Come on.
My Tina with my Tina grown.
Somebody is sharing their screen.
I know someone sharing their screen.
I'm sharing my screen.
Fine.
Stop.
Live intro.
Jesus.
I want to do one thing at a time here.
Ayo.
Ha ha ha!
Go go
Hey!
Man, you have all the St.
Pat's swag going on, eh?
Well my son's name is Patrick so...
I mean, yeah, it makes sense.
I get it.
I guess the first question I'll ask you is, which one do you like more?
Do you like that St.
Pat's one or this new shamrock?
Unlock your shamrock St.
Pat's Jersey.
Personally I like the original one, the one I have on better.
It's probably not going to stop me from buying one of those ones, but I do like
this one better because it's more accurate to the ones that were worn by the actual
St.
Bats.
Fair enough, sticking true to the history there.
Sudley, what do you think of these new ones?
I kind of like the new ones more because the clover is protruding over the flat
green line, which I think they should just do without because if they just had the
clover, it kind of resembles the Maple Leafs logo in the middle.
And I think that would look so much better than the stupid green stripe right down
the middle.
Yeah, I have to agree.
I know they're trying to incorporate some more green into it, but it just seems I
don't know.
It's not the worst placement for it.
Like if you were to put that stripe anywhere else I would think it's very Out
of place, but I don't know if you're gonna put it there.
I guess that's the only place I don't mind the shamrock like i'm normally very eh on
On st pat's jerseys part of that is because the leafs seem to be absolutely
garbage every time they wear them but that aside I haven't normally been a fan of
The jerseys, these ones I like.
It's kind of in line with the new all-star jerseys, where it's kind of that gen Z,
how do I put this?
Like bubbly, bigger, loud, kind of old.
It's almost like going back to 60s, 70s kind of styles, like almost like flower
power type deco.
Yeah, I don't know.
I like it.
I wouldn't mind if they went back to an actual green one.
We've had the white iteration now for, this is like eight years, right?
Yeah.
maybe, uh, maybe green's hard.
early thousands, they had a dark green one that was just awesome.
And the Leafs wore it with brown pants.
And it was awesome.
That's pretty old school.
Yeah, I think this is definitely like a new modern take on the St.
Pat's and I think that's like if you're going to go that go all in on that and
maybe next time go for like a historic look with the brown pants and everything.
But for what they're going for, I think this works.
I hate that they have to throw the milk thing on there for this, even for this ad.
Cause like, look, the ones you're buying don't have that on it.
So why can't they model the ones that you're buying?
Like is it a rule that if these guys are wearing the jersey, it has to have milk on
it?
It's probably somewhere in the contract with the sponsorship, right?
Like the whole reason you're paying that money to put your name on that jersey is
because Austin Matthews and Mitch Marner are going to be wearing it.
Ho, they want $300 for these?
That's pretty much going rate anymore for a jersey with numbers.
Holy moly a youth one is $200.
Yeah, here's the hats
currently in the process of trying to win tickets for the game on Saturday because
Patrick's been bugging me to go to a game.
And considering it's a St.
Patrick's Day game, it would kind of be fitting for it to be his first game.
I have a lot of stuff here.
Yeah, that would be really cool for his first one.
This is pretty sick, the Marley's St.
Pat's Jersey.
four.
Nope, he's seven, he'll be eight in August.
So we have a nephew too, like we're considering taking him to the 67th game.
He's just turning six and like, we think that's a great first experience for him.
It's not too much with like 18,000 for a sense or maybe no 14,000, whatever.
But yeah, looking forward to taking him to his first game.
Yeah, I took Patrick to his first live game, when was it?
End of September, early October to a London Nights game and he just absolutely
loved it.
Yeah, just had a riot and then we've been to a couple Brantford Bulldogs games since
then.
So he's definitely getting a lot more into hockey and wanting to actually watch it,
not just asking to stay up so he can play video games.
Our move too is a take him to an afternoon game, so if we have to leave in the second
or third period, it's not so big a deal.
No, exactly.
smart.
Yeah, and the good thing about being in Ottawa is we get a lot of those afternoon
games, eh?
Ayo!
Second tier, baby.
Yeah.
Okay, so moving on to the Leafs.
Leafs late night where it's never too late for the Leafs, presented by Inside the
Rink.
So, you know, how do I put this?
I had a whole thing I wanted to, I had a whole smart anecdote to like start this
off.
Here, we say a lot of the time with this team, Two Periods does not win a hockey
game.
But tonight they proved the Two Periods sometimes does win a hockey game.
as long as you make them two really good ones and you try to make the middle one
not that bad.
So that's my takeaway from tonight.
Sometimes 40 minutes is enough.
Well, you like to see what they did because historically the Leafs have been
one of those teams that if they get a break or anything like that, they'll throw
a stinker or they'll not show up on time.
Like how many times has that been an accusation of the Leafs that they didn't
show up on time, they didn't show up ready to play and they're fighting, you know,
from behind all night.
That wasn't the case tonight.
They came out ready to play, they attacked it, they carried the pace pretty much the
entire game.
Yeah, I mean, even in the second where they weren't playing so hot, they were
still at least playing well defensively.
They just kind of thought they could get away with turtling for the rest of the
game and kind of, oh, well, I mean, we basically scored four in the first period.
These guys suck with that much better than them.
Let's just go for a skate for the rest of the night.
We've earned it.
And, you know, come on, guys, 20 minutes is definitely not enough to win a game.
That's just kind of what it seemed like is they did at least a good enough job not to
completely blow the lead.
But it was it was definitely I think a little more than it should have let off
the gas.
Is that the vibe you got from it?
I mean, what do you think?
I mean, I feel, especially with Mitch Marner out, the cascading effect that they
have on the offensive line right now is a lot to get used to, and I thought there
was a lot of guys who were going pretty good, they had their chances.
I don't feel like they really led up too much in this game, to be quite honest with
you.
Not to mention that Philly is a team who's just on the wildcard cusp right now, like
they're playing for their playoff lines right now.
Fair.
I mean, I did like Domi and Bertuzzi.
I think they had a great game again.
I mean, these guys I've been asking forever.
Like, I didn't think again, we're halfway through March.
I was saying, you know, unless Bertuzzi is going to turn it on for March, April, May.
We'll see, I guess.
And here we are.
He turned it on for March, at least.
So see how long that.
Yeah.
Matthews bank goals off him.
Oh my god, even though that one that didn't count, that tip was disgusting.
I was just gonna say that tip that wasn't allowed, like, oh my god.
Like, so good.
And what about like the fact that Matthews chose pass there and with the absolutely
disgusting feat on that first one to Bertuzzi?
Like you know the goal is always going to be ready.
He knows he's got the hands to actually do that, despite what he's shown us this
year, like in tight, but in the air, he can really tip a puck.
Yeah.
you see the flex on that stick blade when they slowed it down with the above head
angle on the tip in for Brattusi's first goal?
Like if that was all his strength just to keep that straight with how much that
blade flexed, maybe he should tape it a little bit.
Just gonna say that comes down to the tape buddy.
He's got like two inches of tape on his stick.
One little piece on the top.
But no, I think, look, they played a really great first period.
I just think they got a little comfortable in the second.
And then they decided, fuck it, let's just ram these guys in for the third.
And it's nice to see, I think, every now and then you gotta take advantage of the
fact that you're, you know, feeling it offensively.
And just instead of sitting on a three, one lead, run away with it when you can,
because you don't get to that often.
You know who you can also thank for that is Samsonov.
He made some really big saves at really key opportunities for the Flyers.
Since coming back, he's about 12 and 2, 13 and 2.
This guy has been completely unreal.
His confidence is through the roof.
He's everything that he wasn't before he got sent down.
And it's what you want to see, right?
Like we talked about when he was first waived, because he didn't really get sent
down.
He didn't actually go down to the Marlies.
He just stayed with the Leafs and worked with the staff.
But we talked about it, that this is, it's a weird situation and a weird scenario
that many teams, aside from the Leafs, probably couldn't do.
because they wouldn't be able to afford to pay to keep him around to be able to find
himself.
And good on the team for being able to do that and for wanting to do that and
actually trying to get him to better himself and to salvage his season.
Yeah, and like all the more credit go...
Sorry, go ahead.
no, sorry.
I definitely made it seem like I was done there.
Like for the team going through that with the guy who was your, like your de facto
number one last year, like that's just another thing to add to the list of
something that can galvanize you going into the playoffs as a team, right?
Yeah.
A hundred percent.
And like not to mention he's been hearing that Joseph Wall is the next coming all
year for how long it's been.
And he's just been up playing him and he's, I don't know if he's not paying
attention to it or he's just rising above it.
Like that hasn't affected him whatsoever.
And that's, I find all the more impressive.
It's great.
I just I wish that they'd taken the same care in trying to rehab wall when he came
back instead of what seems like a rush to get him back out there.
And then as soon as he wasn't great, they went, okay, nevermind.
And they put Sammy back in.
Like I'm, I'm glad Sammy's playing well.
But now we're at a point where we don't know.
We don't have any confidence in our backups.
Like Jones wasn't playing great last time we played him wall wasn't playing great
last time we played him.
Like
good hockey, but no one's played consecutive games until Tammy just did
tonight, so they've been giving each guy a chance.
And I feel like in practice, they've been talking to them like both guys, I think
confidence are pretty high right now.
I'm not sure if I agree with that.
Fair enough.
I just, I feel like a lot of the chatter online was that, you know, walls cooked.
Okay, I'm done with this.
He's letting in bad goals.
Like we rushed him back too early.
Like I just
That's what everybody always says with the Leafs.
Anytime anything just looks remotely human.
Oh, that's it.
Everything's done.
The team's trash.
They get rid of everybody.
Like.
You get whiplash being a Leafs fan online.
100%.
But it is still, everybody was putting faith in, once Wal comes back, we're gonna
be set with Sammy and Wal, it's gonna be fantastic, we're gonna get the tandem
together, finally healthy.
And then he came back and everybody just kind of felt like, oh, maybe it's not as
hype as we have been talking about it while he's been hurt.
Like I think people will just get their expectations up.
Sammy's playing unreal.
Like, Wall's been playing pretty good too.
Like, granted he hasn't had that many opportunities, but given his chance, I
think he's gonna play great.
I think we're in a great position right now, goaltending wise.
Better than we have been in a very long time.
I would agree.
Okay, so there's just a few little things that need to be worked out, which is some
injuries, unfortunately.
We've still got Marner down, and oh my god, Yarncroak's shoulder obliterated
tonight.
Dudes...
yeah, dudes played what, like five games, maybe?
I hate this.
Me too.
He's a good playoff guy too.
Like he's someone you want in the lineup at that point.
He was somebody I almost forgot about.
He'd been missing so much time this year.
And, you know, finally he's back and he was looking great.
Damn it.
This sucks.
He went down so hard.
Like that, it's not often that when they show a replay, I actually like have to
look away because I can't watch somebody's like, like for me, it's knowing the months
of rehab or at least weeks of how long and like, you know, years that this is going
to hurt afterwards.
Like, I just can't watch that happen.
Like his body motion, like it looked like he was doing the hula hoop or something,
like he was just writhing a little bit.
So, you know, he was definitely in some pain because that guy is pretty tough.
Yeah, shit.
So he's definitely done for an extended period of time, hopefully back for
playoffs.
But who knows at this point?
for a guy like Robertson to come back in, right?
Yep, that's what I was going to get to it.
It definitely opens up the spot, but you know, we're switching out for somebody
with less time this year and less experience in the playoffs, but hey.
dynamic too, like he doesn't play a hard game like Kelly can.
Yeah.
But at the same time.
hasn't been a single game that I've seen Robertson play this year that I've been
like, okay, you know, he needs to get off the ice.
Like the amount of time that he gets played because Keefe never wants to play
him.
He actually plays great and he's noticeable and he drives.
He is effective at driving the play.
And to your point, like if he's playing hard, sorry, if he's playing hard minutes
too, like he's not getting pushed off the puck either.
Like he's not exceptionally soft on the puck or anything.
This might be a good thing, who knows.
And I think there's a lot less pressure on him now that a lot of the other depth
pieces and new pickups are doing better.
Like in the beginning of the season when nobody was scoring there was a lot of
focus on, OK, well Robertson, you've been around the longest.
You need to put it together or bust.
Now that, you know, Domi, Bertuzzi and even Holmberg, McMahon, like all these
guys are playing well.
It kind of takes some pressure off of just him to perform.
So maybe it'd be good for him.
Holmberg was playing great tonight too.
Yeah, I did.
Yeah.
Oh, man, that release weird bounce.
Like this was one of those nights.
The Leafs a lot of the time are not lucky with puck bounces.
This seemed like one of those times where like anything they threw in the right spot
was going in.
And it very rarely feels like that with the Leafs.
And like this one where it went off of, I think it was a rebound that went up
through somebody's skates and right to Holmberg and he buries it like that's nine
out of ten times this year, they've they'd hit the post on that or something.
But maybe six out of 10 times they try to make a fancy pastor.
Instead, they're just putting pucks towards the net and they're getting
traffic in front and good things have been happening because of it.
Fair enough.
Oh, to that, we never talked about the fact that Marner basically injured himself
from missing a wide open net.
And then completing a ridiculous wraparound that turned into a barrel roll
and landing on his own leg.
Like, I'm sorry, there are ways that you can hurt yourself in hockey.
I have never seen that.
Like somebody.
Having literally a full wide open net and going
Actually, no, I should oh I thought too long.
I don't know what I should do.
I'm just gonna go for a wrap-around Oh wait, I'm not gonna do that.
I'm gonna pull back and go for the shot.
Oh, I don't have that either I don't have my footing and down like I this dude is
famous for like holding the puck too long and making decisions like 0.5 seconds too
late like we talked about he's able to recover it a lot of the time This one holy
shit to be able to blow your own leg out like this
Oooooooh, most leaf thing ever.
Yeah.
Well, thankfully he did it when he did, and should have plenty of time to get back
in.
I hope so, it's just so annoying
but yeah, don't rush him back.
Like there's no point.
We're not, we're probably not going to get second place and we're not going to get
fourth place.
So we're right where we are right now.
Give them time.
Third place Leafs, as always, yay.
Yeah, I think just let them sit, let them get better.
Let's pull some, I don't know, if this had happened a week earlier, pull some caption
anagons, but, c'est la vie.
Oh no, Marner's out till the playoffs, what are we gonna do?
Yeah
frees up a lot of money, just saying.
Other thing that came up tonight that a lot of people wanted us to talk about is
the hand pass.
Hand pass.
So this has been a strange leaf topic going all the way back to that Morgan
Riley incident with Clayton Keller, I think it was.
Anyway, hand passes are silly and they always make people go, why is this a rule?
I mean, this one was pretty cut and dry.
Like Matthews poked it out with his hand to Bertuzzi, which led to the play that
set up the goal.
But it wasn't like within the, you know, the half a second or two seconds before
the goal.
Like it was enough before it that it makes people go, okay, like, is this really
where we want this implemented?
And I think that's what it comes down to.
It's not like what the rule is.
It's the spirit of it, you know?
Like, what are we actually trying to avoid?
happen.
And is this it?
Well, basically it is because the whole...
and you gotta think of the wording, right?
Hang on a sec, sorry.
Oh.
Um, the wording of a missed stoppage of play, right?
And a hand pass anywhere, but the defensive zone is a stoppage of play.
Same as a high stick, same as offside, whatever.
And they wanted to get to a point where you couldn't look at a play.
And even if it's not directly preceding it.
You couldn't look at a plane and be like, oh no, there should have been a blown
whistle there.
And that should have stopped the place.
This goal shouldn't have counted.
That being said, with what you're saying, there has been times where it's been like
two, three, four minutes after the fact.
And there's
the point.
Like, is it, if the whole spirit of it is you don't want a hand pass to create, like
somebody passes the puck with their hand to the guy who shoots it in like a very
obvious, like a la Matt Duchesne's offside, like it's gotta be so obvious
that it's like, how did we miss that?
Like, I feel like that's what most of these rules are in place for.
And so you can go back and say, you know, those times when everybody's up in arms,
like this needs to be changed, you have the ability to.
This seems a little crazy to me because like, yeah, it's a missed stoppage and
play, but you missed it.
Keyword missed.
Like it wasn't blown down.
The play continued on.
Everybody in the game went on as though it didn't happen.
If it has to be flagged down by a video coach after the goal is scored, like
literally no one playing cares that this happened.
Why is this an overturned goal?
We have an offside challenge.
I don't know if there's a high, like a hand pass challenge, right?
Like if we're starting to do this, are we gonna challenge every little play?
Like you said, but I think in the spirit of the rule, I like to what Peter said, if
it's going off your hand, if it's a last contact from the puck until the stick,
then that's the rule, but yeah, like I agree with Johnny.
Like we can't be challenging every little thing like this.
Yeah, like there's so many things where, you know, if a penalty is missed, we don't
go back and say, oh, well, the penalty should have been called there.
So we're going to go back and change.
going back for trippings or like hookings or anything like that?
Because that's a slippery slope.
Like it just seems like we're going back in time because there was a mistake made
by somebody by officials that absolutely cannot make any mistakes unless it's they
like exactly.
Exactly.
Thank you.
So I understand that like it was called as per the rules and this is how it is always
called.
But that's kind of beside the point.
It's like Elliott Friedman made a comment.
I couldn't find it.
I want to pull the actual quote up.
But I remember on 32 Thoughts before.
I think it was either before this season or last season, but he said that the NHL
was looking to have less goals called back.
They want more goals to happen and less things to interfere with goals being
scored.
And I have yet to see that happen.
There's been way too many things called back for reasons that are not in this...
Yeah.
one, if that's what you want to do, then keep it at that.
The rest?
Tough shit.
If it's called on the ice, that's what it is.
Goal tender interference aside.
Was this a coach's challenge or did the refs go back and.
coaches challenge.
Yeah, that's their lines of the problem, right?
See, that's what I have a problem with.
It's like, if we're just challenging the fact that a whistle should have been blown
at some point that would have changed when this goal had been scored, like, what are
we doing?
Like,
you want to do like what the NBA does in the last two minutes, it's an automatic
review for stuff like this.
But other than that, it shouldn't be up for debate.
Yeah, like first period of a game for a team that's already down like that.
I don't know.
I get that it's kind of the difference between them being, you know, writing off
the rest of the game essentially or not.
But come on, I don't know.
That's my piece on that.
And that's because Scott in our discord asked about it.
And it took me a while to come up with how I felt about it, because like you guys
said, it is it is how it's called.
I just.
I don't know.
I don't like it.
called it on the ice, it would have been fine.
It's just the review, like the coaches review, that's where it gets a little
hazy.
Yeah, exactly.
If it had been called in the moment, it's the call as the rule is.
But if it's a missed stoppage, like, come on, we're not...
don't talk to me about that.
We have a lot of questions tonight.
Do we want to go to those and see if we get anywhere from that?
Sure.
Misadventures classic aisles opinion on the new st.
Pat's Jersey.
Well, we gave it to you.
Thanks for asking Ken 27 kill akanda at Kilgore can does Willie have two giveaways
for each goal It seems worse to me.
Is there a stat?
Yeah, I was praising his penalty killing maybe not as public killing but just the
ability to have him as a little offensive weapon tonight was not that on the
penalty kill for him.
He wasn't great there, gave up that one.
Yeah, look, he's better defensively this season than he was.
He's been scoring more this season than he was.
I think he earned most of the contract he was signed to.
So look, I think this guy is only going to get better defensively like we've seen
with Matthews.
The more he works on it, the more he's comfortable with, the more he settles
into.
of games, where are you gonna use them?
This is where it's gonna get better.
Exactly, when you lose Marner, like who's the next up?
He has to be able to take those spots.
So, yeah.
Candidlorean, who's playing with Matthews and Marner game one?
Beaner, I'll let you take this one first.
Well, at this point you're probably looking at Mitch and Burt.
Yeah, I was gonna say it's probably for Tuesday, but sadly, what do you think?
I mean, yeah, if you're betting, Bertuzzi is probably your odds on favorite.
Nice.
It's got to be second right there, right?
Because you can put Bertuzzi in so many other spots.
You're very right about that.
You, you know what would have been interesting?
If we had a little more faith in a guy named Robertson this year, put him in off
on that lineup, I would have loved to see what he could have done on first line.
In another timeline, he's there, you know, like in another world where a couple
things don't happen and a couple things happen differently.
He's right there, but it's just wasn't in the cards for this kid.
Yeah, yeah.
And for the record, Nylander's at 37 giveaways this year.
Okay, so...
I mean, almost as many goals.
What is he at?
35 goals?
He's at 35 goals, yeah.
Okay.
Well...
Not every giveaway is a goal.
So let's remember that.
37 giveaways.
How many giveaways does Matthews have versus goals?
How many giveaways have led to a goal?
Let's be real here for a second too.
I don't know if Edge would show that, I might have to dig into that a little
deeper.
I'm just trying to...
NHL.com apparently doesn't show giveaways, I had to go to a money puck.
Oh.
What a surprise NHL.com doesn't show something negative.
But yeah, you gotta think, I guess, Bird's gonna play on that top line, right?
Yeah, I assume so.
I mean, it's crazy that if you'd asked me two months ago, I'd probably say nice, but
now it's kind of almost no question it's gonna be Brutusia with how he's been
playing.
If he parks himself in front and like Martin, it was digging pucks out to
Matthews and Matthews is shooting pucks at the net and he uses it right in front,
that's a perfect trio.
Yeah, we have a question here from a very special birthday boy, Mikey D.
Happy birthday, Mikey.
If the core five was candies, chocolates, chewies, sour, anything, which candies
would they be?
So chocolate, gummies, sour.
what else we saying like pretzels and chips and then like
Um, what's another thing?
Sure.
Okay.
So who's what's what are we giving Matthews?
I know, um, knee lander is the uh, the sour candy for sure
Yeah, because at first it's going to hit you a little bit hard, but eventually it's
nice.
Yeah, I would say Marner is probably the chewy, like Swedish berry kind of candy.
Sweet but really good.
Matthew's is chocolate because he's sexy and everything he does is just so elegant.
has to be like a reescup or something, something that's guaranteed to like be
amazing.
hits every time, right?
Crowd pleaser, yeah.
Yeah.
Domi's like what were those old ones like Gobstoppers or something that was crazy
tough and hard on the outside and then super sweet on the inside?
That's like Domi just it's filled with cocaine instead of sugar because as soon
as you get to it you're just gone
Instead of one dollar, they're a hundred, yeah.
Tavares, I would say is like chips and pretzels, you know, just...
Classic...
Yeah.
Can't go wrong with him.
Yeah, you can put them out at any party.
It's like, ah, you know what, this works.
Yeah, they've been working for a long time.
They're going to keep working.
Bertuzzi's a couple M&M's that you found in the back seat of your car when you were
cleaning it out.
An M&M, a Skittle here and there, you never know where you're going to get when
you put them in your M.O.S.
ha
One of them's an unmarked pill.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There might be an ecstasy film there too, yeah.
And then Morgan Reilly, what are we giving him?
He's like a Twizzler.
It's not amazing, not horrible, but comforting.
Yeah, you can go to it.
Bitter.
every now and then you're like oh yeah you know what I'm gonna go for the nibs
are pretty good.
Yeah.
Ha ha.
I had some nibs when I saw Dune 2 the other day.
Some nibs are bangin'.
Did you get one of the popcorn buckets?
I wanted one so bad and they weren't they didn't have them and I was like, what is
all this for?
What are we doing here?
If I can't if I can't get the worm popcorn bucket.
What has all of this been about?
if you can't order popcorn with a sex toy on top.
Why did I watch five and a half hours of this dumb space opera today?
Because I hadn't seen the first one until that morning.
I watched doing a
that much time if I'd watched Star Wars.
Oh, dude, I felt like I watched six hours of Phantom Menace.
I swear to God.
Anyway, was this Leafs when or was this the Leafs birthday present for Mikey D
from Ryan Willey?
Hell, yeah.
They they knew they heard all of us just praying into the blue ethos for.
He never really had to worry about it.
He was just enjoying it the whole time.
Like how often does that happen with Leaf games?
Yeah.
Matthew's getting a 40 even strength goals for the second season in a row.
Or for the second season in his career, sorry.
Labushkin got hurt but came back And then got hurt again
This guy's a warrior.
Okay.
Let's talk about this for a split second.
Everyone's shitting on this pickup, but I feel this guy's skill set is a little bit
better than what he was here the first time.
And he proved on that last play, like he's willing to take the hit to sacrifice to
make a play.
This is game what?
There's like 16 games left.
This is not the playoffs.
He's still making this type of play.
That's sending a clear message to everybody in this room that this is what
it takes to win.
And I'm so glad we have on our team right now.
Yeah, it's funny.
He feels like one of those players that, you know, when the Leafs turned somebody
into a more serviceable NHL player than they were when they got them, and then we
just let them run off into the league somewhere else.
This is one of the only times where we've gotten one back within, like, they're
still being in that upswing.
So like the Leafs gave him a higher, what's the word, an increased role with
playing with Morgan Reilly the first time he was here.
And then they ship him out.
And so he's used to playing those bigger minutes, gets known for that.
He plays more and more, gets more responsibility.
And now he's back here again.
Like you said, he's better than he was last time.
I'm just hoping that he's not leaving every game every time he gets hit because
he's so banged up.
Save it a little bit for the playoffs, but like you can tell when he goes to the
bench like he's hanging down He's just you know recouping a little bit But like every
guy goes he gives him a pat like it what he is doing means a lot to this team
Yeah, and he's had a couple of nice plays offensively too.
I mean, there was the one last game I mentioned where he was diving to save one
at the line to keep a play alive that ended up in a goal.
So yeah, he's making it work.
Like he's not, he's not like, he's not the partner for Riley that we need long term,
but he's at least a experienced defenseman that's familiar with the team that's
playing well that can throw hits.
Yeah, exactly responsible.
So don't hate it.
No, and you guys really said it all there.
Like, we didn't have to give up a ton for him.
He's not like the all-star that everybody wanted, but at the same time, he's not
Justin Hall, so we can plug him into the lineup and not be afraid every time he's
out on the ice.
How is Halsey doing?
Yeah, I don't care.
He's not on the Leafs.
Yeah, I could care less really about that guy, man.
Of all the Leafs players who's traveled on, I really don't give two shits about
the guy whatsoever.
I'm just interested, you know, for him because just because people were defending
him so much I just want to see like, okay, prove it to me like what has he been
doing?
When was his last game even?
Because it looks like he's only played he's only played 37 games this year.
Is he hurt or benched?
at the end of the year and no one took him.
No, Detroit had a whole whack of healthy defenders to start the season, so they
were healthy scratching guys, just alternating.
They could play one, sit one, play one, sit one, play two, sit two type thing.
See what you got.
He didn't play through all of February.
So he might have picked up an injury.
Anyway, he's only got five assists on the year.
And is a, what is that, a minus?
He's just a frustrating player.
Like he'll have a great penalty kill and then he'll just make this bonehead
decision that will inevitably lead to a goal.
So if he's doing almost one of those per game, you can't have that on your back
line.
Yeah, anyway, just checking in on where are they now.
Question from TriL TML fan and van Marty asks, what's your favorite color?
Saturday it's going to be green.
I, to over overthink the question, I mean, it's been, yeah, purple.
What shade?
Like a nice dark purple.
Like a royal.
Like a Lakers purple?
Yeah, I like his purple.
Whatever Jimi Hendrix is fucking singing about.
Purple haze.
Yeah.
Thanks.
I like blue, I like dark blue before, I don't know, I guess I just grew up around
my dad having to leave stuff around, just got lots of blue.
But lately I've been getting into green as for my own wardrobe.
I like greens lately.
It's been nice.
Yeah.
Dude, it's hard to pull off.
Not when you're a redhead, baby.
Hahaha!
This is true.
You're constantly Christmas colors with green.
One of the few things I can do.
I can't wear red or yellow or orange, but I can wear green.
A nice brown's not too bad either.
like a dark blue, like a leaf blue.
As a kid I hated orange for some reason, I don't know why, like I could despise
orange.
I'm over that now.
Lately I love lime green, everything.
Like the brighter more in your face green the better.
like green screen color.
even more vibrant.
Like I found a shirt when we were up at the cottage last year that it almost hurts
your eyes to wear it and I loved it and it actually looked great but anything I have
that's a lighter color typically ends up getting some sort of stain.
I am a mechanic so oil and grease oozes out of my skin.
As you let us know in our group chat, Peter made the big decision of making a
tan hat.
He was quite concerned about it.
I saw it at lids and I liked it and I didn't get it because of the color and
then I kicked myself in the ass for three months so I had to go find one online
somewhere.
I need to get a new Leafs hat and I need you guys to help me pick one because I dug
one out and it is so gross and yellow from all the years I've worn it and my other
one is too small so...
I've watched this one several times and it still has a unique stink that is hard to
describe, but my girlfriend absolutely hates it and I don't want to disappoint
her anymore.
So if yeah, same with Johnny, if you could pinpoint us to a nice new hat, let's do
that.
Cause I was, was it Lids?
No, it was like some sports like memorabilia store that's in them all
across the street from me.
I was looking around and they only had two styles.
They always only have two and I know there's so many out there but there's so
many shitty ones too.
So this can get into a bigger conversation, and I love how we get into
some of the most random shit on our episodes.
For at least 10 years, I've complained that the Leafs never have any good hats.
Like, they really don't.
They don't, like if all like the major sports teams especially, their hats are
very much lagging.
Like, my previous go-to, hang on a sec here.
effect people who can't see this.
Yeah, this is great for people that are just listening.
The depth of error and visual display.
Winter Classic one from 14.
Oh, nice.
a great one, because that looks like it's from the early 1900s, right?
Again, that was like the best hat I had one was wearing it on our honeymoon, lost
it down in Mexico and had to source out another one.
Yeah, absolutely sick hat.
Great hat.
But yeah, I've never been happy with Toronto hats.
So then that's why I was kicking myself that I didn't buy the one I've got on when
I first saw it.
Cause you don't see something like that too often with the Leafs, how it's like a
fancy, nice, like letters for the name, right?
No, because like Charles is a pretty long name to put on the front of a hat, but if
you haven't done tastefully, just the right font and size, it really works.
Here's a quick look see like I don't mind this for the same reason.
It's kind of that.
logo.
Like I think all their logo hats are not too bad because you can't go too wrong
with them, but
What the hell is this?
What is this?
That's what Matthews is wearing postgame.
I don't hate it.
I kinda like it actually.
I They have it in this too authentic pro training camp hat oh, so it's They're on
sale, it's their Actual like they got these for training camp
Mm-hmm.
They typically do that every year.
They'll have a hat they come out with for training camp, a hat they come out with
for playoffs.
This is so ugly, this is a retinas one, the color.
What is this shade of blue?
This is the other thing is they can't decide on what shade of blue they use.
If they just stuck with it, like, if you look at any New York Yankees hat, it's
always the same shade, like it's always the same.
I'm looking at like this is different from this is different from all of these.
All of them.
What's that blackened signature in one?
That's terrible.
Yeah, this is some Mitchell and Ness one.
I don't know.
It's horrible.
I don't mind this like loud toke one, but I'm not looking for it to.
Yeah, I don't.
And what is this with the splash?
What are we doing?
These are in this stripe is horrible.
What is this placement of the logo?
Oh, my Lord.
And look at this.
This looks like it was made at like your local print shop.
You just asked.
time, first day employee.
Yeah, you asked them to just type Toronto Maple Leafs on the front of a hat you
bought from Giant Tiger.
Like what?
I'm not spending 26—
Yeah, we can do that.
No, they can't.
What are- Dude, you've opened a can of worms.
I didn't realize this looks like it's out of a beer case that says Molson on it.
Like...
Bro, these hats are terrible!
Oh, the tuque is great.
This thing's sick, the All-Star.
the one on the down left to get drunk in that one.
till you get to the tropical one.
I don't mind this...
Oh my god, it's Roscoe washed.
That's so funny.
I want this.
It's got the string on it.
I'm actually I want this one.
I don't like it, but it's got my name on it.
This is hideous.
The palm leaves?
That's the tropical one I was talking about.
Yeah.
Tropicalia trucker.
right on the beak is terrible.
What the f- Oh my god, this looks like they're trying to do the Raptors...
like, font?
I don't- who designs these?
you're snow burning in like Florida or Hawaii you wear that one.
Oh, I don't mind the corduroy one.
Egh.
These are so strange.
black one there is brutal.
Yeah, this is horrible.
It looks like it's music notes on like a And what's this like?
It looks like a shoelace Guys
on the top of the beak is so terrible.
Does this say Leafy?
Yeah, it does.
Maple leafy.
I think it's supposed to be a curse of S.
that says
Are you?
I think it is, but it looks like Leafy and no, but that someone printed that and they
let that go into production.
This is crazy.
And if you're just listening to this, go to fanatics like and just go to the Maple
Leafs hat section like these.
It is absolutely appalling how bad some of.
like a commentary on FNAX who are absolutely the worst fucking company in
the whole world, but yeah.
What is this shark tooth?
I'm sorry, Mitchell and Ness, you've got some really nice and really ugly designs
on some of these.
These are crazy.
Come on.
What is this white girl?
Yeah, OK, I'm done.
This is this is insane.
But but this is this is the point.
This is why we're asking for your help.
Friends don't let friends buy ugly leaf gear.
Uh, that's.
minutes on like crowdsourcing the hat for me and you.
Nah, it was like three.
Yeah.
Ahhhh...
Please give us a good option.
We'll show you in the comments later.
okay, so I guess let's make let's give a point to this whole discussion.
The, the whole, like, we've been waiting for the P.P.P.W.H.L.
launch, you know, the jerseys and the logos and everything, because everyone
wants branding, everyone wants to spend money and support the team.
This needs to be tightened up like there needs to be more oversight by somebody on
gear that is being put out under this Leafs brand on Fanatics website which is
now the official where you get all your shit like they gotta have some sort of
cohesive style and not just throw out like Walmart level stuff that like literally I
can go to Walmart for $5.99 oh man yeah at least we can't see a
rabbit hole, but like at least the NHL stuff is not nearly like not even half as
bad as the MLB.
you're not...
When there's a fight on the ice, you don't see the guy's dick and balls swinging back
and forth in his fucking pants.
Like...
Oh.
read his name on the back of the jersey.
Yeah, it's just I wish I wish there was more oversight and like management to this
side.
Speaking of jerseys, go ahead.
Speaking of names on jerseys, good on Molson.
You see what they did for the PWHR?
Hell yes.
Names on the bottom.
Yeah, so the whole part of the whole campaign is that for years, the players'
names have been hidden by their hair if they have long hair and their ponytail.
So the advertising will hide our name so you can see theirs, right?
Good on them.
It's such a clever marketing campaign and it works.
It works for both the league and the company too, right?
Like a little furthermore, every time I go to a bar or a restaurant, they're always
playing PWHL games.
It's all that's going on.
They're having such a good inaugural year.
It's insane.
Did you hear about Debbie Harrison, the super fan who was asking for, she said
that Crayola needs a new colour, PWHL purple, and Crayola Canada put out
Powerplay purple?
Nice.
like, it's our unofficial PWHL color.
So we didn't ask them.
Do they come up all with new logos and everything for next year, or is this going
to continue on into year two?
on that, yeah.
with how rushed everything was because realistically they said they were doing
this in like June and July.
So the fact that they started the league in January is mind-boggling.
Yeah, that they pulled this together in itself is unreal.
The fact that they're announcing rules mid-season.
Ha ha.
Yeah, like that being said though, I really think they should have paid some
respect and homage to some of the teams that were successful.
Like the Boston Pride for instance, that area of Boston, the black and gold colors,
like everybody that's not like that is hockey in the Boston area.
And the Pride had the best attendance records.
They were a great team.
Like you could have kept with that.
The Toronto six.
People seemed to love that name in the area.
The jerseys were in the good, you know, they were a successful team.
You could have kept that.
So I don't think you had to completely start new with everybody, but who knows?
Maybe we'll be surprised.
starting this whole new league, you want to give everybody the same chance, give
them one year to figure out what they're going to do for this and just uniformly
come out as the same.
I think if you had a couple of teams with logos and some with not, that would have
been a bigger issue than what we're dealing with right now.
One, and not to diminish the other leagues that have come before this one, but like
the talk of the PWHL has been like, finally we have a cohesive women's
professional league.
Like, I feel like if you were carrying over the names from those other leagues,
it would almost, like people would easier brush it off as still something that they
knew existed that they weren't already paying attention to, and they feel like
they're behind on.
I feel like when you start from scratch, everybody feels like they're starting from
square one together.
fans and players alike.
So you get to, you know, start cheering for something from the from ground zero
instead of like having, you know, maybe fans coming over from a team from the past
or like, you know, like you said, the Boston Pride or Toronto six, like if all
of their fans come over, it might be a little hard for people in Toronto already
to feel like they can get involved with the team because it's kind of gatekeepy
like, oh, you weren't here from the beginning.
Like we're here from the old time.
Like the
too, they don't have that much history compared to all the other original 16, so
what are they gonna do really?
Yeah, I think just even the playing field and make everybody feel like it's their
league now from the start.
But yeah, I I'm interested to see how the branding and everything goes because
they've done a better job than the NHL of being current with everything and taking
risks and, you know, not being tied down by, you know, the hundred years of history
and rules and stuff.
So I'm hoping that means that we see some jerseys closer to like
those fun ones that you shared from some of the junior leagues where, you know,
there's less strict rules on what the jerseys can look like.
I don't know.
this is their chance to set the precedence and have their history to be made from
what this decision comes from.
So it's a pretty big decision.
Right, like how much can you do the Leafs or the Philadelphia Flyers, Jerseys versus
like, you know, starting from square one with PWHL Toronto?
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
I'm going to buy some stuff.
I again would love like here's the just to bring it back to what I was talking about
before with the gear.
We've seen so many artists like, you know, Joey Ferg puts out fantastic Leaves gear.
Shout out like every time something happens in like the fact that every time
something happens meme wise, I guess you could say like anytime there's a current
going on with the team.
He's quick to put something out.
And I think that's important.
And the team should be doing something like that.
He's filling a hole that the team is lacking on, right?
Like if, you know, they were jumping on everything that happened with the team as
it happens, that the fans are tuned into and putting out merch that coincides with
it, they would make a killing, but they don't.
They just put out this, you know, copy and paste garbage like this.
This Buds jersey I have with the Matthew stuff from Casey Bannerman, like when the.
Vancouver Canucks do their indigenous and pride and all their
different jerseys, they have different artists design them.
Like, I feel like there's so many people out there that are doing better work than
the people that these teams are actually, not even the teams are employing, but that
the NHL is doing.
Exactly, like who is doing this?
Like who is okaying all of these and sending it out on the Fanatics website?
Like how much oversight does the NHL actually have over this?
Like, are they just signing it off to these guys?
Did they realize how much it was gonna diminish their brand value by, you know,
having Fanatics just put all, like,
There's like 60 different hats from the leafs on their site.
Like this is insane.
Ugh.
Annoyed.
And not a single, like, you know, thing about Boreasalming that you can buy, and
not a single, you know, fun William Nylander shirt you can get.
Like, there's, it's just...
Jay Beiner shirt, like, where is this?
I know.
But yeah, I just, I think it's crazy that they don't have any fun with it.
It's just all lame designs.
When I see that, I think that's the key word there, is they don't really have fun
with it.
Like there's been too much of the old white man running everything, and they're
so afraid of kids or the younger generations, you don't even have to really
say kids, getting involved and ruining their idea of the sport.
And it's like, the game's not around for the 50, 60 year olds anymore.
Like that's not where it's going.
It's not.
I love the history of the sport and I respect it as much if not more than
anybody I've ever met.
But there's a reason those happen in the past and players don't play like that
anymore because we're evolving.
Like we don't still live in caves.
Like you can respect what happened before and still look forward to what's gonna
happen and like be a part of that movement.
Yeah, look, next gen night is a good sentiment, but it has to be more than like
one night every four months.
You know, like they gotta try to incorporate more things to bring in a
younger crowd.
They gotta pay more attention to the branding and the advertisements.
And I know, look, if you've been a fan of the show for a while, I probably care more
and am more interested in the business of the sport and the broadcasting and
everything than I am of the actual product on the ice.
And I apologize, I get really into these kinds of things, but...
each other out.
That's exactly it, you know?
So that's my two cents and what I wanted to get in there.
like great on their hands.
They have this unique original branding opportunity that they can all do for
themselves right now.
So yeah, it's super interesting to see what they're gonna do.
Yep, 100p.
Anything else?
We're just under an hour here.
What are we thinking for the Leafs on the rest of the way out of the season?
What is the schedule like?
here?
Um, health.
That's, that's.
we're probably not going to get second place and we're not going to get fourth
place.
So.
Jesus Christ, everyone stay healthy, please.
Yeah, that's pretty much all you can really ask for right now.
Two games against the canes, two games against the caps.
It's pretty nasty.
You've got a couple of games to get the Panthers, a couple of games against the
Lightning, the Red Wings Devils.
Yeah, it's not easy.
Three games against the Devils.
Our scheduling is very weird this year.
Last two games are Lightning and Panthers, which I do kind of like because it means
that they're gonna finish the year in playoff mode instead of getting.
sooner play the Marlies.
Like, yeah, you'd rather take like the coyotes in the last game of the season
than the lightning.
Oh, I'd rather not play like any of my fucking top tier players and just go into
the playoffs.
aren't either, right?
But I think it gives you a chance.
I don't know.
I guess if they don't, then it doesn't matter.
But if both teams play, they're top guys.
Boston, right?
So let's just not get anybody hurt.
Last two games are going to, if you're not ready by then, you're not going to be
ready.
So.
What sucks is it's all East.
It's all East teams and they've been shit against the East this year.
That's what worries me.
Realistically, we're not dropping into a wild card, and we're not getting first.
So there is a possibility you could get second, but the chances of that are slim
to friggin' none.
And at this point, we don't even really know who we're playing.
Florida and the Bruins are only separated by a point.
Yeah.
So realistically, we could play either of them.
And I mentioned on the last episode, at this point, I don't even really care who
we play.
I'm still gonna obviously be cheering and think the Leafs have a chance because you
do have a chance against anybody.
I'm just, I'm kind of interested to see what happens with the wild card races.
The fact that Tampa is this close to potentially not making it.
Like that's something that's a little surprising.
That's...shocking to me.
tied with Philly for third in the metro, well, I mean third in the metro and third
in.
too, like heavily to Buffalo.
So they're like their spots not secure whatsoever either.
Well Tampa's in the Atlantic Roscoe so they would have to bump the Leafs out.
Yeah.
That's what I mean.
Is like they're tied with like the 76 points with the flyers.
So I mean, as long as they can stay above the Islanders and red wings, like I don't
see them falling behind either of those teams unless they absolutely fall apart.
But it's close, man.
race is going to be so, so close.
What's the west look like?
West is pretty close too.
yeah Vegas has a 4 point lead over Minnesota for the last wild card spot.
I so hope Vegas doesn't make the playoffs, god.
Yeah, but like Minnesota's four points behind them.
St.
Louis is six points behind them.
Like they have a pretty good gap.
Mm-hmm.
Calgary shit, they're not gonna make it.
Fucking Calgary.
Calgary is sold.
They're done.
Yeah, Vegas is pretty safe in there.
It's less like Minnesota goes on a heater.
I don't think St.
Louis can do it.
What I really wish we had was the one to eight playoff format, but that's probably
for another podcast.
I mean last time we checked it, it didn't change either, leave it like that.
Yeah, no, we have checked it.
I do agree, I like that better.
To be honest, I think it would be fun to do a one to 16, but there's a lot of
travel complaints about that one.
But.
game or something for like the lower teams.
How about the KHR?
I mentioned in the group chat, the first round is over, so the second round you
cross conferences.
That's interesting.
That's a lot of travel.
Uh, KHL does a ton of travel regardless.
games in the regular season though, doesn't it?
Yes, and no I like the fact like yet again with the history of the game I think
there's something to be said for the fact that despite where the teams are Like
right now and what you think of the teams at this point with the current format You
will never ever again see a Toronto Montreal Stanley Cup final
No, but do you need to?
That's not, but I don't think that's in the spirit of what like any professional
sports championship is.
It's like, who is the best like out of each conference, if we've split each of
these sports into two, it's who's the best out of each one.
Like, I don't think it, it goes against.
geography alone, like you're never going to have a Toronto Montreal final.
But a conference final would be just as good, I think.
The last time there was a possibility for Toronto-Montreal final was 1993.
The year Betman took over because of the way the divisions and everything were.
Now that being said, if you look at it at the other point, what are sports?
Sports entertainment.
What would be more entertaining?
Having a final that could be Toronto-Montreal or...
I guess Detroit, Colorado doesn't work anymore because Detroit's back in the
East, but, or you could even say Detroit, Boston, or New York, New York.
Like the possibility to have...
in both of us agree that would be amazing, but maybe the present audience wouldn't
agree as much.
Maybe it doesn't mean as much right now.
ratings for Toronto-Montreal Final would be a million times better than Toronto-St.
Louis Final, or Toronto-Seattle.
that's the conference final though.
That's the whole point is like you're battling between like Toronto Montreal
conference final is to go to the Stanley Cup.
Like that's what the battle is.
Like that would be the highest.
then everything's spent at that point.
You get to that high of that hardcore series.
fan groups in the whole NHL.
So if you go to the NHL and if Montreal is in there or Toronto is in there, your
numbers are going to be astronomically bigger than they have been in the last 30
years.
I just think it's...
it kind of is...
final probably.
I think the only reason that it skews this way is because it's just a fact that the
Eastern Conference teams have more of a fan base by number, I think, than the
Western Conference teams do, like on average.
So like any, it's more likely that a matchup between two Eastern Conference
teams is going to be more of a historic, bigger fan base matchup than, unless
you're like Toronto and Edmonton.
And even then it's like...
Yeah.
I don't know, there's Toronto, Vancouver again.
Like there's a couple of matchups there that would still be.
nevermind the crossover, like NBA goes 7-10, they have a play-in tournament.
How would you feel about that, the NHL doing that?
Hockey is such a different game for one-off games though.
is it a two or three or is it a one off?
Um, I think it's a two or three.
I think it is.
I play in stuff I've never been able to get behind it personally.
Um, cause then you're diminishing all the work you did in the regular season.
I...
yeah, that's...
that's hard to ignore.
can do is 7th place, then that's on you.
Like...
Because then you go from seven to ten, right?
So that is, that can be a pretty big gap too, depending on the season.
And I think it adds more excitement and more opportunity for fans to stay engaged
longer, because I think the problem with the format of the NHL playoffs is fans
start to check out like pretty early.
I mean, look, the Chicago Blackhawks are already mathematically out of the
playoffs.
Like, yes, they're shit, but.
three games possibly for a couple teams then.
Yeah, I think in hockey, the question of injuries comes up by adding extra games
like that.
Also, it's games that players aren't paid for because it's postseason.
You have to negotiate it with them again.
But I think as far as fans and entertainment and selling the sport goes,
it's adding games at an important time and it's adding games for teams that would
otherwise just be waiting for next season.
Beard, beard strongly disagrees.
I still don't like the whole plan idea.
The season's-
it more.
I kind of find it's interesting what the NBA is doing with this right now,
especially with leagues that have 32 teams and you're talking about, maybe you have
34 teams or something like that.
So maybe more than half the teams are not making the playoffs.
Do you have your regular seats and winners move on and everyone plays around it to
get to them?
It's a very, very interesting thing.
Like we're going through right now.
Yeah, I think the next CBA needs to include an overhaul of the playoff format
because I think there's been a lot of complaints about this current one.
I mean, look, if we're going Eastern Conference one through eight, the Leafs
would play the Carolina Hurricanes.
Like
It's now pretty different last time we checked it would have been exactly the
same but Closer we got
doing with this league for playoff formats?
Well, oh, for playoff formats?
Oh, okay.
Honestly, I would love to do one to 16.
Give it a shot just for the pure chaos factor of it.
Madness type of thing, right?
Like anything can happen.
So your first round would be the Florida Panthers versus Minnesota Wild.
Boston Bruins versus the Philadelphia Flyers.
That would be a tough series.
Vancouver Tampa.
Like these would be great series.
New York Golden Knights.
Kings and Avalanche.
it'd be...
I don't disagree, it'd be crazy.
Oh yeah, 1 to 16.
Oh my god, you're a madman, a madman!
the funny part is Toronto would play Carolina.
Hehehe
You can't have a great juggernaut in the regular season play fucking Tampa Bay 16
plays.
You can't have that.
Tampa's in 14th right now.
You said was it Vancouver versus Tampa?
Is that what you just said?
Yeah.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no
from that, what are you gaining for being a good regular season team?
Like, really?
You look at it right now?
But yeah, in the format right now, it is, it's in the visual format too, especially
like, yeah.
Like right now you're saying that Boston's reward for being the second best team in
the conference is to play the Leafs.
No, you're-
I get what you mean mathematically.
It does bump your opponent down a whole eight spots when you're in first place,
essentially.
But why not go 1-8 for confidence?
Like it always has been.
That would that's probably the only way they would ever change it away from the
divisional
closer than what we're doing right now.
And without being as wild as your proposal, which is like hell of a lot of
fun, Vegas would make a shitload of money off it.
I'm sure Bebba would be super thrilled.
like?
Like the underdog stories, everything, the pure chaos, the random rivalries that you
could...
Yeah.
And then you would have the fact that you could legitimately face any team in any
round.
So there's not gonna be an absolute of, no, you'll never play this team unless you
make the cup final, or you'll never play this team in the cup final, right?
It could literally be anyone.
is very, very interesting.
Because if you're talking like travel, it's really not big of a deal.
Like these guys are taking private birds.
It's going to take a couple hours.
They're flying in comfort.
It's not that big of a deal really.
cause it was a couple of seasons ago, we knew we were playing, or was it last year?
We knew we were playing Tampa by like November.
yeah.
We're almost in the same boat right now, like we're playing Florida or Boston.
We're locked in.
Yeah.
So if you have that greater discrepancy in points when you're talking one to 16
instead of, you know, the top three in the division, it can change day to day who
you're going to play.
My counter-argument is just the same one that I had before that if the regular
season isn't gonna be that much cross-conference play, then it's hard to
justify making the playoffs so heavily based on the Leafs played Colorado twice
through the regular season, and now we're gonna play them for a seven series
immediately in the playoffs round one.
I think that kind of goes against.
divisional rivalries, which is what this format actually promotes.
So yeah, that is for sure an argument.
Yeah, like I don't want to play, say we the Sens or Montreal are back in the
playoff running again.
I don't want to play them like eight times or at the season to not face them at all
through a playoff run just because of the way that the randomizer shook out.
But we don't play them eight times throughout the season anymore.
I think we're playing the Habs like three times this freaking year.
times this year.
Is that it?
Yeah.
Like it, it's.
Yeah, we don't see the teams seven, eight times a season anymore.
Well, then I guess if I'm commissioner, that's the difference that I make is more
inter more plays within divisions and like make the playoffs more about the best of
each of those.
Like if you're going to if the playoff format is you come out of your groupings
and it's the best of those groupings, then make it that if it's not that then abandon
that it seems that we're somewhere in the middle where like the visions and
conferences throughout the season don't matter that much.
And then as soon as we hit the playoffs, it's like, OK, everybody get in your
groups.
I forget what group I'm in.
We haven't talked about this in a while.
Are I with you guys like?
I feel like Atlantic and even Eastern Conference rivalries, they still mean
something.
And to your point, if you're battling all season long, even for a playoff position,
you want to meet these guys in the playoffs, whether it's first, second, or
third round, to get to where you want to go.
So I do kind of agree with that style still.
Yeah, I mean, if it's about storylines and, you know, finishing rivalries and
finishing the story that's been going on all season with like, OK, we've both been
fighting to get to the playoffs and, you know, like the Leafs and Sens in the first
round.
Like, if that happens again, like, that's going to be crazy.
So I just I don't want to throw that away for, oh, you know, the Leafs came in
fourth.
So we're playing Calgary in the first round.
Like, I don't know, we don't have that much of a beef with them.
because we don't play them because they're in the West.
did, like the, the his, see, and I'm looking at it from a history standpoint as
well.
You can pretty much look at any team in the Western Conference, especially the
Canadian teams, and there has been some form of historical beef with the Leafs.
Historical, sure, but like the people watching it right now that remember and
care about it and are, you know, It's currently living in their memory.
Like I'm talking besides Nazem Kadri Like I don't think there's anything on that
team that really would get the Leafs fired up about a first round matchup
Many people don't remember the leafs being in the Western Conference.
Yeah, I mean, it's, I don't know.
You got to sell the game.
And I think there's a way to do a better job of that than having these matchups so
set in stone so early.
Like, I don't know.
I like what the PWHL did about gaining points once you're eliminated towards
getting the first overall pick, but as was brought up to me, yeah, well, not, not
picking your opponent, but once you're mathematically out, you're competing.
Like you accumulate points towards getting the first overall pick.
I like that because then at least once you're out, you're still trying for
something.
But I don't know.
It does leave bad teams still bad.
Yeah, because they've been talking about that for a long time and a couple of
different people have brought it up that that's a potential for the NHL to do,
right?
And then it was brought up, okay, well, if you're eliminated in March, then you can
accumulate more points than if you're eliminated, or if you're eliminated in
January, you can accumulate more points than if you're eliminated in March.
But I think it was going to be based on like everything would be weighted.
So a
a win after you're eliminated in March would be worth more than a win after
you're eliminated in January or something like that.
There was a whole math metal equation for it, but...
Yeah, because it's just it's silly on both sides like for the teams that are in the
playoffs to be like, okay, well We know who we're playing and the teams that are
out to be like well What are these games for the next two months matter like?
Yeah
Yeah, let's take and draft for like, go for number one.
not good for fans.
It's not good for broadcasters because you want people watching games.
And if the last month and a half of the season literally doesn't matter, nobody's
going to watch it and your advertising revenue goes down.
So.
Yeah, look at NBA, like they had players sitting out for those types of games, and
now they actually have a rule against that, so...
Yeah.
for last weekend that the Clippers complained that they played 22 hours after
their previous game because of the time change.
So a bunch of the stars sat.
Oh my god.
Typical.
James Harden to have enough time at the teaser club.
I am glad that the NBA implemented that they had to play a certain amount of games
to be eligible for trophies at the end of the year, because I think that's the thing
that kept a lot of them playing.
Because those trophies really, really matter when it comes to contract
negotiations.
If you're on the first, the second or third All-Star team, or if you make all
defensive or all forward team, you make way more money than if you don't.
Like it has a significant value.
Just imagine like we're in the last week of the season and Matthews wants to sit
and they're like you don't get the rocket if you don't play these three games.
They're like what?
It will go to the next person on the list if you don't play these games.
million on your contract for a couple years.
It really makes a huge difference.
Exactly.
Well, that's all I got.
You guys got anything?
Ah, nothing that can't wait.
We got oh, sound.
Yeah.
let the people find us a new good hat or hats.
Yes, please, please.
And watch on YouTube if you wanna see all the things we talk about, appreciate it.
Have a good night everybody, and we'll catch you on the flippity flop.
Catch ya on the flip, there we go.
Beaner!
on it.
Ha ha
Hat on a hat on a hat.
Yeah, so my upload was shit.