and maybe a future leaf in the background there. Damn morning show Gunner and Dan Yellay here with you. Yes, the summer of Ben is upon us. And by that, I mean, he ain't here. Okay. Look, I'm gonna take some time to he's gonna be off this week. I don't know. He's back when he's back. All right. Just get off his case. I saw in the schedule. There's a day where I am scheduled to work with him. Okay. Now, whether Ben decides to show up or not. Different stories. Very, very different story. We shall see. Obviously, I wish the N.S. Men well on their the week. Kids are out of school. So like, let's be honest. Vacation. Yeah. In name only there. You heard a couple of voices. Chief among them. Well, just to bratch living and Chris, Chris Tann of there. I'm gonna sound like a Cuthbert here. The former Mississauga rep and Chris Tann of talking about his East York days. Look, we've, we've, this has become well trot ground forever in Leafs lore. Guys have come back, but there was like a dead period where people were not coming back. I mean, just by sheer numbers, you were going to have some guys that were from the area on the team. But we went through a long time at this. And we will talk about Stan Coast later today. Lord knows there were the pitches made to him and how many superstars throughout the year. And you know, I'm not going to put Chris Tann of on the Steven Stan Coast, at least when they were first pitching them, you know, type of level. But what an ad for the Leafs. A lot going on in free agency today. And you should probably start with saying good morning, Dan Yellie. What's up? Good morning. Doing well. Yeah, yesterday was crazy. There was a lot of activity. It's at various new benchmarks across the National Hockey League with the amount of money that was spent in like the span of 90 minutes or 30 minutes even. It was crazy there. I think in total yesterday, I saw a couple different figures thrown around. But in hour one of 2023 free agency, there was like $120 million dollars that was handed out last year. Yeah, within 30 minutes, it was over 200 million. It was pretty crazy. Yeah, I've got the number in front of me and from a site that I didn't know would still be working. But but it is the Washington capitals. They could take it away from us at any given moment. So I'm going to just like be thankful we have it now over at one point to a hauler at my boy, Dr. Evil billion, billion dollars. That's like that stuff you see out of transfer windows. It's like, Oh, yeah, you know, it's billion spent in the prep room. Or let's be honest in Saudi Arabia these days. But yeah, I mean, it's, it's remarkable to see that type of that type of number before we talk about the particulars of it, just that right there. Nature is healing. The cap is going up. This is what it's supposed to feel like Danielle, you're like, you know, I don't, I don't mean I don't even know if you like get this reference. But the, the like the chief of the International Hockey Federation, he always calls Batman a basketball guy just to like knife him. So I don't mean to do that to you. But like, you're a basketball guy, Danielle. Okay, this is, this is every day for you. Just like, yeah, superstars gonna go here guys opting out here. This is what it's supposed to be like in big leagues. The NHL hasn't had it because of the flat cap and the pandemic and we don't need to go down that road again. But nature is healing. We finally are getting exciting, sexy free agency days. Yes. Um, which is exciting and very fun and intriguing for everybody involved. Jason Tatum's salary is two thirds of what the NHL salary cap is. That's his salary over a one year period. Well, the NHL handed out a $1.2 billion in contract yesterday and Jason Tatum got $350 million. So you're right. Like perspective is needed. Not say, oh, more to there. I'm just saying the NHL is taking the baby steps that it needs. Yeah, I mean, there are actually some of the deals that were signed yesterday. Um, I thought worked in favor of the deal that Max Domi signed and actually making it feel like he took a even bigger discount to stay with the Toronto Maple Leafs. That thought crossed my mind right away when we saw, you know, Jake, the Brusks name come up and he's making a five and a half. Now that could turn out to be a Hyman esque contract in, in many ways in terms of the production he could provide for the Canucks. Uh, but then you see some of these guys that are signing for seven years and they're making $7 million. And you're thinking, Oh boy, that actually reflects really positively on a guy like Max Domi. Um, yeah, that just, it is, it is interesting. It's great to see this happening, but it does remind me to use basketball as an analogy. There was a period, maybe just less than a decade ago when the NBA had this massive infusion of TV revenue, all this money, the huge massive massive leap in, in terms of the overall cap number, uh, for the National Basketball Association. And there were tons of bad contracts handed or this feels like there were people, executives and general managers who were just trigger happy, ready to say, okay, we finally got some money and freedom. God damn it. That's what I've been waiting for. Let me go spend to my heart's content. And yeah, you've seen, you saw a lot of teams. I mean, I'm thinking Seattle. I'm thinking Nashville. Um, I know the caps were acted like a lot of teams spending a fair bit of money. So kind of harking back to, to that specific time period in the NBA, at least for me, where we saw tons of crazy deals handed out. No, that's, that's interesting because the NHL and you know, it's just the way the CBA is written. It's the way the, the league is governed with the COVID penalties and the cap tax, basically that the players are paying back here, but unlike the NBA, like the NHL is going to be gradual, right? Like you're getting your four, four million, four million, four million. Could you imagine what the landscape of the NHL would have looked like yesterday or heading it back to the draft? If the cap was going to go up $10 million this year, if we were just going to have your, you know, whatever your superstar X can maybe take a little bit of a haircut, but you could work with this player. Imagine what that would have done to the league. And I, I think of them, all the GMs are, they, they would sit here and go, no, come on, give me the cap space. And I would say give them the cap space. But this is really just protecting them from themselves. Yeah, that's a great point. I was going to say, could you actually, I think the, the team that would be most happy with that scenario would have been the Edmonton Oilers because of all the business they have to take care of. And they're now technically over the cap. But could you imagine that $10 million bump? Oh my God. And they're just like, Oh, okay, Leo, what do you want? Leo, just a check. Yeah, six for you, four for David and then the $10 million bump is gone. Yeah. Well, that, but you know, or, or Bouchard, here you go. Let's figure it out. But that easily could have helped the team like that. Um, yeah, it's, I mean, obviously, I know good at the way you feel about the lesson, how, how the NHL is always out to get them because they can't just honestly, it's just remarkable. It is just truly and look like they made their own bed. It's like, I, I think it was fine. The way they made the bed. We don't need to relitigate this all, but they signed all the big contracts. The second it happens, the cap goes flat. And then it's just very funny to me. The way the part that I, that I've been kind of harping on forever, even before Keith became the coach is like, no team has been whatever ways the Leafs were hurt by. No team has had the exact inverse than the devils. Austin Matthews comes in superstar right away. You got to pay him. Did you have to pay him the short? Sure. We don't need to relitigate all that. But you had to pay him. Jack Hughes comes in and is fine. He's an okay player. He proves that you're going to want to pay him and you're going to want to lock him up, but he can't go to the bank and ask for 10 or nine or get. So he signs his eight, eight, five. And now he's just locked up in perpetuity as the cap continues to climb and climb. They've done this with all their guys. Oh, and now they have the least old head coach. So I just think that there are certain teams that this is the way if you were a cap league, if you're not a cap league, then the cycle of these things does not matter as much. But if you are, the Warriors were just in now, you have a obviously because fewer players kind of matter more. You're able to operate in a different way. But the Warriors had the incredible fortune of having the cap jump and they obviously helped orchestrate some of this. But at the exact time, Kevin Durant was ready and they could slide him in. If Kevin Durant was under contract and you know, I know it's a little different in the NBA guys, cash trades. But if he was just under contract and he wasn't a free agent, he didn't have an opt out. Well, the Warriors, guess what? The price still win titles because they want him without him. But I, it was just a perfect example of timing. And as the cap continues to rise in the NHL, they're going to be teams that are at that kind of perfect spot now as well. Okay. So I have one thing off of this. I appreciate the economics of the NHL because it's fairly simplistic and straightforward to understand. Now there are some loopholes within the system as we know, LTR being one of them. But generally speaking, it's not like there are gymnastics and hoops that these teams have to jump through. But it's very simple for us to understand and interpret even as fans. In the NBA, I have no earthly idea what the economic structure looks like. You have no idea what's going on. No, you might think that a team has $5 million in caps. Realistically they could go and they're going to go and get a Matt's guy that they're paying $40 million. It's just you don't, you don't know. And that's, I mean, to the, to the Durant example, I bet you I think that actually happened at a time where it was more challenging to execute that than it would have been today in today's NBA climate. But you're looking at like, I don't even look at the numbers anymore. I don't care about whatever the numbers is. It's because they're just going off of it and they do this in hockey. It's just percentages. They, that's all they really, really care about. It is interesting though that you're right. Like in hockey, we are so, and it's consumed about the number. It's a hard cap league versus soft cap or, and you know, it's hard cap, unless LTI or some ball, then the cap is whatever the cap, the cap is at any given moment. But you're right. There is. It's funny because I should probably be careful what I wish for, because I've been a big believer of, well, the NHL doesn't have to go baseball of just like, Hey, open checkbook. And once you get to a number, you got to kind of figure check. I don't, I don't think that's what they need. But the MBA, at least parts of it is what I've clambered for the idea of burp rights or things along that now. I don't want to get in a world where you have to match salaries and if one team, like there's stuff that makes it way too convoluted for people. But I, and so it is interesting that you, that you bring that up. All right. Enough about the economics of the various sports here. I got a trapped in a rabbit hole, Chris Tannoff. He is, he is a leaf. They kind of did a bunch of the business. I don't think anybody was shocked by anything that happened on, on first day of free agency. I'll throw the ball to you first. What'd you, what'd you make the leaf state, Daniel? I thought it was okay. I don't think that they necessarily hit a home run in any respect. I, I mean, I thought Chris Tannoff felt like in inevitability because of the relationship with tree living and given his roots here in Toronto. And, you know, for months we've heard how much there's this, this fervent desire on his end to finish his career as a leaf and play here, have the opportunity to, you know, that signing six years ago would have been home run celebration. You would have thought, man, this is great because this is exactly the kind of player that they have desperately needed here. I, I'm interested in a couple of things. The Ekman Larson signing is fascinating to me because I don't think it's a terribly hampering contract. Like the contract is not going to, it's not going to bury you in any way, shape, or form. But more, the last time we saw this guy play in a Canadian market with Vancouver, things didn't go very well. So I am curious after coming off a season in which he rebounded in a big way in Florida, it was Florida though. Yeah. How does that translate to playing in this market for the Toronto Maple Leafs? I like the player. I think he's evolved and he's demonstrated an ability to really, really adapt over time because he started his career as an offensive defenseman to now where he's more of a trusted two way guy with still some offensive upside that can be a penalty killer for you at times and can play on the power play. So there's that element to it. The goaltending is what really stands out to me the most because we're talking about they hand Joseph Wall an extension, which I think is prudent and makes a lot of sense. They go out and their answer as the one B or two, number two option is Anthony Stolars, who the peripheral statistics, the analytics community will say he's great. They love them to death, but the reality is neither of these guys have played more than 20 games. I looked at it. I looked at it yesterday. Stolars hadn't played more than 40 games since it was since the year 20 or this like 2011 or something like that. He's never and up until last season. I don't think he had ever played even more than 20 games down in the National Hockey League. So now you're going into approaching this where they've committed. You know, I'm not again, not overbearing in terms of the amount of money that they've committed, but the commitment is clear to where you know, those are the two guys they anticipate being their tandem forming the bulk of their tandem and occupying the bulk of the games. And I just don't know that I have a ton of confidence in two guys that haven't, well, I like wall. I make Stolars has shown well at times fit in very nicely in his role with the Panthers. But are you confident that those two guys are going to be able to split even 40 games a piece or maybe just under a shade of that over the course of an 82 game schedule? That that stood out to me. Yeah, I think with Stolars, it's been more opportunity than anything else. And I think this is a classic case of like, we'll see if he can handle the extended workload. If he gets asked, I think with wall, we've, we've seen both movies with guys that start their careers like this. I mean, not to bring it back to the NBA here, Danielle, but I mean, there was once a time where Steph Curry was going to go down as one of the most tragic figures of all time, right? It's just never going to be able to stay healthy in those ankles and does even does it hurt? Yeah, I don't think even wears like the ankle braces and never hear about it, right? And that was going to be the kiss of death for what was supposed to be a great, great player. Now Joe Wall, he's got a lot of work to do before he we talk about him in hushed tones as some great player. But we've seen this movie before where a guy's like, Oh, we can't stay healthy, can't stay healthy. Well, maybe a couple bad locks of injury. Now I'm not, I'm not sitting here and telling you Joe Wall's going to go play 65 games this year because that'd be insane. The other thing that I think is interesting about this, and it's really just because I want to take my victory lap. I told everybody, Matt Murray is coming back. I told you, I told you, I told you. Now, I'm also going to, again, I'm just going to like be pre right about something here. Matt Murray's getting claimed off waivers in camp. Oh, really? Oh, yeah, think so. Well, it's just going to be a numbers game regarding the skaters. If they can hold on to them, they will, but it's a leaf goaltender getting through waivers. It just flat out does not happen. So I think, I think that's what you're going to see because obviously they gave us dollars to an half billion dollars. He's the backup. They gave wall the ticket beyond this year. He's the guy that's your tandem there carrying three goalies can be a little awkward. But I think if they're able to hang on to Matt Murray through all of that, he's very much going to factor in to his, I think Matt Murray's going to play like 15 games for this team or something. Okay. I had that thought. No question. I literally was looking at it saying, okay, they've gone this route. They've committed to wall and strollers as the duo, the primary tandem. I can almost, I felt like I could guarantee I could see it happening. You're going to have at least one other guy playing double digit games, if not more. That's going to happen. It feels like it's inevitable. Matt Murray, younger than Anthony Stullars by like a month or about 30 January and March birthdays. But yeah, interesting. Yeah. So Matt Murray feels like Matt Murray's been around forever. I know. And they, again, it's my favorite thing. They, when they trotted him out there for the introductions at the start of last year, they're like, look, sicker. He's like, I have a sling on him. Not even wearing a jacket. Can you cough a little just like for LTIR purposes? I think that's interesting that he's back. So leaves D quick rundown. You got, you got Riley and Tana, if that's going to be the pair, at least that's how that's going to start. Although we've seen this movie before, I bet you Jake McCabe and Chris Tana, we're going to be playing a lot of hockey together is left shot, right shot. You have your kind of shut down pair there. And then once again, Morgan Riley goes, how come every time you bring in a partner for me, you put him with somebody who's more sound defensively. So we're going to do that at some, some point in time, you got Ekman Larson, he's your left shot. You probably see him paired up with some combination of like a Hakkin pa, who was the late ad they made yesterday, or you got little grin at your three mill. I think they're probably trying to shop a little bit, but to be perfectly honest, that feels like I'm like, let's get the number locked in so we don't have an arbitration surprise at some point here and find ourselves kind of holding the bag. And you know, we can all sit here and go, yeah, I don't love that for three million. But some other teams going to like it. Just fine. Especially if you, especially if you have cap plays this year, you like eat a million and a half of that a young guy, go put them, they move that deal in a heartbeat. That one's not particularly tough to do. And then you got some ombem walk poking around as well, probably on your, on your third pair. So again, Riley Tanev, Ekman Larson and McCabe, if you want him back on the right side, and then you could go like a Hakkin pa and some ombemwa there, you got all some mix and match options. And I think that's pretty important for this, for this team, you needed to have different options for living. Obviously wanted to build those blue line. And the other thing I'm, I'm most encouraged by and people are going to go, what are you talking about? They give a six year deal to Chris Tanev. They avoided the big bad deal. I was worried about them. Zadorov was a player I love, but I was worried about what that contract's going to look like. Now it was a little better than I thought I didn't think the number six years six times five. So that, that I was kind of expecting more six times six, six times even six five, quite frankly, just with the playoff he had. So I wouldn't have been offended by that deal. But I think those are the ones that can kind of give you trouble. Now with the cap going up, it's not as big an issue. But I think that was my biggest concern for true living was that he was so, we know how he wants to build a hockey team. He wants a great blue line. He wants to build it out. And I was so worried he felt like he had to do it all yesterday. And he made some great moves. He made some great pickups. But if he felt like it had to all be a done finished product, I felt like Zadorov would have been somebody he would have been over aggressive for. And then you got to overpay in all likelihood. So I think it was just as much about the mistakes he didn't make as what he actually did yesterday for me. I thought one deal that really stood out. And it speaks to just in general, sort of this financial chasm that you saw on the on the blue line market. Sean Walker got six years, but it was like two and a half or something like that. Yeah, lock in the money. Really really interesting deal, which I personally, I wouldn't, I wouldn't mind that at all for the Toronto. It's not the just not the style of defender. It's they want. No, it's it's true. I mean, I think the one thing that has become abundantly clear, and we've been saying this since Brad, you're living right. But now you're starting to see it materialize is what he values. And on the blue line, those big, tough, rugged, defense men, gosh, if hockey and pocket, yeah, stay healthy and skate six foot seven, you know, he's going to be there for sure because they want that that type of player on their blue line. So I think you're seeing, you're seeing them lay the foundation and now really build it out in the fashion that he wanted to. And we, I think saw this happen as the season unfolded last year where it went from, okay, we're going to shove TJ Brody aside a little bit here. March your dad was going to have less of a role. And now they went and they, they acquired Joel Edmondson, they acquired Lebouche. And I guess if you're an impending free agent defenseman, it's great to come to Toronto because you're going to get a wonderful payday in the end. Because those two guys really, really did well on the open market yesterday. But I think now this is, you know, the way I would define part of what the offseason has already represented is this period in which Brad true living is finally putting his stamp on the team. And last year, he, you know, took over in a really, really difficult position at a precarious time because of what was going on contractually with a few of the key guys and Matthews and knee lander. And of course, a team that he was just trying to figure out, Hey, who am I working with here? What does this look like? What are these players all about? And now it felt like this is the offseason where we can start to judge how he wants this team to play and the way in which he goes about constructing the roster. There's an obvious hole still gunner. And it's, it feels like they're still missing a forward. Yeah, like they are clearly missing something. And even if you project out what the lineup looks like, the blue line seems like, okay, this is probably what it's going to look like for the most part. But it feels like maybe there is still room to make a trade. Yeah, to fill a forward spot, because they don't have a ton of, they have some wiggle room capwise. But more likely than not, that addition probably could come via a trade of some kind. Yeah, you look at that to the forward group. I mean, they have the bodies there. It's just, again, I don't know that it's the mix they like, right? So Matthews, knee lander, Tavares, Marner. We'll get to that in a second. Doming camp, yarn crock, Reeves, McMahon, Nye's, Holmberg, Connor Doer. Now I'm not sitting here and telling you, like, Connor Doer is a lot coming out of training camp. But those are 12 competent NHL forward should be more than happy to run with that to start your season. I think you again, I would sit here and say, okay, didn't, don't we have a question about who's playing third line center? We did that all last year. And you brought back the guy that we decided, I think shouldn't be doing that. And in Max Domie, I now the question I've had about Max Domie is, and it's interesting to say this now that we've had an ex a year of experience with the player, but okay, couldn't play center under Sheldon Keith. Can you play it for Craig Burube? How is that any different? And the answer to that is just a flat out. I don't know. I think this is one of the interesting camp questions that we're going to have kind of coming out of it. I mentioned Marner there. Are you of the belief? Because I have gone back and forth on this a million times. Are you of the belief that with him being a leaf, he is just a leaf now through the summer through the start of training camp through the season? Like, are you of that belief? Yes, I think this this weekend was key in sort of determining that now, mind you, he could, they could, he could get traded tomorrow. I just think the likelihood of that happening is reduced and has reduced significantly because I feel like if this trade, if there was a trade to be made, it probably would have occurred at the draft prior to the draft prior, certainly to free agency, because you want to have a clear picture and indication of what that cap sheet looks like and where you're going to spend your money. And, and it feels like you would be missing out on a lot of different opportunities in terms of how to allocate that money by not, by trading him tomorrow versus trading him five days ago. So I think as a result of that, it probably signals more likely than not, he's going to be here. And the question was posed to Brad Tree living yesterday. And he update, I mean, I kind of feel for him in terms of every time there's an availability, he's got to answer some questions. You know what my thoughts on that are? That's what the money's for. Sure. Sure. No, I get it by like, you know, you got to provide a blanket statement about what's going on or, or, and everybody's going to dissect. His answer yesterday was no update on, on Marner. And now I'm, I'm like, yeah, we're going to spend a week dissecting no update on Marner doesn't mean that they're, they're, they're exploring a trade because if they weren't, he would have said something complimentary towards the point. It's like, yeah, right? Like, geez, like, or with William Neeland, look at the contrast in commentary. It's like, give me a break, man. Give me a break. Yeah. So, um, I, I've been on this train where I, I firmly believe he should be a, a maple leaf uniform next year. I, I've always felt that. I think it's, it's crazy to me how the narrative has flipped in, and people forget how good of a player he is. Totally. Because he still is a marquee winger in the league and a marquee playmaker. Yep. Sure. Do you want more in different spots? Of course. But everybody has blind spots, Gunner. They're not perfect. Sure. They're not going to be perfect. So I tend to lean in that direction. I think he's probably here. And I think this weekend more than anything probably reinforced a little bit of that because I did feel like if there was a trade to be made, it would have been made before the, the free agency began yesterday. Yeah. I think that would have for sure been their preference. You know, I'm just pulling up again, like, just shout out to cat friendly. So long as they're still with us, it's like, I feel like I'm like visiting my friend in the hospital. I'm like, Hey, buddy, like, we had a lot of good times. Can you give me one more good story, please? Uh, but, you know, you look at the teams that have a lot of cap space and that doesn't mean anything like there's no world. There's, there's no rule against the Leafs trading for two, $5 million players and the, that team, McQuirey, Marner, not needing the room. But the, the really, the, there's two interesting teams of note, but this is the problem. They're both in the division because I could easily see a world sabers and wings, supposed to sit in buckets of money still in free agency, could easily see a world where with Detroit, it is clear that Eiserman almost called him, stay on coast. I'm like, already giving stay on coast that job when he retires, but the, it is clear that he is trying to invigorate this thing, get something going in there. And again, like we can get bogged down on the player here. And I believe everything I've said about him all throughout the years, but part of that's been how good he is, is that could you think of a better thing to kickstart a team that has taken some strides, but hasn't really got there, then hey, you want a 99 point winger, a milky guy can play for you. Now again, tough to do that trade in the division. The other team I think about is the sabers, like they're in the exact same spot, right? They've been trying to spin in their wheels for a million years. They also have a thousand defencemen that I'm sure are living with love to try to kind of pry out of there, but it's just so hard to see a trade kind of happening in division. That's the other part of this. And just quickly, while I mentioned the division, can anyone in the Atlantic ever get bad or only good Boston ads, Lindholm and Zadora? And you know, I really like the Lindholm deal. It's like seven times seven five, I think, and like all of these deals. And when talked to me, these 34, they had legit, they were writing about Lindholm before he was traded to Vancouver. They have already been, I think it's like fludo, the athletic guy there already writing. Hey, Leon Drey side would look into black and black and gold, but which by the way, I disagree. He would not. You could not. No, I shouldn't challenge him. You wouldn't look good, but don't even try it, Leon. So they have needed a center. I mean, they've seen this coming with crunchy and Bergeron, and they've understood it. And they get both those guys, the Panthers retain Reinhardt on a super sweetheart deal. No state tax, baby. Well, okay. So how, how much of that is no state tax and how much of that is championship teams buy into because it is such a chicken, right? Okay. So I seen it with the lightning, like, Stanko set the bar. Yeah, and then they all kind of were like, I'm just going to not to be rude, Steven. I'm just going to get like a little more money than you. And then then like head metal get more than me. And that's how they've kind of done it seems like that's what the Panthers are doing there. So what do you think that is? Is it is it the things I love to harp on, which honestly, just let me get beyond record, but the no state taxes like the least of them for me. It's the lifestyle. It's the no pressure. It's only ever good to be a Florida panther. I'm not saying those guys lives are perfect and nothing bad ever happens to them. We all have our challenges, but it's not because they're a Florida panther. Some guy at Publix is in like, you're a bomb run, unless it's Brooks kept, I guess he's the only one. Yeah, you're a traffic cone, by the way, watch a sport. You ever heard someone called the traffic cone? It's Pylon. Come on, smart enough, you look good with that duck catcher. Certainly fitting you. But that's the thing I that is why I always think those teams are just happy down there. It's like, Hey, we win a title and everyone loves us. Or I go play golf and no one cares and I'm a millionaire and I got my great house and it's warm all the time. How much of it is chicken versus egg, right? I think the cap number, the reason the numbers are deflated slightly is because of the state tax. Like the amount of income is going to be fairly comparable to what a $10 million deal might look like. Oh, sweet. My God. You can't. Unfortunately, you just, and this is goes back to CBA considerations. And does the NHL need to do something about that? I don't know. But it does provide in and here an advantage for those teams like Tampa, like Florida that have the flexibility to do that. And it works in their favor cap wise. So I think monetarily financially that the state tax has an impact. Sure. From that standpoint, I think everything else you're bang on. Like those are all considerations that makes sense. So if you're going to pry a player like that away from one of those franchises, you better be paying them a whole chunk of change. Or the team like Florida or Tampa, as we saw, a stamp goes says, sorry, bud, we're going to move on, which is exactly what they say to you. But that's that's essentially what it comes down to. And I think with Florida, though, there is there, there are a couple of exceptions here. Okay. Montour got a big deal with Seattle. He decided to bolt. Yeah, he's gone. Right. Oh, yeah, locked in free agents to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Like it's not it's not a scenario where all these guys are they're still looking for the deals that guarantee them the most money and potentially the most term. Reinhardt, it just it's felt it felt like that was going to happen. And we were all going to look at the number and say, gosh, how did they do that? But it's it. I mean, I wasn't shocked. I wasn't shocked. No, I just saw it. I said, yeah, I kind of believe it. Yeah, I don't think any of us should have been shocked. Honestly, the thing that had jumped to my mind, and it was just because I was looking like somebody had to put their body in front of this. We cannot allow this to continue of just Sam Reinhardt being at eight six for the next eight years for the Panthers. Also, I've been, I'm just going to hammer on this hobby horse one more time. If the NHL is going to be thinking about like this spirit of the rule with Chris Tannoff's extension and like hammering the Leafs later, can I see a digital signature at 11 59 p.m. on that Sam Reinhardt deal. He got his eighth year or, or like, did they get it done at one in the morning? But it was close enough. I'm just saying, I'd like to see if we're going to be sticklers to the rule. That one's that's an actual rule. Not like what you think the rule should say, but you wrote it a different, different way. The other thing I was thinking about with Reinhardt was if he was a baseball player, the union would have locked him in a room and not let him leave until he added another two million per year to that deal. He is coming off. He is well. He is coming off a career here where he just popped 57 goals in a league that all that matters is goal scoring. He is in the peak of his powers right now, 28 years old, going to turn 29 in season this year. Last chance for a big banger. And he takes a haircut like there's just if that is some other team paying Sam Reinhardt starts with the 10. It just flat out does 57 goals last year, just one a cup for sure. So I mean, she scored, I mean, scored in the clinching game. I don't know if it was the winner. I think it was the winner that he, that he scored. So it was the winner. Yeah. So it just, this is a guy who's never scored less than 20 since his second season in the league. And he just had 50 after back to back 30 goal seasons. And he signs a two super team friendly haircut. Again, I would love proof of concept that it isn't just what's in the water in Florida. Because I don't, I can't discount the afterglove winning a title and saying like, Oh, I want to keep this going. This is great. I cannot discount that. We'll just never know here. We never, ever will know. You're, you're absolutely right. Well, I don't think we're, you're, you're bang on on that. We won't know. We won't know because even like, let's say hypothetically Edmonton wins that cup. They don't have any first off they don't have any marquee free agents coming off. But like dry side will be the most notable is dry side will gonna sit there and take no two million dollars. No, no, no, no. I mean, we know what happens here in Toronto. Yeah. That, that's been, as you said, litigate it. If Oliver Ekman Larson is four times three, five in Toronto, is it four times two, four times two and a half in Florida? Honestly, like probably right. Yeah. And yeah, I guess just my kind of last bit of this opening salvo of us, you have a lot more on this Dr. Gordo after, after seven o'clock is again, I think all the moves are good to find for me. The one that does raise my eyebrow the most is Ekman Larson. But this is where I think you have to, you have to trust in tree and the fact that this, what he was brought in here to do. Okay. He wasn't Kyle Dubas was brought in here many moons ago to have a grand, sexy new vision and build things in a different way. Okay. He had a chance it did not work. Brad your living was brought in here to get grit and sandpaper and the tallest, meanest blue line he could find whether if you feel that's the great, but we can have that debate. I certainly have my thoughts on the matter. But if he builds the blue line, he wants to build this team is going to be great because they have enough horses up front. And that's even if they trade Mitch Marner and I don't, I'm with you. I don't think that's going to happen. But that is why I think you should like the hire that was made a year ago. And I was somebody who wasn't always super bullish on it. But I think you look at this hire and say that if Brad your living is able to execute his number one priority, build a blue line, this team is going to be good. Yeah, you know, instead of playing Chester, just playing checkers and that's okay sometimes. That's okay. You're right, man. We got like bogged down in like three dimensional chests and everything. It's like nevermind that just like tic-tac-toe. Let's dumb it down even more. What's instructive what's instructive about how teams routinely win and and can we find ways to put our own spin on it, but replicate a lot of those same characteristics and qualities. And that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. Dubas tried to reinvent the wheel. Sometimes you just need to hop on the wheel and find the right spokes, man. And that's that feels kind of what they've done here in a lot of ways. And they are sort of they are understanding of what it takes to win in the playoffs and what that style of hockey looks like. They're trying to assemble a roster that reflects that. Yep, that's it. And I think there's a lot of people listening going, yeah, but what about the save some? It's cool to anybody. I don't know what to tell you there. Okay, Joe Wals gonna be healthy and stop a lot of talks. Yeah, or somebody else will be Matt Murray, somebody. Well, okay, I wasn't but set my emergency to be healthy now. Come on, who just has still have to live in some some semblance of reality. But you imagine the surplus at 875 on a cap. You be you be everybody he be beloved. Matt Murray could go from being like one of the guys that we everybody shipped away. Oh my God, throw him into the ether and then all of a sudden 875. The value you're getting if he makes 15 starts 10 starts to win a massive one. If he's healthy, he's gonna play games for this. I agree and they wouldn't assign him if he's not healthy because remember he was on LTRL this year because he had hip surgery. That it was like a thing that wasn't so he actually had no, I know this wasn't like some LTR. Sorry guy just goes and sits on a couch for six weeks and then magically healthy and by playoff time, no, this was a real live one. Okay, real and spectacular. All right, that's dead. Yeah. I'm gutting the Blue Jays. They did some stuff, played a game on Canada. They were the Red Jersey. So you know how that game ended. We'll talk about that and more, including like wouldn't be Blue Jays talk with a trade scuttlebutt. So plenty of that coming up here, fan morning show with gunning and Deniali in Sportsnet 5.9 of the fan. Dive deep into Toronto Sports and the NFL. The JD Bunk is podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. The Blue Jays never faced a bad picture. It's amazing. It's remarkable. Every single time I'm talking about this team, they're, they're facing Sandy Colfax on the mountain. I'm half joking. But God, even if he wants Sandy Colfax, he gave up hits on occasion. Blue Jays dropped one on Canada today. I joke. I can't get, I can't get mad at John Schneider every day, although every time I think every, every time I think I'm listening to him talk and I go, okay, you know, good job. He like, that's how I would have answered that question. Then he just like goes out of his head. And the other team's picture was so good. Yes, there's just, they was good. He threw with his like, grab the ball with his hand. He whipped it so hard. It went right in the catcher's mint. What, what can we have done? God, I like, I know every day he has to talk. But just like, could you give me a reprieve for that one for two days? Please, please, please. Yeah. The one thing that was missing there and at the very least, I'll give him credit for even tip of cap. He didn't know. It was close. He was tempted. God, he was pretty good. If only I had something to tip. He's like, wait, it was it? No, I was in there. Okay. All right. I won't tip my cap to 100 Brown. The best part of this. And this goes, this is not a John Schneider thing. This is any coach specifically like a baseball manager who has to talk every day. But any coach who's just talking about a bad team, eventually they give you the really simple answer in there. And he gave it. Just neat hits. Sure. Yeah, just you have chances. And then you hit and they come into score and the game's very different. Yeah, the Canadian Zach pop gets popped on Canada today. Oh, yeah. Tough, tough one for the, the Brampton native there, you know, wouldn't have been any nicer if it was Jordan Romano. So it's not like we would have had a different, different way that played out. Obviously some good from the game. Like the Rodriguez start, maybe the most important thing out of it, but just God, those cursed red jerseys. I feel like we were out of it for a bit. I thought they had finally like broke it. Maybe this was last year I'm remembering, but well, it just forever, they cannot win in these things. There's a reason they don't wear them. Yeah. They're like, they stopped. They literally kind of boycotted it and said in the clubhouse, we are not wearing the Reds anymore. Because I think even, I mean, as, unless not, if anybody's not fully aware, the starting pitcher select the jersey, right? And so Chris Bassett had a stretch where he was constantly selecting the red. Yeah, I know. And they kept losing. I know. And they always wore, it was like Hundjim Ryu was the pied piper of the new blue. And then everyone was like, I just want to be like Hundjim. So we had to watch the new blue every day. So, so they have input on determining that, but yeah, they have, they have a really checkered history wearing those uniforms. Now, on Canada Day, they've fared okay. Yeah. Historically, they have lost back to back games on Canada Day, which I mean, if you've watched the last two teams 20, 23, 20, probably not very surprised that they're in that position. But yeah, I will say I had this, I mentioned this to you offer weird observation. No, give it to me. This is great. I think the people need to know. Yes. Those uniforms that they wore yesterday, they looked very pristine. And it's for a particular reason, majestic, if you go there. And it's not because it was Canada Day and they're red and white. No, no, no, no, there's a little bit because of that last slightly. But it's because the material, yeah, the uniform itself was different. They did look like that was the old, they did the old good old, yeah, reliable major league baseball uniform. And I can, I'm almost certain I would probably bet half my life on that they wore the uniforms from last season because I don't know if it was fanatics that was too cheap or they looked awful. But guess what? Those looked like real major league uniforms. Did they not? They did. No, they looked wonderful. You guys, I honestly hadn't thought about it when I was watching the game and then you talked to me about this before the show and I pulled up the images and I was like, Oh my God, that's yeah, very jarring. It's not even, it's not even remotely close. Yeah. And yeah, I do think there's, I mean, that would make all the sense in the world, especially if the team has said, we ain't, we're wearing this a whole bunch. They're not going to give you a run of it. So yeah, I think that makes all the sense in the world. We also didn't need to have a referendum on the like patriotism of the manager. We had this once with like when flat or when Charlie Montoya was very, when he was very disrespectful to Queen Victoria on Victoria Day, he's like, I don't even know about the queen. We're like, it's not any tweet of me about this, actually, it's not really about that. Yeah. Okay, I'm happy you're aware of ever since it's like we've, we've been through that Vlad, obviously, day off yesterday and it was a, well, not earned day off, but a needed day off the hand somebody, somebody messaged me. It was like, oh, this would be the first time that they said a marquee player on the mic. It's like, this is not the same. I love that guy because he loves to get upset about stuff. I just know, yeah, this, this is different. Yeah. So unfortunate that Vlad, he wasn't in there yesterday. Obviously still feeling the effects from getting hit by a 97 mile an hour fastball on the hand, which seems, you know, in accordance with, with what our human body dictates probably wouldn't feel very good. If you're curious how that feels, if you, if you have a hammer, you just grab it and then put your hand on the table and give it a go. Maybe not quite as hard as you can, but pretty close. And I bet that feels pretty close to 95 in on probably, I will say the one thing yesterday, I never thought I'd be so, and then I didn't have this on my bingo card heading into the season. Certainly. I never thought I would be so bitterly disappointed that IKF wasn't in a lineup. What's happening? Oh my goodness. You missed them. Thirteen game hitting streak. I'm like, I'm sitting there and I'm looking at the lineup and, you know, I'm like, Oh, Vlad, he's not in there. You know, he's banged up at least IKFs there. Nope. And then we get deprived of IKF on Canada's birthday. Okay. But disrespect. I better be in there on the 4th of July. I hate the straws. Probably. You look at it. Look, we've done, we've done this a million times. I stopped me for this before the starting picture is actually very good. I've followed it up with a good bullpen arm, but when you don't hit a lick, it doesn't matter. Now I know the Astros hit hit a lick, but it was a big blast. If you if you heard in the in the call there, both teams have four hits. The Astros just were able to scratch through your cross kind of the story of the game. Again, like I think the biggest thing to take out of it, we've done this with the offensive million times. I mean, I could play, I could play Blue Jays karaoke here. And it's like you can put the quarter in and I can sing the song about they need to do better. But I think the way more interesting from that game is Rodriguez here. And it's not even, this isn't a like this year question. We're like, Oh, do you feel good about him taking somebody's spot in the rotation if they make a trade? Whether I feel good about it or not, that's going to happen. So guys on the books for five years, this is a guy with a tonic team control because they went out and bought it all. I think this is a if he can, and it's not that a expect six innings of this every time. No, you'd obviously have a very different asset on your hands here. But this team is going to need pitching, forget again, forget about this year, beyond this year, if they want to do a pivot or a retool or not scorched earth, this guy is going to need to be a part of it. So I thought that was pretty encouraging yesterday. Yeah, very encouraging. It was great that he was efficient because he struggled with control and command big time. And that's been a huge issue for him. You know, even in his first stint before he got hurt and had to go back down, there was some it was a mix back some positive, some negative. And then the two starts prior to yesterday, six walks only two strikeouts in those two outings. And he could barely make it through for four innings of work. I just I questioned his longevity as a long term solution in a starting rotation. I don't know that I feel comfortable that he is a guy who is going to be every fifth day, a part of a team starting staff. I just don't see it. I think the greater likelihood in two, three years time is that he's in a bullpen role. And maybe that means with that, you get even better returns in terms of velocity, because this is, you know, as a starter, you're trying to manage, but we see him touch 96, 97 routinely. So maybe you're able to bump that up into the real high nineties and you have a power throwing righty coming out of the pen there. But that's sort of what I envision. I'm with you though, and in the interim, it's it's clear that he's got to be important and important piece and a focal point, because if they are going to move off of even a USA kakuchi at the trade deadline, there are innings there. And Manoa's not around anymore. And they have nobody in the system that is going to be capable of coming up and pitching every fifth day. So he's here. And you at least want to see something positive from him. And the likelihood is next year, it probably isn't next year where he ends up being more of a bullpen arm. I would suspect based on how this roster is currently constructed, he probably goes into spring training next year with one of those five starter spots. And he's in your rotation. So this is there's some runway here. I do want to see one thing. And I know he's still, I guess technically quote unquote billing himself up, but it is July 1st day. God, can you can we get it? Can we see him throw 90 plus pitches? Once? Yeah, like, can we see him go a little bit? Not and he went deep yesterday, but consistently go deeper where he's pitching six innings and throwing 100 pitches if he needs it. Like, let's get to that point, because we need to see if this guy can actually go through a every fifth day making starts consistently where he's throwing a bunch of pitches. We that's, that's the next step for me with the aerial rod or I guess. Yeah, 83 pitches yesterday, 51 of them for strikes. It feels like they're probably going to let him get to the 90 there, but he just kind of ran into the trouble. That's why they pull them in the middle of the middle of the seventh or with with two hours in the seventh. Obviously they wanted to kind of let them get through that. But I'm with you. I think you need to see what you have. And then you are, you're just going to, your hand, quite frankly, is going to be forced into him starting games next year. I also agree with you completely though that the on a, we did this a lot, but on a good team, that guy is your two inning weapon out of the pen. He comes in in a spot where you don't want to burn your closure, but you certainly need someone you can trust. And then if you get another inning out of him beyond that, yeah, he is a kind of classic high or middle leverage, multi inning guy. And I think that's kind of the best case scenario or not best case, but the most realistic best case scenario for him. Obviously, if he's going to give you anything close to that on every fifth day, you're going to take that as a starter seven, seven times out of seven. But I just think there's, there's the likelihood of him being just given what we've seen here. And I think he's going to have ample opportunity. That's the other good thing about this is that, and you know, maybe the J's feel completely differently about this. I don't think so though, is that you're going to have a whole year where you have to figure out exactly what he is between what's left in the calendar this year, next year, heading into the deadline, all that you're going to have a very good idea on what it is. And if he can prove to be a capable starter, then you just keep him in the pen. And if not, or sorry, you keep him out of the pen. And then if he proves he, he, he is somebody who doesn't hack in that role, you're going to have a very, very nice bullpen arm and yeah, be, you know, a couple of years and a couple of millions, but it's baseball and that's what those guys make. So it's not hamstring either. I, I hate to say this. I actually think, you know, it's better. I want to see compelling baseball. I want to see fun baseball. I think, you know, like even the weekend series against the Yankees where they get crushed, they win, they win two games by dominating in dominant fashion. I think that's fun. It's fun baseball. Like those were fun baseball games to watch. The best thing for this team is to sit exactly over there, stay in that seven eight game under 500. And I hate saying that, but it will push them to make the necessary decisions and the most prudent decisions. Because the worst thing I think if you're a fan right now, and I know you want your team to win, but quite frankly, it would be for them to get back to like 500 by the middle of the month. And you're now you're toying with the idea of, oh, we're going to buy a little bit. No, no, no, stop it. This is this is the first ever tank, but not tank for draft purposes. It's tank. So your GM and front office don't get any foolish ideas about what's going on here. So you they actually have to approach it from a logical perspective. Yeah, it's like the draft. Who cares? It's like us Paul Skeens is going back in that thing. I don't particularly care. Gunner, unless I'm wrong. I mean, last time I checked. Yeah, it's July. It is. Right? It's July. It's July. It's not. It's not me. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. We're done. We're done with that. Yes. This is it. Oh, heart of the degree. We're here. All right. Blue Jays back in action tonight, starting up or continuing their series with the Astros Spencer, Eric Yeti versus Jose Burrios. Tonight, first pitch Roger Center scheduled for 707 Blue Jays Central starts at 630 PM on the TV side. Of course, you listen to Jay's talk with Blair and Barker after the game right here on Sportsnet 590. The fan coming up next right here. Oh, my friend and yours. We didn't talk to it. Well, I talked to a gourd on Canada today because that's my son's name, but we're going to talk to gourd the day after Canada Day. Gourd Stella. What did he make of all the NHL's moves? We haven't even just a stam Coast. He's a predator. That just feels wrong. I'll tell you why next fan boarding show continues. Gotta get dead yellow on Sportsnet 590 the fan.
