 times, what a schedule. Yeah, I know that's your job, but that just seems not overly fun, I gotta be honest. Um, I think at the time there was tons of adrenaline going through, but honestly towards the end of my career, I, I got real tired of it. Um, getting, getting asked by, you know, a lot of younger players, just like I was earlier in my career, uh, but I was just kind of over it after a certain amount. But yeah, I said it was 14. I don't, I say that cause it was 16. Uh, it might have been more, but we played in the Pacific division. We only had, I think we had eight teams on our division, but Ontario was closest one. They were an hour and 15 minutes down the highway from San Diego. So it was, it was either 14 or 16 times we played them and they were a nightmare and McDermott would run around every game. So I think we ended up fighting two or three times that one year. Yeah, I'm just, uh, I'm watching them right now. You, uh, you certainly both got your, your money's worth there. You mentioned how tired you got out of it. How was that going to go for a REM pay? I mean, you come in, shot out of a cannon like he is and you eventually get to a point where you don't have to take a hundred scraps a year, but how like has REM pay already kind of proven his metal? I would think so seeing as how he's kind of taken on all comers, McDermott was the first guy he kind of straight away from and then obviously answered the bell this time. How does that work for a guy like REM pay? I mean, he's come in. He's been shot out of a cannon. It feels like he's fighting every other night. He can't do that forever. Has he established enough of a rep now kind of going into next year where he's going to be fighting way, way less and it's almost more like the, the dance card we see for Ryan Reeves as opposed to somebody like REM pay this year. Yeah. I think he's definitely gained some respect from league, especially with some of the heavier guys. I know you mentioned it, but man, I had a similar career path coming in. I was 23 years old going into Edmonton as a rookie. I fought, I think 10 times before Christmas ended up leading the league and fights as a rookie. I think I had 17 or 18, but it gets to the point where, especially after your rookie year or your first go at it where you eventually get to choose your spots and you all eliminate like tons of the guys that aren't heavyweights. So any of like the light, even light heavies, but especially like the middleweight guys that will sometimes fight out of their weight class, if you continue to do what he's doing, those guys won't want any PCU. So you a eliminate like a number of categories of guys and I think you really get to do it on your own terms. And that used to be a thing that coaches would say to me a lot, especially after I got through this initial phase of like going after every tough guy, it coaches would say it's on your terms, it's on our terms, especially picking spots, whether it's at home and looking at the scoreboard and who your opponent is and what spot you are in the season. There's so many factors that go into accepting a fight or even during the pace of play knowing whether you should be looking for that or not. I think you, I mean him especially has has earned that pretty much already that he can start to start to kind of call his own shots. Tanner, you know, was looking for it yesterday against Ryan Reeves, which is also a great scrap. And boy, Ryan Reeves in recent games has kind of solidified himself. I think for most people into the game one postseason lineup for the Toronto Maple Leafs. What did you make of the decision by Geno, who obviously the lightning have a ton invested in as far as the trade capital they gave up and hasn't exactly lived up to the billing. A guy who scored 24 goals in 81 games with the predators in 21, 22 and only has seven and now 70 games over two seasons with the lightning. Yeah, he's having a bit of a tough goal at it. Still like the guy as a player questionable decision. Like, I was keen on the replay just as the announcers were last night trying to figure out who kind of instigated that. And I think Revo said it after the game also that it was Tanner that asked him to go, which to me you're up three one in the defensive zone like that's probably not a spot where I'm asking one of the toughest guys in hockey for a scrap. That's respect to him and listen, Revo's come a long way and I think it just shows especially you know, you can throw in Burt in that mix. You can throw in Max in that mix. It takes guys a while to get adjusted and acclimated and he got it really hard. You know, from fans media like at the beginning of the year and rightfully so. Like every time he stepped on the ice it felt like he was getting a minus but he's really turned into a guy that I not only think they want in the playoffs, but they need in the playoffs for their roster if they're going to play a team like the Panthers. But you know, he showed again last night, especially in that scrap. I mean, I never 11 years we played a lot against each other and it never ended up happening for one reason or another. But he counters with the best of them. Like if if you overextend on your punches, you can see he's very straight up and he times it perfectly. He almost knocked Tia Tanner out a couple times. I think he got lucky to get away with what he did, which was still probably a TKO. But Revo's just so good at timing his punches and letting you know, letting your right hand pass through and just using your, you know, kind of the same thing I did using your torso to just absolutely unleash. And yeah, I think I think Tanner got away luckier than than he actually did. Yeah, he, he got sent to the room for a punch through the helmet. I can't ever recall seeing a guy. And it's like to your points, Ryan Reeves, there's no shame in getting stunned by, by a lick from him. But I can't ever recall like I've seen guys get hit on the button and it stuns them and it drops them. And I've seen guys get dropped by shots to the side of the head, but that was a clean punch through a helmet and it stunned, you know, in the way it did. I mean, again, you've been in a million scraps, I'm sure you've seen something like that before. That was the part of that that just was so jarring to me is that it was a clean blow through the plastic and it still stunged you know, the way it did. Yeah. Or earlier in the combo when I was talking about how I don't miss it, it's like reasons like you're describing is eating punches like that. I've, I've felt, you know, I haven't been in or had to do concussion protocol because of a punch like that. I've eaten a couple like that in, in my career and it is not fun to take a licking like that. I had to do the concussion protocol. I think once I got absolutely dumped by Dustin Bob Flynn, but with a hit, come in the other way, bit of a suicide pass, but never really seen it from a punch. We didn't really, I mean, this isn't funny, but we didn't really have to do that when I was younger, right? Like we could go toe to toe, whether it was me landing a clean licking on a guy or getting absolutely clocked by someone, there wasn't any concussion protocol when I was younger. So that's a newer thing. And I think it's a good thing. But yeah, Revo throws hard, really, really hard and intimidating fellow. But yeah, also an affable one, it seems like, but yeah, he, again, I think he's going to be in the lineup for game one of the postseason as well as to Matthew's 63 goals, seven games to go before the game Sheldon Keith has to, you know, temper everybody's expectations as far as playing time saying, hey, we know what the priorities are here. And it's not necessarily to get Austin Matthews 70 goals. That being said, like his teammates, and we've heard it explicitly from like backstone. But we've also seen Max Domie like on a clear cut breakaway physically turn his head around and be like, is Austin Matthews like available for a pass here? Like how much of a conversation of a focal point is it within that dressing room, you think to try and get Matthews to 70 or as close as they can to 70? I mean, they'd be gunning for it for sure. If I put myself in that situation on that team, I think I'd be picking his brain always behind closed doors, whether it's an interesting rumor on a flight, like I think I'd be asking him about it. Or maybe they're not. Maybe they're shying away from it, but I think I would be. It's definitely, you know, something that everybody's thinking about and would be thinking about at the time. And it's really special, man. I think I said this yesterday on Radio 2, I think every time he scores, we continually say, you know, he's on pace for this, he's going to get 70, but I hope people are appreciating what he's doing at the same time. It is going very fast this season and I feel like it has been, but 63 even in itself for a calendar year in the National Hockey League is like, it's just this is a historic stuff. And I know it's not the first time 60's been done, but you don't see it very often in the way he does it and the varieties in which he scores. And it's, I just feel like he's been so good all year and it's just been an absolute joy to watch. He's definitely given us some better feeling and some good things to talk about than, you know, those J's or those raps in the city, like you were guys were talking about before I got on. So I hope people are appreciating the run that he's on and not just looking for the next one and the next one, because this is pretty special. Well, you know, I mean, I don't want to turn this into begrudging the other great players, but go look at all the guys that have scored 60 in this era. It's been guys who are, you know, not completely, but much more one dimensional than Austin Matthews. I mean, we do the McDavid Matthews thing all the time and, you know, McDavid's such a singularly special talent, but we're not throwing him in the Selke conversation, even, you know, sparingly like Matthews and having it. That's the thing that jumps out to me is that he has been able to do this and do it so consistently. Well, God, I sound like a key for talking about Tavares now, but like never cheat in the game. Always being on the right side of the puck. That is the thing that I don't think we wholly appreciate enough. I think the fact that we're having back to back 60 goal seasons, people are kind of giving it its proper do, which again, it's an insane thing to say. But I think the part that actually kind of gets papered over is how it doesn't get papered over how well rounded his game is, but it does kind of get papered over that he's able to do that well being a 60 goal man twice. No, it's incredible, man. And I think I was even up the mindset as he was coming up and as he started to score more, I almost had that mentality that I thought he was more one dimensional. And I think as I got older and as my career started winding down and I retired and started watching hockey a little differently, I stopped kind of watching the hockey and I started analyzing it like even before I started doing this analyst job was kind of iceowing on players. And I love watching the game like I love watching players away from the puck during the game. And so whether Austin has the puck or he doesn't, he's just he's so fun to watch and you can tell he takes pride in it. I think he's very kind of soft spoken and interviews, but when people talk about stuff like that or asking questions about that side of the game, you can tell that he takes a lot of pride in it. And I think that's really cool that he understands that he has to round out his game and be that type of player. If this team wants to have any chance and if he wants to be a better player, so he's on honestly one of the best in the league to do it, all his underlying stats and on the defensive side are incredible and towards the tops of the league and he just he does it all like from takeaways to being in good position to tracking. Like I think he's almost as complete as he gets and just an absolute joy to watch and to cover. Yeah, he certainly is. We are a little up against it. So I'll need you to be a little bit quick with this one, but panic setting in in Edmonton. I'm half joking, but they lost by have nothing to the stars, not the type of loss you want to see against a team like Dallas that man, if there's an underrated team in this league, I do feel like it's the stars. They got no do given the fact despite them just running away with the division. How is the reaction in Edmonton to that loss today, we think I got to call an Edmonton radio after this. So it's going to be panic city. Listen, I don't even think like to my point about last night, I don't even think it was the oils were that bad. Yeah, they made some really bad decisions around the ice, but I think it was more a situation where Dallas was that good. Like this team is absolutely rolling right now and call them underrated, call them whatever you want, but people better not be sleeping on the stars because when Jay Godgers going like he was last night, they might be the best team in the Western conference. They have no trouble scoring goals. And the Oilers didn't bring their a game in St. Louis or last night in Dallas, but I think it was more case last night of the stars were just unreal on both sides of the park. Yeah, the West playoffs are going to be a dogfight as the Oilers right now locked into a match up against the defending champs, which would be a heck of a first round series. Luke always a pleasure, man. Thanks. Yeah, thanks guys. Anytime there's Luke Gazdick, Aki central analyst for sports and former NHL are hosted the myths off podcast and boy, the minor league life. Yeah, it's not that glamorous. Yeah, I watched the, as I said, I watched one of his fights with McDermott there. It's just again, like it's not like Luke, like it's not, not say like he got the wheels beat off him, but it's just like, yeah, the guys are shocking. It seems such little fun. Yeah. Now, you know, having spent some time in physical proximity to Luke, yeah, it's jarring, like that, because I've also been close to like physically intimidating people, right? Like real scrappers like Ryan Reeves, a large human very you're next to Ryan Reeves. You're like, Oh, that guy's yeah, probably don't want to get into describing not to say that I wanted to get into scrappy with Luke, but it's amazing that that guy carved out the career that he did in the intimidation factor that he did not being doesn't look like Alec Manoa. No, he's kind of got the like NFL offensive lineman thing going for him though. I forget exactly what the number is, but he talked about it, how he has dropped 20, 30 pounds from his playing days and it was just he needed the beef to take hits and throw up and not talking about body checks. Like, yeah, it's, it's jarring. He's, he basically, he basically is the NHL's Joe Thomas is what I'm telling you here. It's just shell of his former self, not in terms of like, you know, physically, but kind of like in a, in a compliment way is what I mean. Yeah. Love you, Luke. I'm sorry. You thought you got sick of seeing the same teams over and over again in the north division. Not you. You love the north division. COVID was like your favorite time. You're like, can we go back? Honestly, honestly, honestly, it's like, I only talked to people on the golf course and the Leafs just beat the wheels off everybody until the games. Yeah, it was great. I had a different experience. I know, I know. Sixteen times playing your division rival over the course of, and I don't think the season's 82 games long. No. American League. But he got pretty sick of these guys. All right. I'm going down to Roger Center today. Mm hmm. I'll have a full report on how the new cup holders look and how the new food tastes and maybe how the new drinks tastes. Save them. If we had a whole show to plan around this for tomorrow. All right. We'll go back tomorrow. Another edition of The Fan Morning Show, Ben and Esperant Gunning Sports at 5.5 at the fan. Thank you. Have a great day. a lot of you. [MUSIC PLAYING]
