- Okay, thanks. (dramatic music) - Yeah, you know, obviously, I guess, I don't want to put the names on that trophy, but. - Fan Morning Show Sports at 5.9 in the fanbed, I was brining on you, heard him. - Huh? - Mm-hmm. - That ain't great. - Yeah, awesome. - Yeah. - Sounds like he got given a free scratch ticket. (laughing) - Is that great? Thanks, thanks. - So, it's not the number one lead item, but I gotta say, and I did mention, and I guess off the top of the show, so it's probably closer to a lead item than I'd like to admit. - Mm-hmm. I couldn't help but think about the difference in how much this means to the two fan base. - It's impossible not to, man. - It's impossible not to. - I know it's a brand thought, right? - I know, I'm happy, welcome my world, baby. - And there's lots of people who like hockey, and they were very raucous and loud in the building, not as raucous and loud as they were in Edmonton, but there was clearly people who were more interested in putting a down payment on next season's season tickets by selling their Game 7 tickets than there would have been in Edmonton if the roles were reversed. I don't think you could have found a ticket on the secondary market for a game-- - You would have had to give somebody your house. You would have had to have just been like, here's my house, you can have it. I now walk the streets, but I'll be doing it having watched Game 7. Yeah, it's impossible not to look at it that way. As soon as you said that, something else from the kind of post-game interviews jumped out to me is Ekblad, after he gave us the F in about two seconds into the first interview. He, I forget what the question was, but it was like, wow, these fans, aren't they something? And he's like, yeah, I mean, Edmonton was pretty loud in Game 6, like even he, well-winning the cup in front of his fans could not stop himself from going out of his way to be like, I mean, it's not Edmonton, but yeah, this is pretty good. They actually care, they actually love us. That is honestly, honestly, just the most telling part of it all, is that a guy won the cup in front of his home fans and all he could really think of telling is that he kind of was so loud in Game 6 though. - Yeah, I mean, and so again, the Canadian franchise thing doesn't do a lot for me and whether you're rooting for the Oilers, you weren't rooting for the Oilers. If you're a hockey fan in this country and clearly people in Alberta, you're rooting for the Oilers and Matthew Kajak. Yes, yeah, the other half that's not Oilers fans, like, yeah, Matthew Kajak, they have very much tapped into that sentiment, but that is the one element of the, hey, Canadian franchise hasn't won since 1993 and here are the seven string losses for the Canadian franchises that have gotten to Cup Finals, Vancouver '94, Calgary '04, Edmonton '06, Ottawa '07, Vancouver 2011, month reall 2021 and then Edmonton last year, that is the one element of that that I can get behind where it's like. And I guess it would be different if we hadn't had three Florida teams win it, what in the last five years? - And a Vegas team. - And a Vegas team, you know, you can be a Minnesota or even honestly a Boston or a New York and I would feel differently than I do feel about the people of Florida getting yet another Cup celebration as opposed to this country that's now had to wait 30 years. - Yeah, and you know, maybe that is kind of a fitting number, right? Like that's the length of time the Panthers franchise has been around pretty much 30 years right around there. So there is some element of that and, you know, like I will go on record to saying like, yeah, there is some, I don't know if there's more than seven of them, but they're our dudes down in, and ladies down in Florida that have cared forever and they remember the rats and good for them. But it just, it doesn't feel that way. I mean, I joked about it off the top. They didn't remember they were supposed to boo Gary Bettman. Like that is a core tenant of what we do as hockey fans as you boo the commissioner when he comes out. You're American sports fans. You love booing Goodell too. What's wrong with you? Just boo him. Commissioner comes out, boo him. I loathe it, I loathe it, I loathe it. And I, this is a much more of a Brent thought and I know you won't get on board with me, but it's like Bettman couldn't go out of his way to be like good candidate him when the cup last night. He's like shouting out a finished cap and he's talking about how great it is to see these fans in Florida. And it's just, there's no world where if the NHL went 30 years without a, I'm not going to put it just on Florida, but like a Sunbelt or a warm weather team. If that, if it went 30 years with no ducks, no kings, no sharks, no stars, no pick seven teams that you think are in the warmest non hockey climbs, the NHL would do something about it. I don't know what, and I don't know how heavy-handed it would be, but they would say this is not good. We need to grow the game in those markets and they are wholly fine with saying, yeah, yeah, it's whatever. The Golden Goose is never going to die. It very well could, it very well could. No time soon, but man, it is not lost on me that if the shoe was on the other foot and those Florida teams just seemingly had no hope or the California teams or the, I mean, there's one, the Texas team, I genuinely think the league would look at it and say this is a problem. But because it's the inverse, they go, that's fine. Yeah, well, and that's, there's an obvious reason for that. And it's like, if there's no hope and there's just like, yeah, generations of losing that happen with those franchises, the idea that the fans quote unquote of those franchises are just going to stick around through thick and thin, like it's just probably not going to happen. It's not ingrained in their sport psyche, the way it is for Canadian hockey fans, obviously. And yeah, okay, we keep bringing up, or I keep bringing up the fact that youth participation in hockey is down pretty significantly in this country. Still our number one sport. Of course, yeah, and something like this, while it's disappointing for the people of Edmonton, we're, I mean, I can't wait to see the ratings number on this thing. Will it surpass the five million people that watch the Leafs and Bruins in game seven? I don't know, I'd be curious to see. I actually think it'll be very close. Yeah, I think it will actually surpass that. But yeah, it's not like hockey's in danger of disappearing here that we're not going to care anymore. So yeah, there's an obvious difference between Canada and a Sunbelt franchise, and their willingness to walk away from the sport. Okay, I understand they're very, very different. And like, you know, one sport has 32 teams, the other one has a, a cajillion. Could you imagine a world where college football just had no more like SEC champs? And they're like, yeah, tough. Those people love football. What does Alabama need to be good for? Was Auburn need to be good for? Yeah, those three warring go forever. But you can't put your finger on the scale. Well, this is the thing though. They did put their finger on the scale with the cap because they don't want the teams like the Leafs that can do it to go out like, that is putting your finger on the scale. It flat out is, it is leavening or leveling the playing field. That is putting your finger on the scale. Maybe you say that's fair and the scale should be more even. Okay, I can hear that argument, but you can't tell me that that's not putting your finger on the scale. I mean, it's, but it's not just to Canadian teams, right? It doesn't just hurt the Toronto Maple Leafs or whatever other Canadian team is going to spend to the cap, which is not all of them, by the way. No, it's fair. Maybe the senators are getting there one day soon, but it's also prohibitive to the teams like the Rangers or maybe the Kings or these teams in big markets that have owners with deep pockets that would otherwise be willing to spend, but don't. So the Stanley Cup final and the awarding of the Stanley Cup, it's, there's the one ritual that you mentioned that everybody participates in and it's the booing of Gary Batman. There's another ritual though. It's Corey Perry being on the losing end of it. He's the first player to lose four finals with four different teams over five seasons. That's like he's one of the great players and his, you know, it's one thing to be on teams that make deep runs like he has over this last half decade in the twilight of his career. He's not winning a heart trophies anymore and being the centerpiece and he does have a cup. So yeah, he's got that. It was a while ago, but that is, I mean, now what the second paragraph item of Corey Perry's Wikipedia page that he's been there this often and been in a position so many times. And in the case of his tenure with the lightning part of a dynastic team, but not there for the wins, like it's pretty remarkable. It is. There's a couple of things on that. It's like maybe the least dodgeable of after all. It's like you think losing in the first round is painful. Imagine losing in a cup final. I'd gladly take that just just for what it's worth. I think Perry, it's one of those things where we talk about it now. It's definitely going to be there. But because just like you mentioned, Corey Perry did not go to a single one of those teams to play second line minutes and score 35 goals. He was there to be a contributor, a cog. So yes, I mean, they're the people who like God, the worm, they can't stand them all that. And it's like, yeah, make fun of them, laugh at them. That's why we love sports. It's all part of it. But I think that it's one of those things that as we get farther and farther away from it, it more becomes, wow, at those advanced years, he was able to play on teams that were able to make deep runs and he was a part of it. I think that's the way we'll ultimately look at it. But we're not there yet. Right now, we can laugh. Yeah, I have a good little chuckle. What a weird season for him though, by the way. Very odd. Time now for our insider brought to you by Don Valley, North Lexus, where you can expect excellence online and in the showroom, visit DonValleyNorthlexus.com. Today's insider, the great gourds Delic. How's it going, Gordo, first day of the off season? I guess that's a chatty with Jeff as a party, yes. But also, but as busy a week coming up ahead. But yeah, we knew last night's game was going to be the final one. So you're right. There's always a bit of a bit of a, I don't know, you want to call it a thud or whatever when it's all over. Yeah, it's officially a mid-marner season now. All right, OK, let's be honest. Even until the puck dropped, it was mid-marner season yesterday. It's true, whatever. All right, Gord, what were your last thoughts about the series? And specifically, yesterday's game seven. Yeah, you will. I mean, boy, leading up to it, as you well know, like the last week, you got so many peripheral fans or people that really weren't watching that got so glued in to game number seven, it was so, excuse me, game number six, and then she's so jacked for game number seven. So it was kind of a, it was really an unexpected need environment, you didn't expect what Edmonton was up three nothing. So I mean, we had a hell of a series, which didn't look like early on. So I kind of got in this debate that it would be, I still think it would have been a worse loss for the Florida Panthers that Edmonton. But then you really see at the end how much it hurt it, how much it hurts. Like you get so close and you're one away from it. But I really thought that, so you had a tale of two series up to game seven, and then really reverted back to Florida, that Edmonton just didn't get the chances. And Connor McDavid, who had come up in the biggest stages, they didn't allow them to do it one more time. So it was, you know, and they just scored one goal. And that kind of goes back to the first few games that Edmonton couldn't score. And it's funny, you know, you guys are a lot, I remember I was out last night, actually going to the LCBO it before the game anyway. And we're ready to do a guy, and he was just saying that, I forget the number of game sevens, but like there's a bet that, you know, the under, under 5.5 total goals, basically, I don't know, has ruled the day in game sevens for a long time. And once again, if that's the case, it certainly did it last night. - Yeah, a tight, tight checking affair. You mentioned McDavid there. It's such a weird conversation around him right now. I mean, there's a million parts of it, right? There are people saying, oh, we should have gone out there to accept the cons mite. I don't particularly care about that. There are people saying he shouldn't have won the cons mite. It's just an odd kind of feeling to have about his postseason right now. He was truly transcendent. He did things that Wayne Gretzky never did in an Euler's uniform, but it's pretty hard to sit here and talk about the best player on the planet getting held pointless in two must-wing games. And I know his team, one of them, or one one of them. And I don't say that to, you know, make it out like McDavid's no good or he has to answer for this, but it's just such an odd way to talk about a guy. I mean, we were sitting here ready to put him, not when his career's done, but right now on hockey, Mount Rushmore, if they completed this comeback. And all of a sudden, you know, we all still obviously have a ton of respect for him. I think a lot of people still consider him the best player in the game. But what a weird way for it to end, going pointless in his last two. - Yeah, boy, Mount Rushmore is getting crowded in a lot of people's experience. - It really is, you're right. - Let's explore how Gretzky, yeah. - So if Edmonton, Brent and Ben, if they would have won, okay, then, you know, as you get older, and you're probably at that stage, and as you get busier with kids and all that's going on, so things start to mix together about, you know, different playoffs, like when you're a kid, everything's so beautiful and fresh and it's big. And then they kind of mix. And then, but there's certain ones you remember. Like I remember the Boston Red Sox being down three nothing to the New York Yankees, and, you know, winning that series, and look what it did for them, like you're going on to win the World Series later on. And this would have been one of those that you, you know, we would have been in the retirement home together. We would have been visiting me. But, you know, you'd be talking about playoffs, and you'd always remember the Oilers coming back. So, I mean, McDavid's performance will still stand out, and I still think of Mario Lemieux and, you know, the first two years of the early '90s when Pittsburgh won, and, you know, how he brought his game to a different level. But, you know, this one would have been incredibly special if he would have won it. I think we'll still always acknowledge, on the biggest of stages, he came up with the biggest of performances, all in all, when it was most needed. - Do you think you should have won the conspies? - 100%, 100%. I had up until, you know, before game five, 'cause, I mean, people were talking about it before, or whatever. I said, "No chance, no way. "I'm not big on giving it to an opposing player. "He's only the second non-goldender opposing player." But then, he put it in a different stratosphere. And also, nobody, like, Babrowski, didn't sustain it. Nobody else was all-world on Florida, like McDavid was all-world. The overall body of work in this series. - Yeah, I might argue with the Barkov defensive effort. I mean, specifically, bottling up McDavid the way he did in game seven, and I guess to a lesser extent, game six, 'cause there's one in the game, right? Like, yeah, we're not talking about the McDavid, no points in the last two games if they win yesterday. But the fact that they lost in a game seven, and then the two-point list games to wrap up the series, I might have leaned Barkov, I get it. I mean, setting the, so Reggie leads the last position player to win it, set the record for goals in a postseason. Conrad David didn't set the record for points in a postseason, but he set the record for assists. So, I'm not adamantly against it, but I do feel like, yeah, there's a good argument for Barkov considering he's a two-way forward, and his number one defensive assignment was to bottle up Connor McDavid. Did a pretty good job of that last two games. - Yeah, I mean, but he's got the Stanley Cup ring, and that trumps everything, right? You know, and, yeah, again, we can split hairs about it, but I think it was, I think it was decided before game seven. So certainly, yeah, if you, in most voters' minds, I would think, and then game seven, if you broke it down, what an excellent job Barkov did defensively, but again, you know, anybody would give that up in a heartbeat for the Stanley Cup ring, it's so, so hard to win. - Yeah, they certainly would. I mean, there's gonna be a lot of conversation about the postseason or the end to McDavid season. What do you think the conversation is gonna be about dry side all? I mean, nobody is ready to throw him overboard there in Edmonton, but man, interesting time to, I mean, he still has a year left on the deal, I suppose he could not, but interesting time to have to talk contract extension after a guy has just a couple of points in his goalless in a cup final. Again, I don't think anyone's sitting here without a doubt that he's dealing with something, but I imagine dry side had a little rosier feelings headed into this contract extension even a week or two ago. - Well, because of the cap, I don't think it's gonna change things, you know, because really to stay in Edmonton, they're gonna basically make him, if he stays, the highest paid player for a year. So, O'Connor McDavid reups wherever later on. So, to get to the, you know, again, we all agree, there's something, you know, health-wise that wasn't 100%, I always, I respected that. He played the game, you know, as far as saying, "Hey, I'm not playing well." Like he tried to cover it and didn't talk about injuries, just said, "I gotta play better." And he never really played better because he was limited. But I don't mark Spectre and others out of Edmonton, like the sense is, you know, I don't know if everyone's getting caught up because of how things were going before last night that he was, he's gonna stay, that more stability is gonna stay, which, I mean, that's huge. And they're just saying, "Is you gonna sign a four-year deal "like Austin Matthews did, or is it your site "an eight-year dealer?" Or what? So, I mean, this kind of optimism starting July 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, I mean, it's gonna start to become a problem if he doesn't reop, because money's not gonna be the issue. And again, I, you know, both dry side on McDavid, when their contracts are up, they will have been in Edmonton 11 years, I mean, and this will be their one, and really only chance to hit the mother load in there, in still in their prime. So, if he wants to stay there, you know, more power to him, Canadian-based teams, that's been a problem sometimes about the players wanting to go, wanting to go south. So, it seems, it seems from reports more thought whether it's accurate or certainly optimistic than ever that he's gonna re-up there. Yeah, it does feel that way. So, Sam Reinhardt scores 57 goals during the regular season. He's headed towards free agency, and he scores the cup-clinching goal in game seven. It's pretty good. It was "Stopable" by Stuart Skinner, who was, you know, pretty great, especially in games four through six. And that was the first time, obviously, all postseason. He had lost a game in games four through seven of any of the series he played in these cup finals. The overall numbers, though, in the postseason, not overwhelming for him. He had a 9-0-1 save percentage after a 9-0-5 save percentage during the regular season. Are the Oilers good and goal now? Like, it's not a thing they have to worry about anymore. Are you convinced that Stuart Skinner's the guy? Well, I'm sure, yeah, I'm absolutely convinced he's the guy. I mean, I just, it's only a second year in the league. It was in all rookie last year. I mean, us Canadians have to feel okay. Maybe it looks like a depth goaltender for Team Canada, because we don't have a lot of goaltenders as we are a couple of years away from the Olympics. But yeah, and the way he bounced back, whenever there was adversity, he came up strong. And yeah, last night, it wasn't a soft goal, but it's a savable goal. And that's the problem when you only score one, right? But he did everything and more throughout the playoff series. And you just mentioned that stat that, you know, whenever things didn't go great early in a series, he was able at the most important time, as was the team, to, you know, to get it together and come up big. We know the NHL schedule got jammed together here, and the draft is, you know, Friday, and the NHL awards are on Thursday here. But the Bruins and Senators, they couldn't wait 12 hours to announce that trade. They had to announce it an hour before puck drop. Do you think the league was thrilled about that, Gord? Because we saw the moves on the off day there, the Dubois trade, namely. And I thought, okay, it's an off day. It seems like the two trades came out kind of within an hour of one another. It seemed like the league maybe gave their blessing. Do you think the league was thrilled with that news coming out, basically an hour before puck drop that all marks on his way to Ottawa? - I, you know, I've never had a problem with it myself, but you're right, Brandon, about the league, the league likes things being done on the off days to sort of just focus on the game. And you know, if you're the Ottawa Senators in particular, and you're trying to get this deal done, like you don't mess around, okay? - You know, what do they care honestly? - Yeah, like I won't say let's sleep on another night. And you know, there could have been an intent maybe to not announce it today, but now, you know, it gets out because the principals are involved in a trade call and what have you. So I just thought, you know, Ottawa, they were desperate to get this guy. When the other goaltending moves have been made, I mean, they absolutely had to. So, yeah, I didn't have a problem. And obviously had to be done before the draft 'cause one of the things was a draft pick, you know, this year and man, you gotta really like what Ottawa got. Like holy macro, that's, you know, a problem. Well, the Florida Panthers, they don't care so much. They're gonna have Stanley Cup parties, but teams in the Atlantic Division, including the Toronto Maple Leafs. I mean, you know, Detroit, Ottawa, Buffalo, always thinking they're knocking knocking on the playoff door, you know, where we can lament now why five years later, and actually that was my column in the Toronto start. On the weekend that five years ago, there's no question. The Toronto Maple Leafs were heading shoulders above the Florida Panthers. The why five years later, are they hoisting the cup? And we in Toronto in the same spot, you just look at all the kind of additions that they made. Well, also now, I mean, you got guys biting and you're chomping in your ass now to get in the playoffs. So it's, you know, to try to move up, but you also gotta watch behind you. - Well, Maple Leafs do have the postseason save percentage leader in goal in Joseph Wall, who ends the postseason as the save percentage leader. And also apparently is on the verge of signing an extension according to Kevin Weeks, three and a half million to four million, three-year extension is coming down the pipe for him. You obviously need to see who his running mate is in 24, 25, and he needs one, 'cause he's not shown the ability to stay healthy. What did you think of that report that Joe Wall is gonna be locked up beyond the one year that he's under contract for with the Toronto Maple Leafs for under a million bucks this year? - Well, extremely positive. You know, I mean, I'm really big on him. He's not 21, you know, he's been around a little while and that I've always been big on him. I've liked when he's played and come up. But again, obviously the injury situation worries you and, you know, we'll see how that plays out. They went hard at Markstrom, didn't get him. So now you're talking, they're not gonna get a 1B. It's gonna be a backup, whatever it may be. So it's kind of Joe Wall, Joe Wall, or bust. And hopefully it's a healthy Joe Wall, and he can be up to the task. Like he has shown he can be one, again, when he's healthy. I mean, we went through this with Freddie Adderson at the end of his stay here in Toronto. It's been the same in Carolina, you know, for him. So we shall see. But I developed the goaltender from within, really for the first time since Felix Potts and all those years ago. - Gordo, great to chat. Great to chat all season long. I'm sure we're gonna continue to chat because, like I said, it's Mitch Marner's season. It's the off-season internist now after game seven yesterday. Thanks, Gordo. - Well, it's one way to soften a seven game losing streak for the other team in town right now. So there we go. - Yeah, we're not gonna talk about them today. That's a tomorrow conversation. - Absolutely. Take care, gentlemen. - All right, this is Gord Stella. He was our insider brought to you by Don Valley, North Lexus, where you can expect excellence online. And in the showroom, visit donvalleynorthlexus.com. It's one thing to have those big news stories break or trades break during an off day. - Yeah. - It's quite another, and the joe wall thing is separate because, well, frankly, it's not that big of a deal and also wasn't officialized. Like the news release, like, went out. - Yeah. - That the official tweet went out, like minutes before the puck drop of game seven of the Stanley Cup final yesterday that the Ottawa senators had acquired a former Vesna winner from their conference division rivals, the Boston Bruins. That's like a huge deal trade on the biggest deal day as far as games are concerned for the NHL. It's a little bit curious. - Yeah, we'll talk about the All-American two seconds. First things first, how dare you say the Leafs do literally anything, and it's not the hugest news in the history of the world. Like, I joke, but I guarantee you, if you could have asked Batman, which one bothered him more, it was the Kevin Weeks report, and the Almark report because the, like, Almark is a massive story. We know there was the trade that got squashed at the deadline and him going to a Canadian team and all of that. Like, that's a massive story. But in terms of ripple effect, because I think in Ottawa, that becomes a story in Boston, that becomes a story. But I honestly think everyone else, like this was certainly my opinion on it. But, okay, I'll deal with that tomorrow. I'm about to watch game seven of the Stanley Cup final, but with the Joe wall of it all, I immediately go, well, hold on, that's big. Like, what does that mean for the Leafs off season? What does this mean for Busal? What does this mean for a marner trade? Does it mean some things in the book? So, that's the thing that jumped out to me is that the, and, you know, you can't tell Kevin Weeks what to do. You know, it's not the league's man, he's his own man. But I guarantee you that one bothered them more than the, like, official report from the teams. But you're right, the idea that a release would go out within an hour of puck drop is, quite frankly, flat out insane. - Yeah, here's my guess, is that it's not happening in any of the other major North American pro sports. - Oh my God, could you imagine, like, game seven of the NBA finals? - Yeah, LeBron is opting out. - No, no, but like, LeBron's one thing. I actually feel like they'd be like, "Olla, LeBron, you do what you need to do." But it's like some, I'm trying to think, like, a Rudy Golbeger trade, like a big trade, but that doesn't carry the same weight. God, they would have been furious. Would have squashed it. They would have, they would have pulled, they would have pulled it even stirred. - You know what, no, no, you know what, no. Almark, you're staying. - Yeah, we'll get more in the weeds with those two moves in particular. One thing before we break that I want to get into a little bit more is Stuart Skinner as the goaltender of record for this country. We have a four nations cup. Jordan Bennington's like the guy that I think is the leader in the clubhouse. - Yes. - To be the goaltender for Canada at the four nations cup, which is happening in less than a year, okay? So that's not the Olympics and whatever. We'll see if it has staying power. It's all we got right now. And no doubt there will be a huge effort to ice the best team two years from the NHL going back to the Olympics. And Conor McDavid, now no Stanley Cup ring. That'll be one of the biggest moments of his career as sad as that sound. - Yes. - Stuart Skinner's like, maybe like in the mix to be the starter for game one. Jordan Bennington did have a bounce back here this year. He's good for a bad blues team, okay? And he's a cup champion, yada yada yada. Like does anybody have any confidence that Jordan Bennington is not gonna lose the net over the course of a short series in the Olympics or this four nations, like the situation in this country when it comes to gold tenders is dire enough. And like this sounds like I'm slagging Stuart Skinner who did ultimately have a great postseason. He's lifted for Calvin freaking Pickard in the middle of this postseason run. And again, the overall number is not overwhelming and the same Reinhardt goal. It's a guy that scored 57 goals. It's very good shots. It's like not, it's not a 200 foot shot. - Yeah. - Savable. - Well, he also doesn't score all 57 from there. - No, he doesn't usually when his team has five and the other team has four skaters on ice. - It's a time and style also, yeah. - Yeah, it's quite a situation we got. I think honestly the thing that is most likely to happen here and this is banking on the Golden Knights to keep some semblance of their team together. So like obviously take that with all the grains of kosher salt you can find, but is that I think they're going to look at this thing almost how they have looked at wrongly in the past a little bit, but we've done the, you know, I'm going back to like, like O2 teams here, but it's like the grind line and you pick like like Rob Xaminers on the team. I think they're gonna look at the Vegas Golden Knights goalies and say that's the closest thing to what Team Canada is going to play like. Those guys know how to play behind them. And I'm not saying they're just taking both of them of Thompson and Hill, but I think Aidan Hill won a cup playing behind a team that is a worse version of what Team Canada is going to be. Now it's going to be tough for competition 'cause it's all the best guys. But I honestly, when I look at it, I think it's the complete opposites, right? Skinner, I'm just kind of putting him off to the side, not that he shouldn't be a part of this, but let me just park him over here for a second. You got Aidan Hill. It's like, calm is a cool cumber. You're not supposed to be here. And then you got Jordan Biddington, who may very well have the first international goalie fight in hockey history, or at least try to. And I think that if you're a team Canada, you don't look, I mean, you would love to go back in time and have like Patrick, or sorry, Marty Brotour is your third goalie or Loongo is your third goalie or whatever it is. That ship has sailed. That is not happening. So I think you have to lean into what it's gonna be. And it's not necessarily about getting the best goalie. It will be about getting the guy who can best handle playing behind. I mean, go back to the Sochi team, the most boring, amazing hockey team in the history of all time. Where they just outshot every team 12-1, every game and one. I think that there's a real world where they say, yep, Vegas is the closest thing to that. Let's bring Hill. Yeah. Yeah, great. This is the joke I've been making. I'll make it one more time. I'm sorry Morgan Riley. We love you. We have to trade you to Russia for a goalie. I'm sorry. They need Dean. We need a goalie. Sorry, bud. Sorry. Yeah, so that's the Canadian goal-tending situation. The Americans have like, yeah. Connor Hellebuch or Jeremy Swamann, like that's-- 100. Yeah. Joe Waller. The guy with the best playoffs they have percentage. It's just, yeah. And yeah, the guy that almost scored 70 goals. Anyways. But we got Kon Smite, reigning Kon Smite trophy winner. Connor McDavid. Which is good. Like, I don't want to be like, Oh, we have McDavid. Oh, it's very good. This is the thing you have to hang your hat on for this tournament is that all of the guys, and like, I don't want to diminish bark off or a kachak in that matter, but all the guys we think of is just like, serial killer winners are Canadian. McKinnon, McDavid, Crosby. Yep. And I'm not saying maybe, maybe somebody else has somebody else in that group, but that's it for me, quite frankly. Yep. No, I can't wait for the four nations cup. I can't either. I feel like you were quasi-psychastic about that. No, I'm not. I know. You're going to, perhaps for the only time in their career, see Sydney Crosby and Connor McDavid share the ice as members of Team Canada. How dare you? They'll both be at the Olympics. Yeah. I think Crosby gets to be captain this time, and then maybe they give it to McDavid or the Olympics. OK, we'll see. OK. Oh, by the way, we're going to make a roster for that every two weeks in the summer. Just for the record. Oh, yeah, yeah, that's very much coming. All right. When we come back, though, we'll get a little more into the weeds on the leanest Allmark trade to the Ottawa Freaking Senators, the team with the lowest save percentage in the NHL a season ago just got a guy that won a Vesna, has been part of a great tandem in Boston. How does he look outside of that? And Joseph Wall, going to be on an island, it does feel like for the Toronto Maple Leafs but getting an extension. That and more next is the fan morning show continues Ben Anis, Brent Gunning, Sportsnet 590, the fan. Breaking down the top stories in hockey and Elliot Friedman every day. The Jeff Merrick Show. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Fan morning show Sportsnet 590, the fan Ben Anis, Brent Gunning. So we'll get back into the Stanley Cup final in game seven yesterday, which was very good, very disappointing for the people of Northern Alberta. But before the game, get a huge trade in a week of pretty big trades. Everyone gather round for game seven of this day. Hey, hold on, hold on a sec, hold on, hold on. I need to trade line this hallmark rate this very second. Yeah, remarkable, I cannot believe it. And I agree with Gordon, it's like those like the Bruins and the senators are like, yeah, probably going to watch the game, they don't care. Like, you know what takes precedence for them? Contimating this thing and like delaying it by a day, something could happen. Of course, you want to get it done as soon as possible. To me though, you can have it done in the books and you can just not release it publicly. You can even have it rumored to be completed. That's my thing, like why not send it to the league office and the league office is like, oh man, the facts lines down. Like it's consummated. We'll just got to give you the confirmation tomorrow. Really, like I don't, I don't particularly have a care. I don't think this is like stealing away the attention or we're like losing this topic or anything. It's just, it's just incredibly odd. Yeah, it is, it's very bizarre. Anyways, former Vazna Trophy winner, Lena Salmark, to the senators in exchange, Boston will receive Gold Tender, you know what's Corpus Salo, Senator Mark Castelich and the 25th overall pick in this Friday's NHL Draft, which by the way, it's big week, the NHL. Like, you either get the draft, the awards ceremony, you got on Monday, NHL free agency, by the way, we're gonna be on the air on Monday, on Canada Day. Additionally, the Senator's gonna retain 25% of Corpus Salo's contract after a very, very disappointing season in Ottawa. The Senator's with the lowest safe percentage in the NHL this season. So there's only one place to go and that's up for them and Almark's been good and even in the one game that he played against the Toronto Maple Leafs while he lost, he was good. It's been incredible tandem in Boston. Is this solving what ails the Ottawa Senators? It certainly helps, Almark is not a creature of the Boston Bruins, I don't think. Now, it's gold tending, far be it for me to ever believe something 1000% when it comes to gold tending, but I think that this is a move that they had to make. I think it shows some gumption to get off of Corpus Salo's money, a year removed from kind of signing him to that deal. I think the other interesting thing, and you know, every team will feel differently about this, we'll talk to Bukola a little later on in the show, that is past his point of demarcation for picks. We've heard him talk a lot about this like 17 to 20 range. And after that, the guy you get at 21, you might just as easily be able to get it 45 or something along that. So I think it's, you know, you, you obviously want the draft capital. And the point I keep making about this as well is we say that there's going to be some guy taking a 30th overall or whatever in this draft. We go, oh, how did he fall there? Like that's going to happen. So good for them to get the ticket there. I think that there is a, I don't think it's a big possibility, but there's a very real possibility that Boston ruse this move. And it's not from what it does to them, but what it does to the senators. Part of the reason the senators have not been able to get it together, it's not the only reason, but it's been their golden. They just haven't been able to get saves quite frankly. They have not had anyone competent at that position. And having a guy that can just give you a chance every night with a young team that has proven nothing, hasn't done much, but does have pieces that a lot of people like. I think there's very much a possibility that this is a move that it doesn't like reset the Atlantic or anything, but it kind of pushes the senators up into that area that we keep thinking they're about to reach. - Linus Allmark is good. - Yeah. - He's in that secondary. - Yes. - He's not in the top, top, top, echelon. - No, the op goal. - The op goal. - Yeah, well, there's only like two or three guys in it. The guys that you can count on. It's like relievers in baseball where it's like there's a couple of closers that like relieving, relief pitching is so variable one season to the next. And even guys that feel like they're in this group, they regress and they're no good for no discernible reason. But there are some guys like Mariano Rivera that year in year out, they're just great, great, great. - Nails. - He's not in that class of goaltender, but he is a here 9/18 save percentage guy. And he's been good outside of the ecosystem that exists in Boston, right? Like was still putting up pretty good numbers in Buffalo with that saber's team. But I don't think he's one of those guys. - Nope. - Also, he's 30 years old and headed into the final year of his deals, five million per and he's an unrestricted free agent. And obviously the next thing coming. - Extension. - Is an extension for him in Ottawa. So he's 30 years old needing a long-term extension and he's a goalie. And I guess proof of concept was Sir Gabe of Robsky, but to me, this feels like the countdown is on now. Like you're the senators. It's you got to make the playoffs this year and you got to do some things in the next couple of years in the postseason because there's just no way what we know about these contracts that are signed by aging goaltenders outside of Sir Gabe of Robsky who for like a brief moment in time turned back the clock. But even if, like if he blows game seven yesterday, the way he looked in games four, five and six, we're right back to where we were. At the beginning of last postseason, which was a horrible contract, the idea that this thing is, it's solving the senators' goaltending woes for ever and ever on men. I don't know if that's necessarily true, but yeah, in the next three years, they better do something. - Was the move they had to make quite frankly, they could, unless you were, unless you had some Joe Wall in your system, and again, not the Joe Wall is the unquestioned answer in Toronto. I think people are bullish on him, but I think there's still a lot to be proven there. So this is what you have to do. This is a sense team that again, there is certainly blame to be laid at the feet of, you know, Brady Kachuk and Thomas Shabbat and Sanderson and Chickren and, you know, Shane Pinto, when he's playing games after taking half of the year off for the thing we still don't really understand what happened there, okay? There are a lot of places to lay the blame, but if you can't get saved, it's not gonna matter. So I think they had to have this move to push in. I think this will be very informative for what happens with the Preds and Sorrows, not in terms of trade, but in terms of extension. I mean, if all Mark's worth what, let's say all Mark is worth six, seven, what does that mean, Sorrows worth? It's gotta be more, in my opinion, right? He's been a guy who's proven the melee, or carried the melee, he hasn't been part of a tandem. The other thing I was thinking about this is Brady Kachuk's captain of that team, and he's not, I don't know if there's a lot of these in the league, but occasionally you have like a placeholder captain, a guy who's like wearing the C, but it's like he's, it's gonna be a transition period. He is the captain, he's the face of that franchise. I like to imagine a world where they're trying to call him. Like, "Hey, Brady, do you wanna bounce a couple things off you?" And he's like, "What? "I can't hear you, it's really loud in here." 'Cause I'm at game seven of the Cup Finals. So this is a move that, you know, if it's a seven year deal, yeah, there's a chance to blow up in their face in the tail end of it, but guess what? If it blows up in the face at the tail end of this deal, it's 'cause this era of Senators hockey never worked, and they gotta kind of capitulate and move on and blow it all up anyways. So I think it's a move that makes a lot of sense. It's not a perfect one. This isn't me sitting here going absolute slam dunk, but you give up a first round pick and a draft that I'm gonna believe the book of the world is no good once you get to that point. You do retain a little money, but you also get off the books of your goalie problem. And I know you do eat some of it, but I like the move for Ottawa, even though I don't know that this is necessarily like what gets them over the hump? - Yeah, I don't know either, considering, you know, we thought that the fruits of the labor of the last couple of years of being in the wilderness would have already taken hold in Ottawa and it hasn't yet. - I also don't like to move from the Bruins' perspective at all just for what it's worth. It's like you get a guy who was a sixth round pick. He's 20 or he's 25 years old. He's not really a player. You got to pick in a draft that again, like not that they can't find a player, but everyone says is no good once you get to that point and you get given a, you know, a fine backup, I guess, in Corpusallo, but that's not like a great contract to have on your books. I really don't like the trade from the Bruins' perspective at all. - And it's in the division. So the senator is-- - Which is just the biggest middle finger to the sentence, quite frankly, of like, I don't think-- - Well, that's it. - It's the Don Draper, it's, I don't think about you at all. - So Almark had a modified no trade clause, which covered 15 teams. And as you mentioned already on this show that at the deadline he gave the Bruins the Heisman on a trade that they had consummated and brought to him. So he controlled some of the proceedings. You got to figure the way this is no move to go to Ottawa. - You'd think. - But that, the idea of the Maple Leafs being involved in some sort of Almark conversation seems so far-fetched because-- - They never would have. - Them being in the division, but also just having played the Bruins in a seven game series and being a more legitimate threat, I guess. - Well, I talked about this with Frank on Friday and I think he hit the nail on the head. It's just the Leafs say what you will about them, playoff chokers and all fair, never accomplished anything, one series win. It's a more real threat to the Bruins than the Sens are. And 'cause I had the exact same thought of, okay, this was rumored last week. Why does Boston wanna help the Sens and get to the position they're at and the prevailing sentiment? And I don't disagree with that. I think there's a chance it blows up in their faces when the Sens have had a million chances. We sit here every year talking about how the young pieces are gonna take strides and they're gonna grow and they got a new coach and it never seems to work. So I think it really is just a complete lack of belief in what the Sens can become from Boston standpoint, quite honestly. - So we're running out of potential actual NHL starting goal is to be part of the tandem with Joel Wall, who as we mentioned, is apparently on the verge of signing an extension for three years that'll pay them between three and a half and four million bucks according to ESPN's Kevin Weeks. And that's all fine and good. I don't know if you have a severe take on the extension because yeah, clearly if he is able to stay healthy and plays 50 plus games this season is above average goaltender that's gonna feel like a steal with the cap going up, it's unless he's just a nothing, which you can't discount the possibility of that. Because even when he played during the regular season moments, he, before he got hurt the first time, you're like, holy cow, he's doing it. And then he came back and you're like, okay, win the job and he couldn't do that. - Could not. - And he looked great again in the post season, but the possibility still exists that he's a nothing. And it's like, you got to wave goodbye to all that money, which is it's not the five million that Jack Campbell's earning. - Well, I know it's the, I know it's the Leafs so they're not allowed to make good trades with other teams 'cause teams would never let them win one. But I mean, look at what the sense just did to get out of Corpissado's money. They got a starting goalie and gave up the 25th pick in the draft and it's gonna basically be the same money that Joe Wall has and Joe Wall's 26 years old. So like, I just look at that trade right there. And again, the Leafs, I know no one wants to hear it from me, I'm always complaining. It's just harder for them to make deals. Return it with the Markstrom of like the Leafs had a comparable offer, but under no circumstances unless they blew the flames out of the water, were they gonna get that guy? So it's just harder for them to make deals. I get it, but I don't have a big problem with it. I think it's a gamble that you have to make. This is gonna be, this is one of Trelevings first swings that actually means something beyond a one year flyer. Like I crapped on them from Klingberg, rightfully so in my opinion. But it was one year, didn't really in the grand scheme of things hurt them all that much. And I don't think this move has a chance to blow back in their face. I think it has a very good chance, or I should say a strong chance of working out to be quite frankly a steal. - Yeah, if he's healthy and performs the way we've seen him perform at times. It's also to me an indication that it is, the timing is interesting. But yeah, again, it feels like the last viable guy that could be taking time away from Joe Wall and like the unquestioned starter in Joe Wall, like maybe his 1B, maybe a backup is off the board. And I guess until UC Sorrow signs the extension, but like every indication is that that's going to happen in Nashville and he will not be available in trade. So it's, we are looking at the lower on Broad Swah, pile of gold tenders. And to me, this is an indication that Brad for Living's like, okay, well, so it's gonna be up to Joe Wall. And if he does the damn thing, that's gonna be expensive. So let's get this done in the event that he just fulfills every expectation and promise. And he's one of the best gold tenders in the league. And he's headed into restrictive free agency and we have to pay him a quadrillion dollars. - Yeah, it's a pricier deal, but it's basically the one thing I'm a Bobby McMahon. Like it's just insurance on if this thing really, really works out the way it can. So I like the move for the Leafs. I think there's very, there's precious little chance that this is some move that handcuffs them for the years that the deal's on the books. I just, I really don't see that and I do see a world where it turns out to be a steal. - Yeah, maybe instead of walking through the Himalayas, this offseason Joe Wall will figure out why he keeps getting injured and maybe wrecked. - Yeah, I don't know, maybe walk through like a sports medicine clinic or something. I don't know, maybe. - Time out of the waken rake, presented by Sports Interaction, your homegrown sports book, 19 plus bet responsibly. Hey, did you know that Toronto Blue Jays are still playing baseball games? They haven't forfeited the season yet. - Okay. - They continue their series in Boston, trying to avoid an eighth consecutive loss tonight at Fenway Park seven o'clock on Sports said, Kevin Gossman on the Mount against Brian Bayo. And the Red Sox favor it, but only slightly, minus 115 Blue Jays minus 105, the total is nine baseball games. - Take the under on that game. I know they put up a ton of runs last night, but it is the Blue Jays after all. They're certainly not gonna do that in back to back games. And you know, the Red Sox, they're capable. I think Gossman can have a bounce back there. It's a big number. So yeah, give me the under minus 105, it's nine. That's what I'm liking. - Man, it's so hard to bet on the streak continuing, but last time Blue Jays face Brian Bayo, who was not having a great season at that point and still isn't, has an ERA in the fours. He had an ERA over five when they faced him. They couldn't touch him 'cause he throws up a 90s fastballs. Blue Jays don't hit that. - Stuff. - I mean, I like that the Red Sox has not overwhelming favorites in this baseball game. And then in the Copa America, Canada, after their hard fought loss against Argentina, playing Peru at six o'clock tonight, Peru to win plus 220, draw plus 210. Canada favored to win at plus 135, the total two and a half. I gotta tell you, Canada better win this game because I understand that yeah, the World Copa was just an incredible achievement to be at the World Cop and to score a goal against Croatia. At some point, like results have to start showing up for this country when it comes to the biggest soccer stage. This better be it against Peru plus 135. Yeah, I'll take Canada to win. - I'm gonna take the draw here. This feels like we're gonna spend time tomorrow with people telling me that I'm supposed to be happy about a nil-nil draw is what I think is gonna happen. So I'm gonna take the draw plus 210. - Yeah, I mean, you'll be happier with that as opposed to a loss against Argentina. - Yes, I'd be very happy about that. - That was the waking rake presented by Sports Interaction, your homegrown Sportsbook 19 plus bet responsibly. When we come back, let's talk to a guy that knows what it feels like to hoist the Stanley Cup over his head. Nick Kiprios, as the fan morning show continues, Ben Ann and his friend, Gunning, Sportsnet 590, the fan. (upbeat music) [MUSIC PLAYING]
