Alrighty, welcome back, welcome back. It's been a crisp 24 hours, but we are back with another one because the Leafs played and there's so much more to talk about because what should have been a normal game, Sans Morgan Riley, I guess, turned out to be a game Sans Morgan Riley and a couple other people. So we'll have that to talk about. And the suspension came out. So welcome back, everybody. Oh, that was supposed to play the intro. That was supposed to play the intro. There it is. side.
No, that was me. I just clicked and it didn't click. I gave you a note. Okay, so Leafs late night where it's never too late for the Leafs Roscoe and Sudi tonight Presented by Inside the Rink and I am NOT wearing a Leafs hat this time because the one that I wore last night was hurting my head if you stuck around for the post credit scene You will see that it left a mark on my head and I was getting a headache by the end of that episode So we were going messy today.
I need a haircut He's the same that tells you you need a haircut buddy. it is. So five whole games for Morgan Reilly. So guesses were everywhere from, you know, Brian Hayes and the crew were saying two or three. We had some Leaf haters saying it's going to be 10. We had some people that are negative Leaf fans saying it's going to be 10 just because that's what we think of George Paros. I said seven being said about five or six. What do you think it was gonna be? I said it was going to be four.
Okay, so, I mean, like I said, everybody was all over the place. There was no telling what was going to happen because if there's one thing the Department of Player Safety is known for, it is inconsistency. Their consistency for inconsistency is rather remarkable. To your point, everyone was guessing between two and 12 games. So that pretty much sums it up right there, right? No one actually knew what to expect because you can't go unprecedented. It changes every fucking time.
Yep. And it came out today that Leafs have been the most suspended team under George Paros. So, you know, there's reason to think it could be as high as 10, right? Like, it's so stupid. So obviously the number comes out at five. But what was weirder is the timing. So Kevin Weeks puts this out. And I don't think we've ever seen a suspension, a suspension leaked like this. where it becomes erased. there. So the fact that it did get leaked is kind of, you know, it raises some eyebrows, right?
Yeah, and I forget what the wording was. Like, I guess it's a scoop race. I don't know what the actual term is. But the fact that people were looking to be the first ones to get on this is weird. Like, this is usually just an announcement from the department after they contact the GM and the player from what we understand. And then it gets announced. And that's how everybody hears about it. Exactly. It's an announcement after a meeting with a department. It's an internal affair.
It's a suspension. Like, I don't. This is something that has never happened. there is no one that should know about this before the two GMs are owners of the teams, right? Like, it's insane that it happened. Yeah, so in case you missed the pregame show, Dredger, Drager basically alluded to and kind of confirmed through further conversation on it that the league didn't or the the team and player didn't find out until Twitter did.
Like when Kevin Weeks put that out, everyone found out, which is insane. Like the Morgan Reilly and the Leafs should not find out from Kevin Weeks on Twitter. That's absolutely bonkers. And there were other reporters talking on X today saying like, you know, everyone knew about this this afternoon. Like it's never happened before, but we all knew before they put it out. Yeah, the whole thing is crazy. Like I expected more than five games. I thought it should have been less.
So maybe five is a middle ground type of thing. But they came up with the reasoning to write and they said that there was no previous engagement. So Greg shouldn't have been expecting anything. But I think that's inaccurate. Right. For what he did, he should have been expecting some type of retaliation. Maybe not a cross check that, to be clear, hit his arm and then rode up. I don't think it was incredibly malicious. I don't think he rally met to him in the face.
but he had to have known that there was gonna be some type of retort for what he did. Everybody's been talking about this. He's the heel of the sends now. He's playing into this character. He knew exactly what he was doing like of play like they have Valentine's cards over this like it's him taking a slap shot. It's the guy's not hurt like why are we getting five games for this? like everybody's playing into this. It's reigniting the Battle of Ontario.
Leaf fans are pissed because it's like just not pissed in a well. I mean, some people are pissed at the amount of games, but like for the actual incident, I think it's you know, we're angry because he did something to purposely aggravate us. Like it's at the point it had its effect. Like this is what sports is. This is the rivalry between these guys. I'm glad it's finally hitting this point after fucking 20 years, it seems.
I bet, yeah, even on his team, like a guy like Giroud or Jacques -Martin, they must have been shaking their head at this because that's not the way that they play hockey. No, and I mean, look, I know he's obviously on the Leafs in his bias, but Matthew's saying he's never seen this at any level other than the All -Star game. Like, it's just, it's, this is a time when you miss Don Cherry. know that someone has to go get them. Like it's, it's not even a question.
Yeah, for George Paros, like go to YouTube and search George Paros. It's not going to be highlights of him scoring that show up. It's him fighting people. Like you're telling me this guy is not going to assume like this guy's not enough of a hockey player to know that if you take a slapshot point blank with five seconds left on an open net, you're not going to get jumped by somebody like that is ludicrous. You're 100 % not wrong. Like, isn't he an Ivy League student as well? I don't know.
Honestly, I'm too young to really remember him playing. I just looked up Colton Orr beating the shit out of him and him hitting the ice badly. But yeah, that was a thing that happened, George Paros. He's only 44. When did he stop playing? Part of the 2007 Stanley Cup winning Anaheim Ducks. So I should remember this guy. College, Princeton University. Yeah, no sludge. Like this guy knows what's up. If you just look at the stats, I fractions, it has been very lopsided towards the Leafs.
Not to sound like a homer, but... fourth smartest athlete in sports by Sporting News. In sports, not hockey. And you're telling me this guy can confidently sign off on a report that says Ridley Grigg was unsuspecting in this situation. Or he can't run an operation where he can't have a leak. He doesn't have the chance to tell the owners or GMs what's going on first. Somebody else needs to be in charge of this and it shouldn't be somebody that was a hockey player to be quite honest. I don't know.
This is. the whole thing is making me feel like a homer, but like the facts are facts. Yeah, the rule book is a sham and this whole league just kind of calls shit by the day. I like what Riley did. I wish he hit him maybe on above the pants and the ribs or something, but he did what he did. And sent a message to the team. And look how they played tonight. Yeah, so moving on, I guess we find out five games and we think that's going to be the only person we're down.
And obviously we find out right before the game starts this illness that has been ripping through the team. I don't know what the hell is going on. Like we find out Timmons has mono. So that's one thing. He's not part of this, but Gio was out and now Marner and Tavares are both down with this. And the. the fan duel didn't know either.
Nobody knew, like, McMahon wasn't even supposed to play tonight, apparently it was like when they took the ice they were like, oh shit, runner's not playing, like... Man, like for both of them to be pretty out, like they must be pretty sick. So. Yeah, and for it to be that last minute, like they really wanted to and the team doctor must have stepped in and be like, guys, you're going to throw up on the bench. the whole dynamic of the game tonight shifted, right? Everybody's roles changed.
Everything changed. Yeah, and I mean, like Brian Hayes said, too, like anybody who's a Leaf fan knew that this was going to be this kind of game. Like any time we're down the stars, like after the game, they even said without Riley, the Leafs are like 15 and two for some reason without when Matthews is down, it's the same deal.
Any time these guys go down, it's the team comes through as a collective and plays a completely different style of game where they're not relying on setting up a couple of guys to score and then playing defense the rest of the time. tonight. I thought Matthews had a few chances, but like he wasn't overly noticeable. It was everyone like Domi, it was Robertson, it was like man, they all up their game like times 10. They were just huge tonight.
They got way more ice time and they just played a whole different style of game that they would normally be called on to play. Yeah, and I think because they don't know how long Mitch and JT are going to be down for, I think they might have been trying to lighten the load on on Nylander and Matthews tonight. They were playing a really good defensive game, like both of them were focusing more on. minutes into the game there's only 12 shots against?
That's a really good defensive effort from top to bottom. The first period they only had like three shots. Yeah. like, it was like 26 minutes, I'm like almost. Yeah, that's insane. So everybody was playing well defensively, which, you you kind of have to when you're down so many guys and you've got a bunch of rookies coming up. So, you know, it's good to see it's it's not always a write off, but when it happens, it kind of reinforces that.
OK, like it does seem like every time they're going to do this. I don't know. it just talks to the depth of this team, right? Because if you were to play 82 games with this roster, you're not going to have the success that you would with JT and Martyr. But with them out for a couple of games and Riley out, it just really shows that people can step up on this team.
You also have the added bonus of people having absolutely zero playbook on you for a couple of games because like the Leafs for six years have basically been the same couple of players that run everything. So everyone knows the few moves they have. You know, they can update it every now and then, but they know what to expect. They know. Yeah, they know who's going to take the shot. They know who's going to pass.
But when you completely throw out a blender and take a couple of guys out, like throw all of your notes out the window, especially when you found out the second you took the ice that two of the guys aren't there. 100%. So the other thing Fuck this second line. So I was curious about the shooting percentage of this team. So I sent this out earlier today I was doing a little stat research.
So there's seven guys on the Leafs that have over a 10 % It's actually over 11 % Matthews is the highest I think at 19 Reeves Ryan Reeves has the second high shooting percentage on the team So you can kind of take him out of the list because it doesn't count Same with Robertson doesn't really play enough minutes to be considered either and Yarncroak's been injured. So really you've got four guys that have over a 10 % shooting percentage. The next one is David Camp at eight and a half.
And I had to really go a couple pages down the list to find where he ranks in the rest of the league. Like what does eight and a half mean? That's 376th in the league for shooting percentage. Domi and Bertuzzi are like five and five or six and a half or something. So they're like 500th. That's Bertuzzi is never going to score an NHL goal again, so we can just not think about that anymore. But Domi, that's a pretty low number for him. He's a playmaker. I don't expect his numbers to be up.
They shouldn't be that low. But for Bertuzzi to be that low, especially with everyone he's been playing with, and the amount of posts he's hit, the amount of times he's been just robbed or missed, this list luck can't keep up, right? Statistically, it can't. I would argue for Domi, if you're a playmaker, your shooting percentage should be higher because you're not taking as many shots and the ones that you do take should be in opportune positions.
He had a great one in opportunity recession tonight and I just don't think he has the shot to beat NHL goaltenders right now. Like Bittington saw it in coverage and he still gloved it no problem. That's as hard as Domi will ever shoot. 96 miles an hour. I that was a that was a good shot from. Yeah, it was 96 and it was. I was surprised Bennington got it, but.
bit more with some movement, lateral movement and like some screens, maybe he will score a bit more, but he just doesn't have a great shot. No, but I guess to my point, like we've talked about how much the top guys are carrying, but it's not like, you know, you see sometimes these guys in the bottom line will have like a 50 % shooting percentage or something because they never shoot. But when they do, oh, look at that. It goes in. We're not even getting any of that.
Like the guy, the amount of times I've seen Domi and Bertuzzi have a puck just go across the line with no one touch it or just sit in the crease where no one knows where it is, is absolutely insane. Like, I've never seen guys not be able to just touch it in. hasn't had a goal go off his ass, his chest, even his face. Like that's all he needs. I think is just for a fluke goal like that to happen. Lower your shoulders, relax your arms a little bit. Stop clenching the stick so tight.
Since sometime early December. Yeah, it's it's crazy watching how hard they try like that line the second line was so good tonight, but oh my god, they were never gonna score I find Nice has a little bit of an issue where he's got a pretty big body and he puts himself in front of the net, but he's still like a foot away from the goalie's line of vision. If he's directly square up, I think he's going get a lot more tips off his body stick and screens, but he has not been doing that yet this year.
funny, I thought Nylander's goal was actually nice at the beginning. I was like, oh, great. Nice. Nice tip that in. And I'm like, wait, what the hell? How did? I was like, finally, all right, off his ass, great. Out of the way, now he's going to start producing. No. But Bobby McSnipe. Bobby McSnipe. So those first two goals, like it wasn't like the guy got a couple of garbage ones in an empty net or like these were beautiful. Are you joking? Oh, my God, it was so good.
had no business scoring from there, but like, I'm so glad he did. business scoring like at all, let alone two, then three. That empty netter is like a highlight reel for the decade empty net goal. Like he was absolutely not meaning to do that. And you know what, like everyone shits on Keith and stuff, but good for him for putting him out there because he knew that was going to pump the boys up and that was, I think that was a move for the players. Yeah, and it speaks a lot to Leafs Nation.
Everybody was kind of split on, hey, the net's empty. I know McMahon has two, but should we put Pertuzzi out there? Like, I almost would rather... I'd rather Pertuzzi just get a fucking goal than this kid who has two goals in his entire career getting a hat -trick. Ugh. going to cut you a check behind the doors. A little bonus. Don't tell anybody, but. Pertuzzi needed this more. Ugh. But no, you're absolutely right.
After all the shit that Babcock took, it's nice that Keith in this situation where he absolutely didn't have to puts out Camp and what was it? Camp, McMahon and Greger. My God. things like that go a long way for the boys. Gregor though, that breakaway. I wanted him to like have a little more patience, trust yourself, like take that extra move. He kind of just shot it at the end of the circle. I don't know. doesn't even take breakaways in practice, man.
But like, you gotta think, all these guys were the best player on their team at one point, right? Like they were all, they all have that capability, whether they've tested it out. They're playing there for a reason, like these guys are the best in the world. They're so good. Yeah, I just, I don't know. That's where you want to see it to know that he's got the confidence and needs to be here. And that was just kind of a... Yeah, it might have been like a small little right flag.
Maybe he doesn't right now. Yeah, just because everybody did play so well, one who didn't that I just want to give two seconds of grief for. Justin and I talked a lot about Lilligran last night. He had a rough game, like everybody played like Geo had a good game, Brody played well. Jim had a really nice dive on a 2 -on -1 that he broke up. That was huge. Oh, and speaking of dives, what about that one Robertson with the complete 360, like stands up with it too? Are you kidding?
The amount of energy that could like he's actually playing healthy for the first time maybe in his whole career like fully healthy. And he's so quick. He's got so much energy. He's fun. Oh, sorry. But sorry, what was I gonna, what was I fucking? Oh, Lillagren. Yeah, so he definitely had the roughest game of everybody tonight. Kind of, he was highlighted on that first goal by St. Louis there, obviously was unable to tie up the stick as was broken down by everybody.
So I don't need to go into that. And just the times where he's the last man on the blue line there and I've seen it skip over his stick, like a couple times, yeah. selection too is like right terrible. It was right in the shins of the person defending or trying to block it. Oh, so many times he gets people on the feet.
is crazy because like when we drafted him this guy had such high up like offensive upside And you just don't see it right now and he used to see it even like two years ago one year ago Yeah, and I was reminded today, it's been seven years since we drafted him. Yeah, he was taken in the same draft as Robert Thomas, who we played against tonight. Like, that's just to compare the development level. you think like he's feeling just tonight, a lot of pressure, Riley's out first game.
Hopefully he bounces back for these next four games because this is a huge chance for him. like this is kind of his last chance in my opinion. I mean, I don't think if he does anything in the next couple of games, you have to really think about packaging him for something.
Yeah, I mean, honestly, I would have liked to see last year as being his last chance because they did give him a lot of opportunities and then they kind of went into this year like, I don't know, I guess you're with Gio on the third pair. If he's not going to be offensive, he's too light and like not gritty enough to be on a bottom three for defense. So he's kind of stuck right in no man's land. And he still got some value.
They're not meant to be bottom line players, but there's never going to be an opportunity for them to take like this team has so few opportunities to take top line spots. Defense is definitely not going to be one when you've got Riley and Brody. Like that's kind of it. The first pair is there. We've locked up McCabe. showed nothing that he'll like supersede those people. No, and look what happened when we brought Benoit up. He jumped over him in a matter of two months.
Like... was going to be a solid four to six, five to six probably, but he's great at what he does and he knows his role and Lily is not playing his role. No, unfortunately, and it doesn't seem like they're like because training Sandeen because those were two young guys who were supposed to come up. Then we bet on Lily instead of Sandeen. Lily over Sandeen and now here we are with... hasn't really showed that much either to be fair, but...
Yeah, and I mean, look, not every draft pick pans out, but I don't think they gave any opportunity for this one to go in the right direction. And now. question though, because a lot of our forward traffics, you know, have all these are core four minus bars and everything, but we haven't had like a really big defensive pick that's hit. Well, I think it's hard to like know that a defensive defenseman is developing well. like there's no question about it.
Yeah, it seems that those guys get picked up later in their careers and kind of move around teams as far as offensive ones like, yeah, it's it's tough because once you have Morgan Riley, like you don't you're not looking for somebody to to take that spot. And it seems like every time they have tried to trade for somebody that's that same type of player, it never works out. So this team has been in a really strange defensive spot, like they don't really know what to put around Morgan.
There's I've been saying for a long time. I think Toronto. The perfect guy was when Muzzin first came to the Leafs, right? Like I was nasty. He was quick. He'd have a great outlet pass and he had a heavy shot. What the Leafs don't have is like a threat from the point right now. You have a threat that Riley will go in and pinch. Easier offense and defense, right?
But you don't have someone who can just blast it that will draw other teams wingers out to your D and give more room to Matthews, Tavares and Marner. And that's just not a dynamic that the Leafs have right now. So other teams are defending against it. They need Benoit with a slap shot. You know? Like, it's getting to the point where... Kaber had like a massive Slapshot and was a little quicker. Yeah, see McCabe is almost that too.
Like I feel like they get almost there with so many guys, but just Lillagren is the one that every time they bring someone in, it's they push him down a spot in the lineup. And I like to bring it back to what you said. I think March 8th is coming up in two weeks, three weeks now. I think they really got to see is this something that we're going to keep rolling the dice on every year or is it, you know, somebody else's to deal with now?
It's a really big question for them because he's had so many opportunities at this point and he's just, where is it going to be in this team? His value might never be higher right now, but it's not even that high. Yeah, but exactly. It can only go down at this point.
Look, it's good to have depth and defensemen would going into the playoffs, but I feel like with what you've got out of all the other guys, like I would rather if someone's injured, I'd rather see Lajoie play a couple of games or Ligason than than have. obviously he's got mono now, but like even a guy like Haber, like that hit he laid on Sunquist tonight, no one else does that at least. He brings something that no one else does on the D and that's what Lily has to do. Yeah, and yeah, exactly.
I just think it's not working right now. So... That's so huge on him too when they drafted him. Yeah, me too. And Sandeen too, it was sad to see him go. And I was high on both of them, you know, just the prospect of having like we talked like you were saying, we never have defensive prospects. Finally, there were two that were, you know, decently talked about. he had Mondo in his last season in juniors, so he slipped a bit to the Leafs and we got him and he'd almost rather have him right now.
Yep. On the plus side, Samsonov. Another decent game from him, finally. Yep. thought he looked good. He looked cool, calm in the net. He made the saves he had to make. The one I blame on Lily, not him. Yep, unfortunate tip right in front of him. Other than that, limited shots and limited danger, so... really good defensively, like you said, like the amount of shots they had going into the last eight minutes of the game was a 12.
Yeah, and I mean, most of that came from the Leafs going down short handed. Oh my God, what about McCabe getting his nose bloodied up every game and getting nothing for it? Like good on Domi for running in like, no, no, no, no, no. We don't slam our friends into the boards like that. no, come on now, that's not happening. He had two fucking stuffies up his nose, his eyes were just watering.
The guy's a warrior though, like getting fixed up on the bench and even have to go back to the dressing room. I mean, at that point, there's nobody to take your spot. So you kind of have to come back. But like he's becoming to me like the heart and soul of that D almost. Just like what he brings for the team like to rise him up. Oh. Yeah, I do like that he, like you said, he's got an identity. He knows what he's there for. He's got a job. He does it. He's mostly reliable. Yeah. Mostly, yeah.
of FutureLeaf per echo? See, this, I've been looking through the trade list and his is a name that I didn't really think about that much until I saw him plank tonight. I was like, you know what? the term the term isn't it like six years at seven seven at six or six or seven Colton Pareco, cab friendly. How many years you got left, boy? Oh my god, he signed until 2030 for six and a half. Okay. And his production's already falling off of it. He's got a he's got a no move. is he too?
Is he like older than Brody already? He is... 30. Eww. So you'd have him until he's 31, two, three, four, 36, at six and a half million. Yeah, no thanks. I don't wanna. two years you don't worry about you can figure out afterwards, but the floor. got a modified no trade clause in the last two years and a no trade clause for every other year. Yeah, it's not an easy thing. Like, I don't think he'd waive it to go to Toronto either. No? I don't know, maybe but I see.
Well, again, I don't see the Leafs having the money to take that on like six and a half for that. Look, you're if you these off the books, you've got a couple of those random like Murray and some of these LTIR contracts come off the books. I don't know. There's a whole bunch of like, Jomi, Bertuzzi, there's a lot of things in the air. I just don't know if you can make it work at the deadline this year. Like the Leafs are spending the most money of any team right now.
I don't know how you find six and a half. And I don't know if Colton Pereyko is really the guy. think he's the guy to do it. Like I said, his stats have been falling off a little bit the last two years, so he's already a bit of an indecline. So if he gives you two good years, then you get stuck with four shit ones. So I know they're not like super awesome, but the team is not super awesome either. I brought up a couple weeks ago, Andrew Peek and Adam Bogwist.
They're both right -handed and they make 2 .75 and 2 .6 and they are 23 and 25 and Columbus is shit. So like I got shot down for that one, but I don't really like, why is that crazy? Like, are they that bad? age, I think, and the control of the amount of money that they're making. That's extremely valuable for teams. Yeah, I guess it would be a lot to get them, but I mean, two years on bogquist, one after this year and two years for peak after this one. So it's not like it's crazy term.
an interesting team because like they always don't want to spend too much money, but they're stuck with Lanny. They're stuck with Gujuro. Like they got a lot of money that they probably don't want tied up right now. So if they have good contracts like that, it'll take a lot to get them. Um, I guess quick little side, um, transition. Do you hear about this, this Patrick Lyne bullshit?
Like, if anybody didn't hear, um, there was a podcast that covers the blue jackets that was making jokes about Patrick Lyne, uh, taking a leave of absence for mental health, um, in a very disturbing way. And no, it's just like what I couldn't help but think is. you know, compared to us, like if any of the Leafs took a leave of absence for that, like I couldn't imagine talking about them in that way.
Like I just like as a fan of the team that covers the like, I don't know how you get to as a fan, just like as a human being, you would never expect anyone on this panel to talk like that, right? No, and like, I get people are shitty and people make shitty jokes, but like, I don't know, as somebody - on that panel and the one girl, she came out with a great statement afterwards. She said she didn't understand what the joke was and she didn't find it funny and she severed all ties right there.
But everyone else was kind of laughing right in the moment. So it was quite obvious that they knew what was going on. Yeah, so I mean, thanks for that. I didn't know that by that part. Yeah, it's just.
Like, yeah, I get that as a human it's a shitty thing to say, but like I'm thinking as somebody that covers the team and calls themselves a fan of the team and wears the jersey, like to say that about somebody that like you claim to like represent and I don't know, that's just something, I just don't know how you get to that level of shittiness. It's like there's nothing funny about it. There's nothing clever about it. I also, I don't get it.
I just want to shout out to the people that have been donating to Columbus and Ohio's mental health awareness stuff in his name. of the big name reporters and Patrick Lenny himself came out about this. So good for everyone for, you know, rallying around him right now for this, because it's it's frankly, it's bullshit. Yeah, the one of the other podcasts on our network inside the rink here, the I don't know how you say it.
It's objectively speaking, but instead of objectively, it's CBJ like Columbus Blue Jackets. So I don't know how you pronounce that. But anyway, they they donated in Colombia or in Patrick Lina's name to the Ohio Health Mental Health Resources. So. Huge shout out to them for doing that and being better for the fan base than this other podcast that doesn't even need to be named. So just a I don't know. Reminder that there are good people in the hockey world, but there are also shitty people.
So, you know, just be louder than the shitty ones and we'll all feel better. Yeah, and like, you know what, we're not having a million listeners here, right? Neither were these guys. We're having fun with this. We're doing it because we're passionate and we care about what we're doing. So when you start doing that stuff, there's no fun. There's no passion. We got to be better than that. Okay, fun right turn here. What are we going to nickname Bobby McMahon? Bobby McHattie, it's over.
He's never gonna score three more goals maybe in his career, but it's done. I've been calling him McNuggets, so I remember when he got his other one, it was just, ah, McNuggets. And then he got two, then I got two piece, and then he got the three piece McNuggets tonight. So when he got his second goal, I called him Bobby McSnipe because that goal was ridiculous.
I mean, I think the Mick just allows it to be very versatile, just whatever the situation is, throw Mick in front of it and great, it's a Mick man. But you know what, there's a lot of great, I bet you if you looked it up, there's a lot of great NHL players who've never scored a hat trick. So Bobby McHattie, I think that would fly really, really well in the room. You know what, that's probably a fair point. Like players that score a lot obviously have a number of hat tricks, but.
done it this year, Matthews? That might be it. Martin might've got one. Um, I think. or T 'Varus did. Leaves? Where's Justin? Leaves Hattricks. Oh my God. Okay. I'm not doing this like this. Where is this year? Here. This year started the... Ryan O 'Reilly... John Tavares on... No, that was last year. Okay. Matthews, Matthews, Matthews, Marner, Matthews. Yeah. That's insane. My God, he's the best school score of all time. 11th, October 14th, November 4th.
I can't remember the exact numbers, but I saw a stat just the other day. He's like 25 games ahead of Ovechkin for Mount a Gula score that I already played. He's on a much better pace than Ovechkin is. Okay, since 2013, what's that? There have been 32 hat tricks by Leaf players. Okay. Austin Matthews is one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 of those. He might be pretty good at scoring goals. I don't know if you know this. the Leafs' hat -tricks in the last 10 years.
The rest of them, Nazem Kadri, Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak, JVR. Yeah, Bozak got a couple in here. Tyler Ennis? a lot of tips. He was a big man in front of the net. Andreas Jansson, shout out. And a 6 -0 win against Philly. And Tyler Ennis had one. Jason Spezza. That's shocking. in the 7 -3 win against Vancouver two years or three years ago. And Ryan O 'Reilly's, other than that, it's been the core. And by the core, it's basically just like a couple from JT and the rest from Matthews.
That's pretty crazy, I've never looked at. have been Bobby McCall up, but... Yeah, this is not updated. Now it'll, we'll have to add Bobby McMahon as the 349th hat trick by a Leaf player. So congrats. Good for him. What a day he's had. He played a great game, even defensively, I thought. He played really good. And his other two games, I didn't think he played that good. So. like that line's been kind of meh this year. They they've had some games where it's like, oh great.
They kept it in the zone the whole time. But other times it's like, am I watching three Alex kerfuts? Like, do you? sure what you're going to get from them from night for night. And that's not great for your bottom line. Yeah, you don't know if they're physical, you don't know if they're defensive or if they're offensive. They're just kind of... they do whatever. It makes it hard for the coach to put them out at key times too because you don't know what you're going to get.
No, so that's something if we're gonna make any moves by March 8th I'd like to see like a veteran on the fourth line to just give some sort of identity Like I mean Perry and Kessel are now off the board as we now have heard Kessel's going to Vancouver So those are guys that I would have liked to leave to you know, maybe get for league men But that's kind of the type of person how it fits on the team, but I agree with what you're trying to say. Perry, more so.
Yeah, like somebody that has been to the playoffs a bunch that isn't 22 and, you know, knows, can tell the guys, OK, we're doing this. Oh, great. The Paxson are and OK, follow me. Like, it just seems they don't know what they're doing. It's tough with... It's tough with camp though too, right? Like... Just the amount he's making. Yeah, that was a shitty contract. I don't know about camp, man.
Yeah, when he's making that much amount of money on your fourth line and he's not producing as he was in previous years, like not even close. And you tie like, we're trying to hail him as like this defensive power kill dude, but even then he's not the same. That's a lot of money tied up for a fourth line center. Was it two and a half? Yeah, for like, how, what, two or three years?
See look if he was one and a half which is probably 2 .4 okay if he's one and a half which is probably what he's actually valued at and that's you know being generous that's a whole other player that we could have right now like that's a you know somebody that's been waiting for a contract league men signing like I just whatever to bury him in the A, it's a way bigger deal just because of his ticket.
Yeah, somebody you can wave and maybe somebody will pick him up, but at this point there's no way. But it's so kind of weird, like before this year, he was so reliable too. Like you would have wanted him on your fourth line, maybe not for that amount of money, but you would have expected a certain amount of play from him that we just have not received this year.
Well, I think to his credit, the most change we've seen in the lineup has been the bottom six this year, and he's kind of the only guy left from last year. Uh, yarn trucks there. Yeah, Yarncork's there. But I get like for the most part that bottom six is entirely different. So maybe he's just. line to be a lot more offensive to you, so the fourth line would have had to be extremely reliable defensively.
Yeah, so I just think maybe with the new makeup of guys there, he just doesn't fit in the same way that he did last year. And, you know, unfortunately, they're paying for him to be better than he was last year. Yeah, at the same point, I don't feel like he's someone you should trade and like throw in maybe a second round or something just to offset the money but it's not a great predicament to be in right now with him.
No, and that's kind of what it comes down to with this team heading to the deadline is you're not in a great predicament at all. Like, there's not many available players that are going to fix the situation. You don't have a lot of picks and and prospects to trade and you don't want to. And you don't want to move any of the big guys. So like, there's really. Yeah, there's there's not much they can do. Like, I know everyone's screaming Brad. And by everyone, I mean, SD like. everyone on Twitter.
There's a whole faction of Twitter that is just puke inducing. But yeah, we won't go there. what there is not everyone's asking like what's the trade? I've seen a couple proposals, but really like there's nothing out there. Even like as I said for Reiko, like what are you going to give? How are you going to compensate for his amount of money? Like Brad came in this summer. He's had not even half a year so far. Like it takes a lot more time to carve out your own team, right?
Well, especially when you come into the team where all your first and second round picks have been traded away already. Yeah, exactly. And your core team is set, so you can't really mess with that too much because there's no trade clauses. Yeah, it's like. flexibility is just so limited. Like I can look at other teams and say, oh, this person would work or that person would work. But when it comes down to, well, what are we going to pay for it? There's no answer. Like, I don't know.
or then you hear the smart answer. We just let Marner walk at the end of his contract. Like that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my whole life. So Justin and I were talking last night about, you know, do you punt on the year? And we kind of came to, you can't punt by like, you know, give up on it and trade people away. But like, really, there's nothing you can buy on. So it's kind of just you are what you are this year. And I don't think it's going to be much.
I think if you can add like a deadline piece, that's not going to push your cap over too much. Like you say, it's not going to be very much, but at the same time, you can't trade away assets on a season where Matthews might get 70 something goals because what does that say to him? You owe it to him to at least try a little bit. Yeah, the thing is, all of your assets are valued differently at the trade deadline than they are in the offseason.
And I feel like if you spend on somebody that's overvalued, like all the whoever is selling the player at the deadline gets 50 % more at the deadline than they would in the offseason. Right. think especially this year too because it's like there's no one really out there. People always overpay, like look what Tampa gave up for Tanner Geno and Brandon Hagel, like that doesn't happen. Lisa did that? It would be a massacre in the media.
Exactly. So I just I can't help but wonder, do the Leafs maybe just hold on what they do have? Hold steady. Exactly. And then once the season's over, you're going to have a whole bunch of different guys available and teams in different positions once they've either not made the playoffs or been knocked out. Caps going up like why spend now to not be able to when the market's going to have more for sale, you know?
Yeah. Unless if you're trading for someone who has term and money, it's going both ways, which I don't see a trade out there right now for that. Then I tend to like hide out in your camp right now. I think we're just going to hold steady and see what happens. Hope to make the playoffs and hope the core four goes crazy.
Like, OK, the Jake McCabe Sam Lafferty deal was something like if you do something like that, obviously we didn't keep Lafferty, but where you get McCabe, who's locked down, what did they send for that? Joey Anderson, Pavel Gogolov, a second and a conditional first in twenty five. So like that, I don't hate where it's like a couple of guys from the Marlies that you really weren't ever going to have in the lineup and a future pick for some guys with term. Mm -hmm.
Yeah. I think McCabe's birth itself. Yeah. The first makes it a tiny bit weary, just not even for a draft pick, but I think that's good capital going forward that we need. We're not in the position to groom people right now. But yeah, something like that, that would kind of make sense. Yeah, I don't know, fine, whatever. Have you looked at like TSN's top 25? I haven't even looked at it in so long. I was looking at it last night, but there's a bunch of them. I'm not sure I'm trying.
Deadline. Nine here, Connex, no not Connex army. Who do we want from? Let's go to TSN. There's also this one little wrinkle that hasn't been spoken about right now. It's goaltending. Oh my God, we're rolling the dice. Wall has been... Did you see him on the ice? The shots of him tonight? I mean, I wasn't paying attention to it. It was like Leafs porn. He looked his ankles going in circles, it seized, it looked great. He doesn't look too, too, too far away.
However, he's got such an injury history. Sammy, one of the best school attendance last year. This year, you don't know where you're going to get. And Jones, it's such a question mark. Do you trade Jones because he might have some value? You could probably get like a second round pick for him. There's so many people looking for goalies, honestly, like you might be better off trading and like if you're ready to have Hildeby back up these.
there first if he started heating up and then just went with wool and j - like that's a huge question that really no one's talking about right now. Like, obviously the safest thing is to say, well, they're going to ride the three into the playoffs. But while we're in this position where you've got no picks to trade, maybe this is a spot where it's, hey, you know what? Fuck it. We have a surplus of something for once in our lives. Let's exchange it for something we have nothing of.
Yeah, or guess what? Maybe let Hilda be taking a game or two, or he's a backup. I find that's the most interesting part for me right now. Okay, this is from January NHL trade Deadline player rankings here from bet MGM four days ago Noah Hanifin Chris Tanev Adam and reek Vlad Teresanko Jake Gunsell Jacob chickren Sean Walker Mark Andre flurry Scott Lawton Trevor Zegris like Like again, going back to leaves Twitter, the whole Hennepin Nintendo thing that's been rehashed for four months now.
So everyone knows about that. But what are you giving up for that? And do they really move the needle that much for you? Yeah, like that's that's what I keep coming back to is like what's really going to move the needle and how much are we going to have to spend on it? Like, is it worth it right now? Like, is one player going to fix all the problems on this team?
No, because we've got better than mediocre goaltending, which is kind of all the Leafs need, but it would be better to have a little better. But we got what we got. Defense, little shaky. Bottom six, little shaky. One trade is not going to fix all of those things. And we don't have the resources. Yeah. And look. If you want to say get OK, let's pick three of them off this list. Let's grab Chris Tanev and we'll take Sean Walker and Marc Andre Fleury. OK, well, we can't afford any of them.
So that's that. I guess we're not fixing our problems. I don't know. I hate this because of the season that Matthews is having a new lander. It's like it seems like robbery to them. But I don't know. There's, this is the hand that we've been dealt. I pray that wall really turns out and he's our savior in the back end. But even if that were to happen, that still leaves a little hole on D. Like there's no real stud there other than Riley, who's like pretty close to a stud.
And there's just no way to get one this season. Like you said, maybe something in the off season, you make something work, but it's just not going to happen this year. No, I mean, I know the Leafs have talked about Rasmus Ristelainen as an option too. Like that's maybe the closest thing to what they need. Like a huge defenseman with a shot like. It's not kind of like the Lubuskin of this year. Yeah, I'd say he's better than Lubushkin. Like, maybe higher potential has been also on a shit team.
I would take Lubushkin back, honestly, and Luke Shen. being said, I don't want it to sound like super duper gloom because I do think this team can turn it on and I think some of their puck luck has not been great this year and it will turn around. But they just don't have the flexibility to make the big moves that people are really salivating for. Yeah, I think it's really got to be fixing the problems within 5 and 6 % shooting percentage. Like, look, we're halfway through February.
It shouldn't be keeping up this long. It can't keep up this much longer. Like... unsustainable. No, that's like a guy in the NBA shooting 1 .5 or to 10 free throw, like a three pointers or whatever. You can't, you can't have that. Well, on the flip side, it's like the guys at the beginning of the year who for two months are shooting 40 % and everyone goes, OK, well, this isn't going to sustain and they go back to Earth. This is crazy. Especially for a guy like Perttuzi, like that.
That's the biggest one, right? This guy hasn't scored since early December. He's got quite a big ticket. He can do it like he's come so close so many times in the last two months. And if you move him, he's gonna score wherever he goes. Like... And then if you go look on Twitter everyone's gonna say, well, he's just a playoff guy. But it would be nice if he was doing this in regular season two, boys. I'm not gonna lie. This is getting dicey.
when you drop six of eight points to the Ottawa Senators who are in last in the East, it's not great, guys. Like... yeah, yeah. We're making this harder than it needs to be. Yeah, I mean, look, if it means we're not having a matchup against the same fucking team we always do great. But I don't know, unless Bertuzzi all of a sudden turns it on and scores like two points a game in the playoffs. I'm actually worried about it. Yeah, like his defensive game has gone so much better.
The chances are there. He just... Dude can't score. He's got fucking hands of stone right now, man. Okay, who would we play if the playoffs started today? Oh no, we would play the Rangers. Ew. I think, right? The second place plays the first place wild card? Yeah, we'd play the Rangers. to the one in eight. Krazy said that at the All -Star game, and I completely agree. Yeah, if we went one through eight, the Leafs are in seventh in the east, they would play the Rangers.
Wow. It's funny how often that happens. you hear Overdrive saying that they should trade Shastrkin at the deadline? Why? Because they I think they just wanted hits. That's that's the craziest take I've ever heard. Quick is super old. He's only got a couple more years left in him. As good as he's been playing like their gopening situation right now is so enviable, but you don't trade Igor. That's that's so wild. Isn't it? wild card format versus the conference one through eight.
The Eastern matchups don't change. It's exactly the same. Crosby's like, oh fuck. It's weird because it does affect things drastically sometimes and other times it does nothing so Why not just go back to it? Yeah, obviously this is all subject to change but I haven't looked into is what does our next four games look like without Moe? Oh, so we did this last night. It's like St. Louis, St. Louis again. I think it's Philly, St. Louis, Anaheim are the next three games.
Vegas is after, I think it's the first game with MoBak. Okay Okay, so this is game one. So the next one's Flyers. Oh yeah, Anaheim. So it's Flyers, Anaheim, St. Louis again, and then Arizona. Those are the five games. Interesting. Yeah, so kind of lucked out there. Not bad timing at all. If it was seven games, the sixth and seventh game would be the Golden Knights and the Avalanche. And then the Golden Knights again after that.
So the Leafs have a really shitty three games, but this is like the most trap schedule. Like do five games against bottom feeder teams and then let's play the first place teams in the West back to back to back. But there is like clear picture, which would be great. We just rally around without Mo being here. And then when he comes back, it's hurrah, hurrah, and we win those next two games as well. We have a back -to -back away Arizona and then Vegas. Oh. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
be a Salt Lake City coyotes. Yeah, so I guess there was some news in the coyotes that came out. We can finish on that. So they said that they had interest in land like they had expressed that they wanted to purchase it. Then Betman said that they were interested in land and then they said there were multiple things they were interested in. So contradicting what Betman said.
And then they said that they were going to give them kind of till the end of this week and that Alex Murrell was going to talk to the staff of the coyotes this week, which I guess would have been yesterday or today or tomorrow. So we don't know when this news is gonna come out, but it... the first or second or third deadline that they've broken though. This year. they're telling them they're packing it in though.
Like it seems Betman is not going to give them any more runway on this because if they're going to build something that's like six years down the line. So it seems like the option is either sell the team to what's his nuts who owns the sons who doesn't want them, sell them to this dude in Salt Lake City and then wait and bring a team back to Arizona once the thing's built. or just sell them and forget about it. over until you find another owner in Arizona.
Well, I think it's just the fact that you're not gonna have an arena for six years. Like they can't afford the... that's an option that's not even viable, right? So I think at this point, the owners are breathing down Gary's neck because they don't want to pay to support this team that they were told is going to be three years max. And now it's looking like it could be a decade in a college arena if they have to wait for something to be built. You can't do that.
It's insane for a professional sport. So. ready in Salt Lake. You have a team ready in Kansas City. You have a team ready in Houston, I think. You have a team ready in Quebec City. This fucking one worked. Atlanta, that's the other one. Thank you. But that would be your third time in Atlanta. Like, what kind of look is that? Yeah, it's just like the way that I put it before is you're just expanding for the sake of paying off your problems until you solve Arizona. So they got to.
expansion fee, which is great, blah, blah, blah, but. But the owners are tired of paying for a dying, you know, whatever you want to call the coyotes. And it sucks because those players are like they've been so bad for so long that they've been drafting all of the star talent for the last eight years. And these guys are sitting there playing for nobody. And they're getting good. Like they're actually they made some trades to have a better team.
Like. Like they're well, I thought they were doing better. They're in fourth last. some pieces that you can actually build around. Yeah, oh shit, they're on their two six and two in their last 10 or otherwise before that they were doing pretty well But yeah, look you've got things to build around It's just it sucks seeing them just draft guys and trade them away like, you know, look at the look at Jacob Chikran We spent five years saying oh, when are they gonna trade him? Where's he gonna go?
Cuz it can't be at, Arizona McBain like McBain's there, right? No, no, no, I'm not crazy. I don't it's so hard to keep up with the fucking self. Anyway, I would just like to see this team sold, moved, and then try to build something in Arizona because obviously there's a market that wants hockey there. It's just the ownership group has been abysmal for way too long. They've given it every, like more than every opportunity. Yeah, and this is a point that I've seen made in Gary Betman's favor.
And I do kind of agree with this. Like, as a lawyer, he has the grounds to say he tried absolutely everything and this is on them. Like, they gave them every opportunity to make this a successful franchise. They gave them all the runway they could, and they couldn't put it together. So when they're offering to other small markets, hey, do you want to expand? They're not going to say, oh, well, what happened with the Coyotes? It's not on the league.
Like, Betman has made sure that no matter... how anyone looks at this, they know that it's not the league's fault that Arizona didn't work because they literally gave them like four miles of runway to try to get off the ground and they couldn't do it. So final question. If they leave Arizona, where would you like to see them land? I would like to see, I mean the joke answer is Atlanta because it means we'll get another Canadian team because they somehow always end up moving to Canada.
The Videotron Center was real nice in Quebec City, just driving by it. It would be cool to have another one, but I don't think Montreal and the Leafs would let it happen just with that whole compete thing they've got. Hmm. okay, if I'm taking all that out and I'm just speaking objectively, Quebec City would be cool. I think the market can take it and it would be fun to have an old team come back. I mean, I guess most of those markets, it's an old team coming back.
My pick, I think, would have to be maybe, I'm going off a little off the board here too, but I would think it would be Kansas City. Houston's also like the fourth biggest market in the U .S. that does not have a hockey team. Yeah, if we're talking like for the growth of the sport, definitely with the success of basketball in those places and how many people are like young people are moving. Oh, yeah, obviously the Super Bowl. Those guys, the sorry, we can't say Super Bowl, the mega plate.
But yeah, it's Houston's obviously becoming a hub for entertainment and lots of young people moving there. So that makes sense for sure. They've got the facilities for it. I don't like Salt Lake as much. I really don't like Atlanta. Quebec I do like, but then you're going against the small market Canadian dollar tax. It's really, really, it's a huge uphill battle. Yeah, I don't think there's really feasibly room for another Canadian team.
Like, there's no other major sport that has seven Canadian teams. Like, there's room for growth in the States to keep this game profitable, because I think at the end of the day, we need to make more money for this if the cap is going to keep going up and yada yada. So if you want a successful one that's going to be good for the league, I think Houston is probably the best pick. That's probably my guess as well. Kansas, I think you're just gonna struggle with getting people interested in hockey.
It'll be good, I think for a couple, like five years, maybe seven. And then after that, it'll just die down if they're not really like run well or like the product on the ice is not that good. Yeah, that's the what it really comes down to is, I mean, the success of Vegas comes from how much the ownership group gave a shit about winning, right? Like they weren't just building a cash cow. They wanted to win and make sure that it was a product that was going to sustain itself.
And people know what to expect. they just got the football team. They're getting the baseball team this year coming up, like Oakland moved to Vegas. So like no other city has that type of dynamic, but. Yeah, it's an interesting way to have your branding is just winning, but it worked. You know, get people used to it. Yeah, actually, it's a good point.
So if somebody is going to actually put the money in and not just be a billionaire who's writing it off, I think that's going to be the key to success in the southern states, because you need to really have a successful team, because people will get behind anything that they can cheer for because it's winning. Like. Yeah, exactly. If you give people an excuse to yell and cheer and drink, I think people are going to go. But if the team sucks, then no one's going to go.
especially if you have so many other options. Exactly, but the new expansion format does help that but I mean we're not talking expansion. We're talking We're talking moving We're talking moving the coyotes so they're They're already mostly set like we talked about they have a lot of picks It's just that the ownership group has been you know We don't want to really spend the money to build a team out and they've just kind of wrote it off. So it from like five years to five years to be the same.
So I think if someone gives a shit, makes the right trades, they're not that far off. You could have a successful product. So, yeah, it's there. Salt Lake, I think the only advantage is they've got all the Olympic facilities. Yeah, and you get like the upper left West Coast as well. Like it's even like Portland's not a bad idea to you. There's so many hockey fans up in the Northwest, but. It'll interesting to see a Mormon hockey arena. is the second team in Toronto. Yeah, I don't know.
People always talk about this, but like, I don't know, with the amount of things to go to in Toronto, are people going to really get behind another team? Like, I know New York's got two, but like, how many people are... the lease are, like how many people want to go to hockey games and GTA of like six to seven million people. Look, speaking objectively, like the Leafs are the second Leafs. The Raptors are the main team in that town and the second, yeah. I mean. Maybe not anymore.
Maybe for a few years, but... maybe not this year because they've kind of moved on from that that core but I'd say for like the last 10 years it's been a lot more people that have been interested in the Raptors and spending money on them and wearing their jerseys around and going to the games like those things. to see the numbers. I think maybe they feel a bit more prestigious because they've been to conference finals. They've obviously won it the one year, but that's pretty interesting.
I think they have more of the bandwagon effect because of that, whereas the Leafs just have this, they're always losers thing where unless you're into them by, you know, whatever thing has indoctrinated you, you kind of avoid them. But the Leafs have the thing where like your father cheered for them your grandfather cheered for them This has been passed on like for generations Well, that's what I mean.
Unless it has been passed on to you, I feel like people aren't getting into it as much as they are picking up, you know, being a fan of the Raptors of the Jays. Like, I feel like Leaf fandom is more inherited than it's, it's more, what, nature than nurture? We're born with it now. Evolution. So just to bring that back, I think if you bring another team in, like, it's already hard enough to to keep those three teams afloat as it is, like not they're doing badly.
I think it's just like it's a lot of attention divided in that city when there's a lot of other things going on. Like sports are not the biggest thing in Toronto, right? Like it's a big thing, but there's it's pretty big. But there's I'd say there's it's equal to.
other scenes there that you know I don't know there's always a hundred concerts going on and different things happening that that you have owners with like the deepest pockets maybe in all of Major Sports League like in the top five for sure. Rogers is they're so wealthy. Yeah. And then, I mean, it comes down to who's going to go up against those guys and own a team in Canada.
Like how many... If Galen Weston is going to step up and set up another team above, he's going to expand that old Maple Leaf Gardens above Loblaws into a brand new... because auto will never allow it. Lease never allow it and Buffalo will never allow it. Yeah, I think that's what it comes down to. It's all just kind of a pipe dream. we'd sooner get an NFL team before a second NHL team. be interesting just because of the off season times.
But yeah, yeah, we'll see where the the Arizona coyotes end up. Oh, do you think they'll change the I guess they'll have to change the name. They're not going to keep the coyotes. You'll want to disassociate themselves with that. Okay, what would you call them if they go to Houston? Oh god. I should thank you about that one. Longhorns. I don't know. Texas already has their Longhorns. That would be like encroaching on something sacrilegious there, I think. What do you mean? He was in Texas!
Yeah, but like the University of Texas, the Longhorns, which might be popular than fucking anything in that whole state. Yeah, true. I think there's there's ways to play around with that. Salt Lake City. Who the? The land speeders, you're over there. There's nothing you can call them. The Mormons. I was just trying to make a Mormon joke. I couldn't think of one. polygamists? We can scrub that. They'll just be called the salt lakes cities of Latter Day Saints. Brought to you by Jesus Every Night.
Ah, wicked. They never go there. Alright, that's it for tonight. Have a good night everybody. think we're done. We're done. I think it's one of the five games that no one did. Keep going. Woo. I'm sorry. Go, go, go, go, go, go. Yeah.