So I did it again.
I think I hit my wrong intro button after I went through all this thing last time
about like I made a new intro.
You know what?
Fuck it.
We talked about it, we fixed it, and now you've a great disservice to us all.
You're all sitting through this.
You're welcome.
OK, we're back.
We're back.
And it's been a bit of time.
I know.
I apologize.
Started working again and, you know, things pick up in the busy world.
And as somebody pointed out on on Twitter, we are the most inconsistent podcast.
And, you know, there's other ones that have too many ads and we're the ones that
don't.
And they miss us because we don't have ads.
See, the thing with not having ads is that means it's not a job for us.
So we have to do other things to to make money to pay rent and all that.
So this is more like a very, very overly dedicated hobby, like being a Leafs fan is
now.
At least we're number one at something.
Exactly.
Number one most inconsistent.
But you know what?
The fact that people are waiting for it, we love you for it.
Thanks.
So sorry.
But life.
Also, some of the games were at 10 o 'clock, like two of them in a row.
it's hard on the west coast wing.
I think like towards the end of the season we're going to be a lot more consistent,
especially going into the playoffs.
It'll be very irregular.
Yeah, and I missed the playoffs like our first year doing this and I still will
never get over that.
I had to do one from like work on my headphones after they lost.
It was the worst.
Yeah.
Anyway, Roscoe, Suddy and Beener here.
And it's the end of the winning streak, unfortunately, but didn't get to cover all
the games in the middle of it and the games that Morgan Riley.
But hey, some good things happened.
Timothy Lilligan proved me wrong, which I will eat like I was, you know.
kind of on him the last couple episodes before Riley got suspended and he really
stepped up.
So that was kind of the opportunity that he needed.
Like I said, those don't come off on this team.
So your top defender getting suspended is going to open that slot up and good for
him.
But where'd he go?
I don't know, you really really missed him tonight.
Just having like Riley play with Brody and all the domino effect of him not being
there.
His absence was noticeable, that's for sure.
For sure.
One quick little trivia thing before we get in.
There were a lot of hat tricks over this last little streak.
In the month of February alone, there have been four.
To bring the Leafs total on the year to five?
Total on the season to, what's that?
Six, I think?
Seven, eight, nine.
Yeah, so October 11th, Matthews.
October 14th, Matthews.
November 4th, Matthews.
November 30th, Marner, and then Matthews, McMahon, Matthews, Matthews, Bertuzzi.
That's crazy.
Just I know it's hard for me to search through this by like season, so I'm just
doing it by year.
has done alone, like I think Lemieux hasn't done it since what, 95 or something
like that?
Like it's been a really long time.
Yeah, he's got one to the four and six.
That's fucking crazy.
So I just did a quick calculation just by year again, not by season.
The Leafs have they average three point two hat tricks per calendar year.
When do you think the last time they had this many was?
Never.
So the crazy thing is the last two years, this is this has been the pace like since
they've had Matthews on the team and in his prime here, I'm looking twenty twenty
two one, two, three, four, five, six, twenty twenty three, one, two, three,
four, five, six, twenty twenty four, one, two, three, four, five already.
That hasn't happened since the 80s.
If you scroll back through this, this is insane.
This is not just Matthews, but the the.
Insane amount of scoring that is coming from all of these guys is it's crazy But
yeah, the fact that Matthews is like 50 % of these is otherworldly
So yeah, he's just proving that we're so lucky to have him, right?
And nobody can be happy with that.
They joke about it on SiriusXM all the time.
I've said many times, I listen to them all the time.
And they'll be like, you know, you have a guy scoring on a 70 -goal pace and
Matthew's doing historic things and people are complaining about the fourth line.
Because that's the Leaf fans, that's what we do, right?
And the funnier part is, is he didn't...
do this the first handful of seasons that he played.
Like yeah, he scored a whole whack of goals and he's always been on a great
pace, but it he got four in his first game and he didn't get a second hat trick I
think until his what third or fourth season?
I think you're right on that, yeah.
Yeah, I'm looking 2016 Matthews had the four goal game and then the next one is
2020.
Yeah, four years.
Like the tools are always there, right?
Cause he can take away a puck and just turn the plate on a dime and his shot,
he's mastered it right now.
So anytime he comes across that blue line, he has a great chance of scoring.
Like his shooting percentage is off the charts right now.
Yeah, the fact that he has no empty net goals this year, like the effortless NIS
with that he's.
That's also crazy, like if those had gone in, the dude would easily be hitting 70.
But no, just how effortlessly it looks every time he shoots this, like on this
stretch where he's been getting, you know, Patrick after Patrick, it's it's just like
the guy looks at the net and fires it and you think, oh, this is just going to, you
know, this is a soft one of the pads, but it goes in.
It's like, how did you see that one little hole?
And this spot that he's found in the back corner along the goal line, are you
joking?
It's like an almost impossible angle.
And he's made it like consistent.
So the beauty about that is we all know NHL players are competitive and as soon as
multiple people start saying, oh, this is the only guy that can do this or this is
the only guy that can do that, they all get uber competitive and uber focused on
trying to prove everybody wrong, right?
Like early in his career, Crosby was labeled as, oh, he can't win a face off.
What does he do?
He goes and becomes one of the best face off men ever.
They say, oh, he can't score all the goals.
He goes out and scores 51 goals and wins the rocket Richard.
Like McDavid last year.
Oh, he, Matthews is the best goal scorer.
McDavid will never score that.
Goes out and score 64.
Like these players have a history of doing that.
And yeah, the only player you saw score from basically the goal line on that type
of angle over the last three, four or five years is dry cycle.
And then now all of a sudden, oh, Matthews, oh, you'd think that he's the
only one that can do it here.
I'll just do it for fun.
Like...
you don't think he cares that he wants to be the best?
Look at the corner of his glove.
It says 80 on it.
And like, I don't know if you guys caught it, I noticed it a couple weeks ago and
then he got on this pace and it's just absolutely hilarious.
That Sportsnet commercial where, you know, oh, score 40, score 50, and then Matthews
is laughing, come on guys, that's all.
Like.
And like he might have been doing this earlier in his career too, but like he's
had wrist issues, I think really, really hampered his shooting ability.
And this seems like the first year in quite a while where he's fully healthy and
you can actually see what he can do with, you know, a hundred percent health.
Yeah, it's like the power was always there, but now it's like dead accurate
that never was not never was before.
Yeah, but it's just the release is something else from the last couple of
seasons.
and if you do the math, if you break down per season, I messaged this in our group a
couple days ago, per season up to it's like the 560 game mark or something like
that between Matthews and Ovechkin, and you break it down goals per game, Matthews
is scoring at like a 13 goals per 82 games higher clip than Ovechkin did.
Oh my God, that's crazy.
Like, where is he gonna be 10 years from now if he stays healthy is the question.
Like, the numbers are just, yeah.
potential is there to go down top three, but even maybe the best school score that
we'll ever see.
And the majority of them are five on five.
That's the big thing too.
Yeah, again, no empty netters this year is crazy.
How do you have that many ahead of the person in second place and none of them
are on an open net?
He is so valuable to our team and like a little segue.
He was maybe a tiny bit absent tonight and look what happened.
Yeah, and just before we get to that, what do we think, just talking about greats, is
more likely this season Matthews hitting 70 or McDavid hitting 140 assists, which
he's currently on pace for.
Yeah, yes and yes.
Like, there's...
I think they both do it.
You think both could happen?
I mean, that's fair.
McDavid looked at the lead Matthews had in goals and said, shit, I'm not going to
catch him there.
OK, that's hit 100 assists because only three other players have done it.
he's like, I'm just going to stop shooting because all I care about is assists right
now.
Like the way that they're both taking it in stride, I think is really great for the
game.
Yeah, that honestly was one of the better, how do I put this?
soundbites?
robotic, right?
Like he was actually, he had a personality there.
He was...
laughing.
Like it was really good.
was something that I'd see from Matthews, like it's not, you know, over the top,
like he's joking with him, but the sarcasm and like making a joke about hockey
because that's the only thing he can joke about.
But it was like he was trying to have fun and that's more than we've seen out of him
really ever.
Yeah, 100%.
And fuck, the guys got 21 goals this season.
That's crazy.
What did I see?
It was like 850 something days until he can play for the Leafs.
The countdown is on.
Him and Matthews are just going to be unreal.
McDavid's going to have like 200 assists and Matthews might have 110 goals.
Yeah, yeah, honestly, I hope that Matthews keeps this pace up and gets at least one
more hat trick this season.
Like, it's just to hit 70 in this era would be something else.
to cap it off, his defensive play is just...
That's also taken a huge step up this year.
His takeaway numbers are incredible.
He's killing penalties right now.
What he's doing on the defensive end is not quite as impressive as the offensive
end, but both of them together, he's definitely leveled up this year.
So you just reminded me of a tweet that I shared yesterday.
Like, as much as we like Matthews, the heart is more than goals.
Matthews has 52, McKinnon has 34.
To be considered as a good centerman, as McKinnon, hockey fans look at things like
giveaways.
Matthews only has 34 giveaways this year.
McKinnon's given the puck away 58 times.
Takeaways, Matthews has 60 takeaways.
McKinnon has 29.
Hits!
because the first two were both 34.
And that was gonna be a crazy stat if you kept going there.
discrepancy is insane.
Hits, Matthews at 51, McKinnon's at 40.
Blocks, Matthews at 63, McKinnon's at 52.
And Face -offs, Matthews at 53%, McKinnon's at 46.
So for...
read Twitter, Matthews is a one dimensional player, so you know.
definitely.
Finish your point, because those stats are absolutely crazy.
How well -rounded his game is is...
You can't say he's the best player in League, because McDavid is just
otherworldly, but he is easily number two, I think.
I think there's an argument that he's the best all -around player in the league.
With those stats, you can definitely argue it.
so hard to compare the two of them.
It's like Crosby and Ovechkin, I think.
It's just gonna be forever 1A and 1B.
Like, depends on who you talk to.
I think Crosby is infinitely better than Ovechkin as a hockey player.
Yeah, but I think I guess what I mean is like the way that you can't compare them,
they're just kind of both the greatest in their own way.
Like I feel like McDavid and Matthews are just always going to both be it's going to
be an argument forever of who's better.
And I think they're both right.
Like it depends on the season.
It depends on, you know, whether their team is better or not.
Like it's it's tough.
Whoever lasted the whole like dry settles way better than Matthews.
I think that debate has gone to bed, right?
Yeah.
The whole like...
in there because that guy is just so incredible too, but like other than those
three, no one is even close.
Well, as much as I hate to admit it, especially with his piss poor showing at
the All -Star game, like, Kucherov's factored in on just over 50 % of the Tampa
goals this year.
Jesus.
pretty insane.
Maybe, yeah.
You don't want to admit it, but it's true.
Yeah, I have to admit it as much as it pains me.
like the stats don't lie.
and I think we'll see a couple more appear over the next couple of years, but for
now, I'd say that's that's kind of the end of the list.
if you want to compare like Hooch's defensive game, I don't think it compares
to McKinnon's or Matthew's.
No, definitely doesn't.
Okay, so to this interesting game tonight.
I mean, who played well?
I'd say Nylander had a good game.
Marner had a decent game.
But other than that, I mean, like Matthews defensively, yeah, but everybody was
pretty quiet tonight, other than that Bertuzzi line and fucking Reeves and
Holmberg at the end of the nowhere.
Like, is it Vegas's defense is just that good?
Like, after this win streak, you think everybody's
confident they're on this high and they already beat Vegas and it just seemed like
nobody could really get anything offensive going.
I mean they got 32 shots but it felt like everything was exactly where Vegas wanted
it.
Just one of those games, right?
Like, you get one or two lapses and they end up in your net.
Like, you can't really fault Sammy on the breakaway.
That's a crap shoot.
You can't really...
Yeah, the second goal, the tip...
somebody is at fault for that.
Like, come on.
No, but -
Peter.
Riley and Brody, they're both watching the play and he just skated right up the
middle through.
Like, I don't let that happen in my beer league and I'm the shittiest player on my
team.
Like...
he was going to change lines or something?
Like, I don't understand.
They watched him.
Ugh, that was...
just one of those games where like a bunch of weird stuff happened like the skate
blade, them not challenging that high stick.
Just a bunch of weird, it was a fall game.
So I'm not really gonna read too much into what happened today.
I thought Sammy played a really good game.
He wasn't at fault for too many of the goals.
What's more important I think is how they're gonna rebound tomorrow and if
they're gonna show what they were showing for that seven game streak.
Yeah, this one felt like every single sloppy mistake resulted in a goal.
Like, you know, you can make mistakes any night and your goalie will make the save
or somebody else picks the puck up.
But this was like they made every mistake at the worst possible time in the worst
possible spot.
And it took a weird bounce off somebody or a weird tip.
And it's like, well, OK, fuck.
Like.
like even offensively, I felt they had a pretty, they had some good chances too,
just to go in the net and those chances were going in the net the previous seven
games.
Yeah, it felt like instead of taking the shots they wanted tonight, they were just
scrambling in front of the net to try to get something in or make those those
dangerous passes right in front.
And honestly, I mean, they've proved this year that they can score that way if they
need to.
And look, Brutus, you managed to put one in.
It just didn't happen.
Like, look, camp got set up.
82 games a year.
This is gonna happen once in a while.
Marner and Kempf almost had that good chance on the shorthanded one there.
But yeah, like they just they didn't get the bounces they needed.
But look, the fact that Pertuzzi did and has continued to is something that holy
shit we needed.
Well, not only Bertuzzi bearing and it looks like he's finally found his touch,
but we've touched on it all year.
He's been in the right spots.
He's had chances, just he's been the most snake bit player I think we've seen in
ages.
But despite some defensive lapses, yet again, we're missing Lily.
Realistically, they're probably going to add some form of defensive help at some
point between now and the deadline.
As you touched on, it was a decent showing by Sammy.
Like he wasn't perfect, but he didn't, he didn't resort back to his swimming.
You know, there's been times, or especially earlier this season when he's
gotten down like a goal, two goals, three goals, and he almost, he doesn't give up
on the game, but he resorts back to that over committing, over sliding.
Like what Aiden Hill did when he lost the skate blade, that was Sammy at the
beginning of the season, cause he was overplaying.
blade.
Yeah, he was overplaying the cross crease passes so badly.
So it's really good to see that back.
And then it wasn't the piss poor, they're not trying, they're just going through the
motions.
Like they were still trying.
It's just the bounces weren't going like it.
Like you said, so the losses happen, you're not going to win all 82.
But it's a better.
a better loss visually and as a fan to watch than a lot of the ones we've seen
earlier this year.
Mm hmm.
Like they weren't getting bounce this night, but they definitely didn't get beat
because they weren't competing or they were just playing poor hockey.
And to your point, like I thought Sammy played especially great in the first 30
minutes.
He kept the team in it.
He was super crisp.
There was one play where he had this rebound from that and he just cleared the
puck in the corner so quickly and moved to his lateral post like that.
He was not doing that at all at the first part of the season.
Like that's how you can tell he was super confident.
Maybe it's because he knows walls coming up, but like.
I have a hard time getting him out of the net the way he's playing right now.
Like he has to play his way out of the net, I think.
Oh my God, sorry that when he batted that in the corner, I was like, I literally
just yes, Sammy, thank you.
he wasn't doing that shit whatsoever in the first like half of the season
No, it wasn't a 6 -2 game when you watched it like on paper It looks so much worse
because like I said, they made a lot of bad mistakes But it seemed like anytime
they did get something going they it was like Oh made up penalty.
Here we go Like oh, are you kidding?
high stick, the game is over.
Yeah.
Should have.
That third goal, the timing of that third goal was bad too.
Oh, obviously with like under a minute left, especially after Batoosie just
rallied us, like you think you need to go into the third period with down one.
That's a, yeah, that's a huge momentum shifter.
even in his post -game JT was like, yeah, I was trying to feed that up to Marner
along the boards and I lost it.
It was a bad play.
The one thing for me was the high stick non -challenge because it looked like it
was pretty borderline and even if you lose it you're gonna get a penalty and you're
gonna lose that game no matter what but if you win that call you have a chance at
least.
that I don't know why they didn't do that unless there was something in the
situation room where they're like When it actually made contact with the puck it was
below his shoulder.
I don't know
Maybe because like the least team are like, they're great at making these calls.
They're almost perfect at it, but I feel like that's one you had to risk.
I don't know if it's their history, but with their history and the success rate of
their challenges that kind of almost has me not questioning it.
Like they have an angle that we don't type thing.
Yeah, it could be for sure.
But like, wouldn't you just want to roll the dice at that point?
Because you're going to lose the game anyways if you don't.
with all the questions.
Sorry, go ahead, Roscoe.
it might be worth it even just to show the guys like you're still fighting to get
that last one back instead of them being like, you why didn't you and having that
come back to the dressing room?
Like, why didn't you challenge that?
Hail Mary, but like it's, you know, a little pep to the boys, but...
not pinning the loss on the officials, but with the way some of the calls went, why
do you want to give yourself another penalty, right?
You're right, yeah, it's true.
Yeah, those calls were bad tonight.
A lot of missed things.
Oh, God.
Calls aside, though, McCabe's poor nose.
This guy...
It is never going to heal.
his nose has been mangled like four or three times.
It's unreal.
He won't recover from this.
Like, he's gonna be ugly for the rest of his life.
starting to look worse too, eh?
Like, when it's, it's not going to heal properly.
Fuck.
His cartilage is like Play -Doh right now.
hit that?
Man, I watched it on repeat.
He hit the board so fucking hard.
This guy hasn't missed a shift because of this either.
Like, let's be clear about this.
This guy is a warrior back there.
Say what you want about Dubus, but that trade for him is unreal good.
Fantastic trade and everybody pointed out he jumped right up from that like he
didn't go to the bench like he jumped He jumped right up and went back to the play.
I was like, oh fuck I am bleeding again He's been so good him and Benoit just
laying people out of something that everybody's been missing
As much as I don't want to do it, like, I used to have, part of the reason why I
actually wore this jersey, I used to have a rule where I wouldn't buy a jersey of a
player unless they either did something that I wanted to commemorate, like, you
know, never forget, or, because it would always be my luck, I'd get, I wouldn't
spend a jersey because they were a lot of money, but I'd get a t -shirt, you know,
you can get the player t -shirts with the name and number on the back, and then like
two weeks later they'd get traded or sent down to the miners and never come back.
Yeah.
like this is a Commorob Uncle Leo.
This was the first jersey I ever bought with a name on the back because it was his
third season with the Leafs and I was like, you know what?
I love this guy so much.
I don't care if he leaves.
And I'm almost at that point with Benoit, which is ridiculous because he hasn't even
played a full season.
Like I love this guy.
I actually want to buy a Benoit jersey and I don't even have a Nylander yet.
except for shooting the puck and scoring goals, but everything else he does is
amazing.
I just had to check.
Trivia question, where is Leo Komarov currently playing?
And yes, he is still playing.
Wait, no, he's...
he's...
KHL or Finland, because he's Finnish.
I said Dynamo, initially.
He plays for HIFK Helsinki in the SM Liga.
Currently in 10 -
seven languages too.
In ten games, he's got three goals on one assist.
He's still playing.
That's crazy.
He's a spark plug.
loved him.
He wasn't the best player on the ice, but he was like the anti -marcian, right?
Because...
Yeah, he just got put into bad position like where he when the Leafs were at the
lowest, he was like a top line winger.
There's no way that he should have ever been in that spot.
A great, great, great third line player, but he should not be stiffing like top two
line minutes.
Oh, the tankiers.
Good times.
Glad we didn't have to cover those games.
Started after that whole shit show.
Anyway.
So, I mean, I guess it's just pack up and reroll for the next game.
Like, the Leafs obviously, it's a seven game winning streak.
It's the first one since 2003.
There's not much to be mad about here.
It's just the little things that obviously were, the little things that need tweaking
were pretty glaring tonight because there wasn't much else to look at.
So.
Mm -hmm.
those things being JT is slowing down a little the defense has some defense has
some holes and You know the bottom six is as good as it's gonna get I think
I think the biggest thing is roster moves.
Like I think JT has got to sit over a couple of games because he's favoring his
ribs in front of the net.
Like he tried to protect the puck and just the way he was moving, you can tell that
he's definitely liberating there with Lily out and with three goaltenders coming in.
Like there's, uh, there's some moves to be made.
So JT can sit for a bit.
That actually helps us figure out the goaltending situation a bit, but yeah.
I mean, figure it out, still, you can only play one of them at a time, and it looks
like we've got five, if you include Hilda Beast, so I don't know what the hell
Brad's gonna do.
There's three.
There's Jones, there's Sammy, and there's Wall.
That's all there is.
And yeah, we'll see what happens with Murray, but...
Didn't Marty call at the beginning of the season?
Murray comes back for playoffs.
No, there's no fucking way this guy sniffs the roster.
I can't believe they're letting him practice with the team.
Like this guy should be out with a beer league team or something right now.
Figuring stuff out in the summer.
But yeah, there's no way that he should be around the big team because Sammy Norwalt
needs to deal with that stuff.
are on the roster right now?
Well, that's what I mean.
He's practicing with the team.
Why would they have him practicing if they don't intend on playing him this year?
Like, to your point, like, I thought they were just gonna say, yeah, we'll talk in
the summer.
Just go do whatever you gotta do.
Why is he here?
I agree with Biner because when he first signed, I was a huge advocate of him.
What he did in Pittsburgh was unreal.
He's got the pedigree, but his injury status and his just non -availability
since he's been on the Leafs, I don't think it warrants another chance,
especially like right now.
But let's hear what you have to say.
a couple things here.
One, I agree.
Like.
What it would do to the psyche of Samsonoff and Wall, if you were to throw
Murray in for a game when he hasn't played in a year and a half, like that would be
my biggest concern with just throwing him in.
But, that being said, look at the Riley suspension and look at some of the
comments that were made about why he got what he got.
Take everything out of there, the fact that, you know, he...
crosscheck someone in the face intentionally the fact that he didn't have
a history Like there nothing seems to add up with some of the suspensions,
especially when it comes towards the Leafs Spezza and Riley both neither of them had
a history at all and Yet they got multiple games.
Whereas other guys do the exact same damn thing and they get fines There is always a
spotlight on Toronto whether people like it or not.
There always is I guarantee you if someone saw Matt Murray out in public
just walking down the street without a limp and without a cast, they would be
calling the NHL office immediately saying that the Leafs are breaking the rules and
he's not actually hurt.
So sure, give him a stall, let him practice.
If you don't intend to play him, whatever, because then everybody can say, hey,
they're shooting pucks at him.
If he can't feel comfortable in net and he can't come back, like they're trying.
I hadn't considered that.
Like, do you think it's an optics thing?
Maybe they went to both Wall and Samsonov and been like, he's not gonna play.
We're doing this for this reason.
Hmm.
that, because the Roboto Island thing is such a big joke, right?
Like...
Reeves.
He comes out and says he's okay to play and all of a sudden the next game, oh,
we're taking him off IR because he's okay.
Like they got called out and the league was like, hey guys, enough of this
bullshit.
not pretend that teams don't bury people in iron stuff, but you might be very right
on this.
Yeah.
But Toronto is on a way bigger microscope.
100%.
And it's come to the point where like, look, Tampa got the 0 .18 mil over the
cap.
This has become the Leafs thing.
Robo .island has become what the Leafs joke is.
This is how we get around the salary cap.
So instead of.
the real question, like is what are you gonna do if you send Jones down?
He's 100 % gonna get claimed.
Do you trade one of these goaltenders before the deadline and just roll the dice
that one of them don't get hurt?
It's a real, real big question I think going forward.
Maybe the biggest question going forward for the Leafs.
think the safest thing to do is you trade Jones for a pick to use in bringing
somebody else in because you're safe enough to have Wal Sampson off.
And if you absolutely have to, Hildeby, and then there's Murray, but like you're
kind of opening yourself up to.
What do you get like a fifth, seventh room?
I don't know.
Go ahead, Dean.
the deadline for Martin Jones, I think you'd be able to get like a third.
I don't think so.
If you guys had to guess how much cap space you see the leafs at right now.
Uh...
four million?
Oh, that was a lot more generous than I thought you were going to say.
2 .1.
let's say one.
don't know, they've had a lot of people on IR, so.
So you can activate wall and you still, you don't need to do anything.
But you can only dress so many players, right?
Yeah, but if you're truly worried, like send, send Lajoie down.
Or Robertson, silly forwarder, can go down to you without being claimed.
only dress two goalies though.
Well yeah, you don't - I'm not saying dress 3.
On your roster, you can have three though.
Yeah, you don't have to dress every player that you have up for your roster, right?
I guess you can just healthy scratch one of your goalies and just hold them.
Yeah.
I get it.
such a big thing going forward.
there's.
a position to be carrying a goalie on the cap to sit.
Like if you want to make a move at the deadline to bring somebody else in, you
need that extra like million or whatever it is that Jones is going to eat up or
under a million, but still.
now they're carrying eight defensemen and 13 forwards and they have two million in
cap space.
so they can definitely afford to activate wall without doing a damn thing other than
sending someone who can actually go down without waivers like Glugeois.
Lizzo Robertson, like Gregor, yeah exactly.
And I think they might do that until the deadline too.
It's nothing that has to be done right now.
Yeah, and to your point, Johnny, I think you're right.
Jones is the guy who's going to go.
A slow hand clap for him, like he probably saved our season in December and
everything.
That's the way he played.
It was unexpected.
But if you have a tandem of Samsonov and Wall going forward, you cross your fingers
that they're both going to be healthy.
But those are the best two guys to go forward with.
Yeah, and also to give credit to Jones for, I guess, turning his own career
around because when he came into the Leaf system, he wasn't going to even really be
playing starting minutes like he was on the Marlies and they brought him up.
Right.
So like this guy.
not like he sucked the year before.
He did great in the playoffs in Seattle.
Like this guy's got a record of being a good goaltender, even with San Jose.
got a record of being a sub 900 goaltender.
He has the record of being the like actually being the worst starting
goaltender of the last couple of years, who's actually still a starting
goaltender.
But obviously, that means his he's been on bad teams.
It's his numbers are reflective of that.
But the fact that, you know, people weren't offering him a starting position,
you know, he he turned an injury and.
opportunity with the Leafs into probably going somewhere because the Leafs can't
afford to wave him because he's going to get claimed.
he was also waived at one point, like he didn't get picked up.
So.
So, you know, now he's in a position where people are going to be fighting for him,
I'm sure.
This is a good problem to have too, because the Leafs are not notorious for
having depth in net, and they really do right now.
Yeah, that's the other thing is that's see, fuck, I was just gonna say that's the
thing.
It's good to have the depth, but it's like we can almost afford to get rid of some of
this.
I think we actually have a surplus.
I think we're so delicate going into the playoffs that I wouldn't want to rely on
Hilda Beast right now.
That's not even an option for me.
It depends on how much he, like, I wish Keith had played him those few games that
they brought him up and he was sitting on the bench, like, there was a, but it was
like the beginning of February or like late January, they definitely could have
just given -
lays an egg for two games and all of a sudden all you're gonna talk about is how
this guy is shit and he's not anything.
He's gonna have his time and it's not right now.
But two games is not gonna tell you what he is.
This guy's great, like we know he's actually gonna be good.
He's gonna have his chance, but it's not right now.
So I'm actually really glad they didn't.
Actually, to Justin's point, you do know for this year.
And then you can make a decision without having the question mark of, well, there
is still Hildeby.
No, we tried that already in January.
this year.
This guy would have played one or two games, that's it.
That's his sample size.
Same is not gonna be here next year.
Jones is not gonna be here next year.
It's gonna be Wall and it's probably gonna be Hilda Beast.
He's gonna get his chance then.
Yeah.
Well.
still got the two Russians.
I'd sooner fucking get flurry than before him.
Hexa and Octyamoff as well.
Yeah.
Who's that tall tall motherfucker we signed to?
Hildeby.
I think Hildeby is the tallest one in our system.
Okay, just to steal one from the broadcast tonight, they brought up a couple names,
but the two that were discussed were for defensive options.
Yeah, the two defensive options, Ilya Labushkin and Sean Walker.
Which one do you like more?
I'm definitely not siding with Draeger.
I'm not really an insider.
Like, fuck.
Dragon is worse.
He might be worse than Kipper.
Like, why would they go - Ah, that's Bushnet.
Why would they go after LeBouchkin?
Like, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the guy, but we've had him
before.
-handed shot, that's the only thing he has going for him really.
He's a bit nasty on the D -line but...
did like him when he was here.
I mean, he lays people out and he's got a decent shot and he's right handed.
I think that's kind of it.
He was like Luke Shen light.
have been wild for that now.
Yeah, he gets turned around a lot.
His break -up passes are not very good at all.
And they're talking about having him play with Morgan Reilly, like...
Yeah, 100%.
Really you need somebody that's not TJ Brody to play with Morgan Reilly.
To his credit, Marc Giordano had a good game, but they still need somebody that's
solid and can play more.
like you want to enter your seventh defensive probably, right?
He can't be playing every night.
Oh my god, he was I say he had a good game.
He had a good game until he decided to pass it to William Lagas and instead of
Austin Matthews, who was wide fucking open.
Sure, at a boy geo.
But no, TJ Brody and Morgan Riley were like minus four together tonight.
So obviously Riley's partner needs to change going into the playoffs because
that one this year is just not
Not at all.
Oh my god, Tanev's rumored to everywhere about the Leafs now, so I don't know what
the plan is.
At this point I don't even know if I...
like...
okay.
Saying I don't want to have sounds stupid?
Yeah, I don't think that's the greatest fit.
no, I don't either.
I just don't really know what is available out there, but Brad could really just go
off the board and find something else.
I don't know.
I think it would have to be off the board because the obvious people like you said,
Tenev, Hanifin, Larson for Seattle is even like a long shot but it would have to be
someone who maybe has some charm and you're gonna have to give up a bit of
capital just to get him.
Yeah, and the little bit that we have, are you spending it on that?
Like, shitty position.
lately.
Don't feel too great about that.
But I used to love him.
I think his play has gone down, but...
What if John Klingberg comes back guys?
Well, see, a name I like.
just remembered when I said that the John Klingberg is a leaf, by the way?
Because I'm sure some people did.
It's deep in this year, psyche.
Yeah, it's definitely a well -known part of this season.
Like, what about St.
Louis?
You talking perico?
Pareco played together at Worlds, at least once.
I've always liked them.
got a huge hit, like his number is massive.
6 .5, it's not horrible.
massive, isn't he?
pretty long too though.
What was that?
Roscoe, sorry?
be honest, I haven't seen too much of him this year, but when he played against the
Leafs, he got turnstiled a couple times.
I thought...
And that's a two -game sample size, right?
So his season might be way better than that, but from what I've seen, it
wasn't...
When he was on the cup run, that's not the way he's playing right now.
No, no, no.
Ugh, and his base salary is eight million.
But the last couple of years, it's 4 .8, so it does make it easier to trade, but
he's got a full, well, he's got a modified no trade in the last two years, but it's a
no trade clause.
So you'd have to waive it to go to Toronto.
an upgrade for sure.
Like if he's on the team, he's probably better than we have right now.
He's not waving it to go to Toronto though.
At that point in your career, why not?
Yeah, Seattle's, maybe St.
Louis isn't doing anything.
It, it, it, to me, we don't need a, a Lubuskin.
We need someone who can cut back on Brody's minutes.
That way Brody can be more effective and give us a better version of himself in his
current state and position in his career.
So you, you almost need to go for a massive big splash.
Like, I hate to say it, but do you capitalize on the publicity that Cowboy's
getting?
I love the kid.
Like, he plays for the Knights, they're my local OHL team, like, I love him.
And I do think that was a diamond in the rough find, and, you know, the Leafs have
found a handful of diamonds in the roughs that turn out to be decent third and
fourth line players.
Mm -hmm.
really found a ton of Diamond in the Roughs that have been first and second
line players.
Right?
Like, Nye's aside.
Yeah, like a lot of people like compared to Marsha or something like that.
I don't think that kid's ceiling is that high.
I think what he's doing right now with the OHL is incredible and like hats off to
him.
But maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't think it's going to translate as much to
the NHL as other people think.
So if you do put him in a trade proposal right now, like you said, it'll never be
higher than what it is right now.
So.
missed the name.
Oh, oh, cowboy.
Okay.
That's what I was like.
What are you?
Okay.
Easton Cowan.
Yeah.
city farmer.
is not even nearly as close.
So like, Dallas is kind of going through the same thing right now.
Because what are you going to do if you're in a way for this guy to develop and
hopefully play with Matthews and Marners in two or three years?
Our window is right now until two or three, four years from now.
So yeah, yeah, I think you do.
If you can get a really great defenseman back, you look into that.
Like unless you're viewing him as, you know what, this is the last season he's
gonna be in the OHL and he's gonna take Bertuzzi's minutes next year.
Or I'm just throwing a name out there, right?
Like unless you have that set in your mind, you know what, he's taking those
minutes next year, you have to look at every possible outcome you can to
solidifying this team during this window.
And I don't think he is at that point right now in his career.
I think he needs another year of seasoning.
I think he needs another year of like getting bigger and bulkier.
So yeah, if you were to ever trade this guy, it is right now.
So what about Rasmus, Bristline and then?
Why?
There is way too much scar tissue there.
Like...
big giveaway machine too.
I don't like the way he breaks out of his end whatsoever.
He loses his guy a lot.
He's like, he's a little boosh almost like he can hit like crazy.
He's a bit nasty back there.
But other than that.
Um, what about...
looking at right D Nick Jensen Adam Larson
Larsen's an interesting name for me.
He's a puck moving guy, he's pretty quick, he fits into the Leafs play.
He's a UFA at the end of the year, so it would mean...
Oh, no, sorry, the end of next year.
Oh yeah, get a pale T .S.
for that guy.
Well and that's the other thing, if you're gonna give up such a high prospect, it
would be better if you could get something similar to McCabe.
That it's not just a rental for this year.
Like it doesn't have to be long term, but a little bit of term.
And I saw that you knew where I was going, cause I jokingly messaged our group chat
about moving Cowan for Saros.
Cause I'm a short shit goalie and Saros is a short shit goalie, so.
Stop.
You're a goaltender.
like.
at Andrew peak because Columbus is in shambles and the guy's got three years at
2 .75.
He's 25 years old.
He has no trade protection.
Well, and there's rumors that the Leafs were interested in someone like Jenner.
So like, do you do a package?
But it's so tough.
Because there's all these defensemen out there who...
And we might even just be focusing too much on like a right -handed D.
Like really, we just need someone who can cut back on Brodie's minutes and be a
decent partner for Riley.
not having Lillagran tonight with the right, like forcing everybody to on the
wrong hand, like that kind of resulted in a lot of defensive lapses.
Like it does affect them.
play on your offside in the NHL and you've made it to the NHL, then I think you have
bigger problems.
I don't know -
but like to Ross's point, like, Lily's absence did show like a weakness in our DE
for sure, but...
And it's weird hearing Roscoe say that after he's been ripping on him all year.
Um...
no, but to be fair, what I said, what I said was he needed to step up and he
hasn't been given a lot of opportunity because he's been buried on the third pair
with Gio for most of the year.
So given this opportunity, he stepped up.
So I'm glad, but my critique kind of stood and he was given an opportunity.
Here we are.
He's going to have to, and like against all of Toronto media, like we do have the
capital to pull off a trade.
We have a first down pick.
We have Easton Cowan.
We got Midden.
We got Robertson.
There are pieces to get a trade done.
If you want camp to even out some money, we do have stuff like that too.
And we're also forgetting like how the yarn crook is coming back too.
I always forget about him too, because he's been gone for so fucking long now.
So, I don't mind, yes he hasn't had the greatest of years, but I don't mind the
Damba idea.
Yeah, I was huge on him early in his career.
he has played very good defense in his career in the past.
He is your right -handed shot.
He plays a little grittier, plays a little bit of an edge.
Like, I think he could potentially be a really good fit for someone like Riley.
Yeah, I'm actually not opposed to it either.
followed a lot of Minnesota games, but you know if he played with someone like a
Brodean or Why am I blanking on their captain right now?
The other offensive defenseman from Minnesota not Brodean
Oh Jesus Christ, I can't even think of it right now either.
Minnesota, I forgot you're on NHL team for a second.
The...
Oh my god.
Anyways, whether he played with Brodean, whether he played with him, who we can't
name, him who we shall not name, he has had that opportunity to play with an
offensive minded defenseman.
So he could actually be a sneaky perfect partner for Riley.
Right?
Oh, he can for sure be had too.
Jared Spurgeon.
We're sorry buddy.
It's not your fault you play Minnesota.
when you type in the team in on Google, you can hit like players just like on the
quick thing.
I figured, oh, they'll show up there.
He doesn't even show up on this list.
I'm looking at Zach Bogosian.
The defensemen it shows are Brodean, Faber, Bogosian, Merrill, and Murmus, and
Jake Middleton.
Like it literally doesn't show Spurgeon.
Are you joking?
So I was.
now.
know who would be the best D on this team right now?
This is Jake fucking Munson.
Remember when we used to have him?
The trajectory of this team would have been so much different if he stayed
healthy.
if he didn't literally break his neck.
Yeah.
That guy got like absolutely shredded and I feel so bad for his body.
Ugh.
If you could find someone who plays like him, then...
we're laughing.
I mean, I feel like McCabe is kind of getting towards that.
Like, he's in that vein.
He's like a muzzin light.
got the shot here and there.
He'll hit like that.
His defensive play is pretty good.
He's a muzzin light for sure.
Oh my God, I did not notice until the the announcers pointed out because we don't
see Vegas that often, but they're like, Shane's theater just fires pucks from the
point nonstop for tips.
And they pointed it out when they were on the power play.
He just all all he does when he has the puck is in the exact same spot, just
rifles it to the net.
I'm like, why don't we have somebody that fucking does that?
That looks so easy.
It was a pretty good play.
Yeah, they had a...
They were running that all night.
Ugh.
Okay, let's go to questions because we got a couple of those.
So from Mike the Fanatic, who's ready for playoff officiating?
Woo!
Honestly, with this team, I think we're a little bit better built for it.
Are we though?
the penalty even with this...
yeah.
Tonight's not a great example.
Keith did get tossed.
lately.
So...
on Marner at the end was so bad.
If anything, it was nice for slashing.
If we're talking about like playoff PK, I'm more worried about playoff power play
to be quite honest with you.
That's, that's what we have to turn around this year.
Yeah, because honestly, if Nylander is going to be taking this many minutes on
the PK, like that's a nice addition to the for playoffs this year that we didn't have
last year.
The dude's got two short handed goals already.
Yeah, I was gonna say not only Nyland or Matthews has been as well.
And then that can cut back, like nothing against Camp, but that can cut back on
some of his ice time.
Like he's a great player as long as he's utilized properly.
And I think he was overused on the penalty kill.
And then it started to hinder his game in other areas.
Like, realistically, I don't think we have to worry about the big boys.
We need to worry about what everybody's been talking about all year.
the consistency of the secondary scoring.
Like if we can...
the answer.
Go ahead.
if Bobby McMahon's gonna score here and there and Bertuzzi's picking it up, not
that he's a second, he shouldn't be a secondary scorer, but he basically is at
this point.
Holmberg has looked good.
I mean, there's some, it's starting to come in, but like, eh, it's still not
where it needs to be.
I feel like this team is more equipped to handle playoff penalty kill just because
there's a lot more people doing it and a lot more high -end skilled people doing
it.
just want to see...
like, camp doesn't need to be out there for 90 % of his minutes being against top
line players.
Like, that's kind of silly.
Yeah, I just like look at the most short -handed goals in history.
Like some of the best players that have ever played the game are up in that list.
Like the Mew I think is in the top five all -time for short -handed goals.
Like you want your best players out there at all times and Matthews and Marner,
Marner especially, because he's been doing it for years, but this year Matthews is in
there too.
Like they are proving what?
Gretzky, Mark Messier, Steve Iserman, Marielle Lemieux, guess who's number five?
Brad Marshall.
Dave Poulin.
Pooley.
Hmm.
But yeah, to be honest point, even if...
Because if you have a game where we're just on the penalty kill all the time,
you're taking your top -line players out of it.
They're out of the rhythm and everything, so if they can kill a penalty here or
there, even half of one, they're way more engaged in the game.
I'm just more worried about the entire team playing as a team because we got so
far away from that at the beginning of this season that it was embarrassing to
watch some of these games.
Like it truly was and as a Leaf fan we haven't had to deal with that since you
know the tank years.
So that was a hard adjustment to get back to because last year there was a lot more
focus on team defense and there's even been some games this year I think it was
the St.
Louis game that
the Leafs just, it wasn't the prettiest game in the world, but they played as a
team.
They can play with that structure, they've shown it.
So this will be a really good test, seeing this loss and seeing how they bounce back
to it, if they can get back to how they've been playing the last handful of games.
Yeah, and there was like those three games in a row where they kept their opponents
to under 20 shots or like around that.
I mean, that's something that we haven't really seen this team be able to do.
So if they can keep something like that up in the playoffs, like, yeah.
Team D, sorry, you're running for a sec.
One.
Okay, so fun fact on Brad Marshawn.
He has 35 short -handed goals.
That puts him four behind Dave Poulin and a bunch of other people that are tied at
39.
He's the only active player who's anywhere close to this record.
So he only needs five more and Brad Marshawn will be the fifth all -time short
-handed goal scorer at 40.
That's crazy.
Mm -hmm.
I can't stand him.
I never pegged him for a shorthanded wizard like that.
So the second half of Mike's thing here, also can we please discuss the absolute
sack of shit human being that is Nick Cousins?
Did you see this clip from the Buffalo, Florida game?
I did.
So for any who didn't, Nick Cousins was lying on the ground a la soccer mode with
his hands over his head like, I'm in pain.
And then as soon as the fight breaks out, he jumps to his feet and grabs, who is
this from behind?
Bryson, yeah.
Jumps at Bryson from behind, literally two hands around the guy's neck, leaves his
feet.
The same dude who, this is a four second long clip.
That's how long it takes him to go from I'm hurt to I'm fighting someone.
Like, what?
Where did Nick Cousins come from on the the hit list here?
Like, he was the top of the anonymous voting for like, most punchable face in
the NHL.
Like, everyone in the league hates this guy.
Well, it like, basically almost the whole Panthers team got that not reputation, but
that kind of aura about them last year in the playoffs.
And I don't know if it's Kachuk coming in, because, you know, the Kachuk brothers
kind of have that way about them.
Like how many times has Brady been tossed from a game at the end of the third period
this year because they've been losing and he just loses his shit.
You fucking bit me, who bites?
Like, Cousins is just, he's Marchand without the scoring ability.
Like really, he does all these stupid little things.
Oh, you're muted, Suddy.
He does all these stupid little things that just drive people insane, these dirty
plays, and then he gets up, like he's, you know, thinks he's the big man on campus
still.
He's the biggest rat in the league.
This guy is such a piece of shit.
If you're going against him, all you do is think about this motherfucker and like to
the detriment of your own play because he gets in your head.
He's not nearly good enough that you should be focusing this much on this
player, but he is such a rat.
He's such garbage that you can't help but do it.
Oh God, man.
If you're, you're imagine the people who actually have to play against this guy.
We're just
a guy on my team, it was exactly like Cousins, and then we played an All -Star
game and like we all went in the dressing room and everyone wanted to fight this
fucking guy just because he was such a dirtbag and that's what Cousins is.
He will never answer the bill, but he will pretend to be dead on the ice, the ref
turns his back and he'll jump you from back like he's still in Cold Steve Austin
or something.
what we were just talking about.
I would jump Bryce into the Bruins game or the Sabres game while he was like lying on
the ground like he's dead.
And like, I almost had to tip my hat on because like the league hasn't had a rat
like this guy in a super long time.
He's Claude LeMou, like Claude LeMou almost, but like with half the skill.
Yeah, it's weird in an era where it's not commonplace and it's like, you're the only
one to see somebody do this.
Like you stick out, right?
Like it's anytime somebody takes us.
Yeah, there's always like a couple of them, but the.
bell once in a while, this guy turtles.
So it even pushes him further.
Like he's, he's an unparalleled territory right now.
Okay, we got fun guy South Park out explain how we only got one partial power
play the whole game Yeah, the officiating this game was very very very very bad Like
I don't know what happened and but near to the bass and how I love how the refs work
so hard even a makeup calls until the Leafs are down in the third Yeah, everyone
was pretty pissed about the the calls
Yeah, it wasn't great.
One point against the Leafs.
I feel like none of the players really drew any penalties.
There was no opportunities for us to really call one just with them moving
their feet all the time.
But to your point, a lot of the calls against the Leafs were pretty takey tack.
And it's the timing of them too, like five minutes left in the game after a goal like
that, you're gonna call a penalty on the team that's coming back.
Like it's just kind of against the integrity of the league, you know?
The Leafs draw such an astronomically low number of penalties compared to how much
puck possession they have, like it almost doesn't make sense.
It doesn't.
Hey, they've had a couple five on threes this year and they've scored on like all
of them.
how often Nylander, Matthews, Mara will go around the offensive zone.
Like you think you would get a tripping call, a hooking call, a holding or
something like that.
They just, they don't draw a ton of penalties.
And the guy who actually has been doing it lately is Bertuzzi.
And he didn't tonight.
Oh, sorry.
So one last thing I want to touch on before we head out tonight, because I do
have to work early in the morning.
If you were to sell your likeness for a video game that was going to be played
forever and ever, what would you expect to be paid by a billion dollar corporation
for your likeness to be in said game?
I would be surprised to be paid at all if I'm being completely honest.
how good I am.
Say you were an NHL player and you were being put into an NHL game, what would you
expect to be compensated for them using your likeness for said game?
I can't imagine it would be a lot because you'd have the whole union and there's so
many players that the game couldn't possibly afford to pay for that many.
I know where you're going with this, but...
That's a pretty good question.
I couldn't even answer it.
I'm actually seeing if I can find what the NHL games pay, but I don't know if you can
find that anywhere.
Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because EA, who brought in $7 billion last
year, is bringing back their NCAA football series.
And they have announced that for the first time ever, they are offering the highest
payout for these athletes, which, if you're not familiar,
They don't have that many opportunities to be paid for anything.
So it's not hard to say that you're paying them the most for a video game because I
think you're the only ones that ever have because it's very new that they're able to
sell their likeness.
So EA said any of the 11000 players that are part of the college system can opt
into the game and they will receive six hundred dollars in a free copy of the
game.
Which equals if every single one of them, let's call it six hundred and eighty
dollars.
times 11 ,000 players.
That is $7 million.
Seven million.
I know exactly.
That's the look.
It's yeah, it's a lot of players you got to pay.
But when you actually do the math on it, it's really not that much when this is a
company that brings in seven billion.
And this is NCAA football.
This game costs $80 at launch.
What if you're like Kayla Williams or like Marvin Harrison Jr.
or something like that?
You're going to go top three in the league.
In the draft, sorry.
apparently said go fuck yourself.
Like, I'm not doing that.
Yeah, of course you are.
600 bucks for your likeness for even like one year's worth of play on the video game
is insane.
These guys get totally screwed on their jersey sales.
These universities make so much money on their likeness and they're just this is
another like brick on the wall for how much they're getting screwed.
It's crazy.
Oh yeah, 500 ,000 copies of this game, that's 40 million in revenue.
Like, you know, obviously before expenses and things, but like this game is going to
make a shit ton of money.
Seven million is like a drop in the bucket.
So for comparison, let's say what's a more respectable, something that would help a
college per, like student and athlete.
Let's say it's two grand, okay.
Times 11 ,000 players.
If.
Every single one of them opted in.
That's twenty two million dollars.
The difference between that, like it's just looks so much better to have
something that's like here's a month's rent potentially.
And like, I mean, it's the states.
It's more than that.
Right.
In US dollars, that's substantial for these guys.
Six hundred bucks for it just seems like a slap in the face.
I don't know.
And to brag about it and try to make yourself seem like you're
you're doing a great thing by offering this to all these players.
It just seemed like a, you know, we're the first ones, so we get to say we're the
best.
Now, I don't know, I don't follow NCAA football at all.
Is there still...
Well yeah, that being said, I haven't really followed CFL a lot this year
either.
Like, what are the rules with regards to payment and reimbursement?
Because I know with, like say the CHL for example, like, they, the players get paid
basically fuck all.
And...
I feel...
Like they're amateurs, right?
Like they're not professionals and some people take that a little too literally
even the leagues themselves There's restrictions as to how much they are
allowed to make for their likeness for what they're doing, which is I'm not
saying it's right but
like those rules are in place.
on how much they can make.
NCAA earnings.
I feel like they can make endorsement money off them, but they don't think they
get anything off Jersey sales off any of their likeness for their own teams and
stuff like that.
If like, if they get sponsored by the company, they can make money that way.
But other than that, I don't know if they actually do.
So it says, a thick portion of the rulebook that governs amateurism and
athletics eligibility will not be enforced if a student receives payment in exchange
for the use of the athlete's name, image, or likeness, also known as NIL.
The NCAA also agrees to allow athletes to have representation in connection with
their NIL activity.
So it doesn't seem like there's a cap on it.
They're just saying, like, this is now, like, we're handing this over to you guys.
We're not going to regulate that at all.
The whole thing is weird, like even for like OHL, like you said, CHL players, that
the discrepancy for the amount of money these owners and everyone makes off their
backs, they get nothing in return.
I want to see here.
Yeah, here Madden NFL 24 nearly a million dollars revenue achieved in first week on
steam.
So that's just PC that's not even including consoles.
But a number of Madden NFL 24 copies sold during the same period was equally notable
nearly 20 ,000 copies finding their way in the hands of players.
So there they make a shit ton of money off of this.
Yeah, if I were like a college player and you're offering me 600 bucks and I'm going
to go in the top in the number like the first, you know, first round draft pick,
there's no way I'm saying yes to it.
especially with how big college sports are and EA is trying to make this big return
to it.
Like put some money behind your words, you know.
Again, it doesn't even have to be two grand.
Like it's just fuck even $1500.
That's 16 million.
They could do that.
They're going to make all that back in microtransaction.
And again, this is every single player gets into it.
Anyway, I just want to talk about this because I think it's kind of crazy that.
I love how like the fourth running back on some team is making the same amount of
money.
It's like the Heisman Trophy winner.
exactly.
Like, it just seems like there's no thought put into it other than like, oh,
we're just offering this to college athletes.
It's like, well, you're kind of devaluing them each individually by doing that.
Especially if they have representation looking after their NIL rights, like their
agents gonna say no, no, we're not taking that.
Like if they're top people, they're gonna say no, we're in commercials for like six
figures.
I'm not doing that.
working with Gatorade next weekend, like are you joking?
we got BioSteel and Prime.
Get out of here.
It's definitely not bio steel.
Oh yeah, I forgot about that.
But there's still, I still see the bottles behind the benches.
Are they just like holding on to empties?
Because they're collectibles now?
Well, I think the product's still out there, but the company's going under.
Are they not?
They're owned by Canna whatever.
No, Canopy Growth.
But Mike, he's the founder of it, but they're owned by Canopy Growth, the grow
up.
Yeah, yeah, my Camelari in 2009.
In 2010, Gary Roberts reported that ice hockey players were drinking bio steel.
There it is.
They got Gary to say it.
And then 2019 canopy growth acquired 72 % of it with plans to infuse can can a bit
cannabidiol infused bio steel on the market.
And then that just didn't happen.
Yeah.
And they filed for bankruptcy in September.
and they owe the NHL and a bunch of teams a lot of money.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So that ended.
I did want to talk about the enhanced games, but we could do that next time
because that's not happening until December.
But that's a thing.
So if anyone wants to send in questions or anything about that.
Also, Mikey D, what's your hype level for GTA 6?
I saw the trailers when they first came out and I was super excited about it and
then it said like 2025 so I didn't really give a fuck until maybe the winter.
See, I am kind of excited because I just watched the trailer again last night
actually because I was testing out a new video thing on my laptop.
But I have not got a PS5 yet.
So the fact that it's not coming out till next year, I might like wait to see if it
comes out on like the next gen console and I can kind of skip getting a five.
So the timing is nice for me, but I do get that it's been since 2013 since five came
out.
I'm looking forward to the actual story mode of it.
Five was really fun, switching between people.
Justin, did you play GTA V?
I think the last one I played was Vice City.
Well, this one's going back to Vice City.
Six is...
Vice City was the first one I played.
Well, actually I played one and two, but I didn't know that they were Grand Theft
Auto games because they're so much different.
or Andreas, wasn't that after Vice City?
Oh, okay.
I think it's the next one after that.
But yeah, it's cool because 6 is VI, so it's vice.
Yeah.
Going back to Vice City.
I have a kid, so my amount of time to play these games, especially games that he
cannot be awake while I play them, is very limited.
So I see about a 0 .4 % chance that I ever play a minute of this game.
Fair enough.
The only thing that I really am looking forward to is the fact that it's resetting
the online world.
If anybody played five, the longer a game is out, the more the in -game economy gets
broken.
So that game's been out since 2013.
So imagine a world where everybody gets to rob a bank every day and there's no
repercussions for it and the money just infinitely replenishes.
When the game came out, you could buy like, you go on your phone, you can buy
like cars.
The cars were like,
you know, 12 ,000 or 30 ,000 or 50 ,000.
Those cars now are like $600 million to buy because the inflation is just
absolutely fucked.
Like the game has just been out too long and there's too much money in circulation
in the game.
So the fact that they're...
affected a fictional economy.
Jesus Christ.
my God.
So the fact that, the fact that they're resetting it for, well, I'm hoping they
don't just continue GTA online and they do a new one.
Oh God.
I didn't even think of that.
But yeah, that needs to be reset because it's gotten out of hand.
Oh yeah, you got to go back from zero.
There's also like people it's so inaccessible for new players because it's
been out so long everyone's just flying around with rocket launchers It's like
well, I can't I can't do anything because I'm just getting killed so Yeah, I'm
excited for GTA 6 Mikey.
That's my short answer But with that I think yeah, I think we're we're outie
anybody got anything
Nope, the world is not collapsing after this one loss.
We're going to go on to Arizona on Thursday and let's see how we respond.
Oh my God, it's Arizona again, at home.
out to Toronto and the PWHL.
Nice overtime win tonight over Minnesota.
After a slow start to the season, they've clawed their way up to third in the
league.
Nice.
Sorry, I'm just pulling up the Arizona Coyotes record at Toronto.
It's not good.
I mean, the Arizona Coyotes record is quite good.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's not good for Leafs.
The 2020 was the last time they lost to the Leafs at home.
Again, Toronto.
Fuck.
We turn it around this Thursday.
I hope so.
Oh my god.
we touched on it.
That'll be a good test for the Leafs because like everybody always says the
good teams bounce back.
They have one of these games and then they come back.
And what does Toronto typically do against bottom feeders?
Shit the bet.
So, you know, you could silence or slay two dragons almost with this.
You bounce back properly.
You win the game against a bottom feeder.
Matt Dumba can just switch locker rooms at the end of the game.
Hahaha.
Oh man.
You
The trainer just walks out and carries his bag over and you're with us now.
Who was it, Alex Nylander, that just did that, from Pittsburgh to Columbus?
He did.
Oh true, I guess that was just switching planes, eh?
business and yeah.
By the way, shout out to all the NHL GMs who continue to troll Dubus by picking up
any player he puts on waivers.
You
Who was it this time?
I, um, Colin White, right?
Ottawa picked him, or not Ottawa, Montreal picked him up.
Like, the Leafs had Jones clear.
Right?
The Leafs had Jones clear.
doesn't get picked up.
Yeah.
legend Colin White, yeah.
Sucks to be doobus.
Wild.
Ugh.
Okay.
We out.
Thanks guys.
Tune in next time.
We'll hopefully be here very soon.
Yeah.
Thursday.
No problem.
Sorry that was fucking loud.