Hagens, Hawks & Thomas Hickey ft. Thomas Hickey

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Hockey 15.

That's Kobe Cohen.

I'm Johnny Lazarus.

We got Thomas Hickey joining in about 10 to 15 minutes.

We'll get into the entire Eastern Conference playoff race with him.

But I know off the back, Kobe, we didn't get a chance to talk about it yesterday.

You want to talk about James Higgins signing an amateur tryout out of college

or signing his entry-level deal with the Boston Bruins.

So have at it.

What are your thoughts?

You've had two shots to coffee this morning.

So I know I'm going to get it today.

I want to clarify some things.

And I want to kind of, I've seen so much on the internet about this whole thing.

And parts of it makes sense to me as to why he's gone about this the way that he does he did.

And parts of it does not make sense to me.

The first thing I want to clear up here, because I've seen this on the internet,

people are like, well, because he signed an ATO, he could still go back to Boston College if he

wanted. That's right, because there's, hold on a second, because there's players that have played

in the American League and now are enrolled to play in colleges, right?

But, but want to ask you, let me fetch, yep, yep, floor is yours.

This is different than that.

And I'm going to tell you why.

No player while enrolled in college has played in games for a professional team.

The players that have done this whole play some pro games and then go back to college,

they were not enrolled in the university during school. It's one thing to go to a summer

development camp. It's one thing to participate in practices, but to actually play in games while

you're a student, you will not have eligibility is the way that has been explained to me. So that is

a distinct difference as to why anybody who's saying, oh, well, this is perfect because he has a

safety net and he can go back to Boston College, whether that would be an option or not, Johnny,

it's a, it's irrelevant because he can't go back to school after playing while he's enrolled as a

student. That's what I was going to say. So I just wanted to kind of dispel that a little bit

for people who have said that. You look at the whole situation and you wonder like why didn't he

sign an entry level contract and what I would say about that is that in a way, clearly the

Bruins said to him, you're not coming here, like you're not coming to Boston. At least right now,

right now, right now. You're not coming to Boston right now. We are not signing you and bringing

you here right now. That doesn't mean it won't happen next week. And what I would say to that is

is that my guess on the situation is is once the Bruins clinch, okay, and they make the playoffs,

then it's a different story. Then he could sign and go burn his ear and play a game or two.

Here's my issue with the whole situation and why I think that this was very, very grossly

mismanaged. It's because, you know, you're the seventh overall pick and this is a point in your

career where you have leverage. And while I do believe Hagen's playing in the American league,

there's nothing to be ashamed of that. There's nothing should be wrong with that.

70 80 or 90% of the players in the NHL had to play in the American league. But if you're James Hagen's

and you're sitting there and you're like, geez, I'm the seventh overall pick and you're not

willing to bring me here right away. You know, the caps were going to play off race last year.

They didn't have an issue bringing, bringing Ryan Leonard in right away, right away.

Ryan Leonard was, Ryan Leonard was way better in college. It's the seventh overall pick.

Okay, so you're sitting here saying all these guys were way better players in college.

Then why are you signing? If you're not ready, why are you signing? Why not go back to school for

another year? So I just feel like the team sort of staked what they think, right? And most teams

just say, we don't care. We'll just let you come in. There's no issue. We'll just bring you right

in. You're the seventh overall pick because you have leverage to say, I'll just wait another week.

I'll let the noise get louder. I'll let the fans get angrier. I'll let the media keep talking about

it. And then there'll be more pressure on Don Sweeney to bring him right into the NHL. Now,

here's why I think it's so important. Now, let me also say this. I'm rooting for James Hagen's.

He's an American player. He played, you know, he was a good college player. I hear he's a really,

I met him at the tournament last year. I did really, really, really, I did. I'm rooting for the kid,

but you go to the American league, Johnny. Things, what happens if you struggle in the American league?

Where if you go right to the NHL and you struggle, you're supposed to. It's no big deal. You're

supposed to struggle, right? So now you go to the American league. If it doesn't go well,

who knows where it's going? And I'm not saying they're not going to give him his entry-level contract.

His entry-level contract will take 31 seconds. Here's every bonus under the sun that we're

allowed to give you. Here's rookie max. Your seventh overall. That takes 30 seconds to do. But

you're now going to go to the American league and you're going to put yourself in a situation

where you no longer have any leverage. You are leveraged lists if that's a real word. And I don't

think that that's being, you know, like I wouldn't put a guy in that situation. I think that's

bad advice. I think that that is, is mismanagement. I think patience would have gotten him right into

the national hockey league. And I know Don Sweeney is going to say, well, the precedent, these players

all went through the American league. Charlie McAvoy went through the American league. That was years

ago. We live in Lora. Lora did it. Where Lora wasn't the seventh overall pick, but I'm saying

like to do it too. He wasn't the seventh overall pick. He wasn't the guy that is the face of the

prospect pool. A guy that the fans are clamoring for. Like I'm sorry. You know what? I give Don Sweeney

a lot of credit here for being stubborn. But I could tell you this right now.

If Dean Laterno is not brought right into Boston next year at the end of his year, he won't sign.

He won't. His agent won't let him. I guarantee it. You can clip it and I guarantee it. Okay. So

my point on the whole thing here, Johnny, if you go right to the NHL, okay. You play five games.

What if you score twice to go off your shin pad or whatever? Now all the sudden they're like,

oh, maybe he can play in the play. Now you'll never see the light of day in the American league.

The American league is a hard league to get out of. I look at Hayden's game. He's more suited for

the NHL than the NHL the way that he plays. But your point about Laterno, can we just pause there?

Like James Hayden doesn't want to play hardball with the Bruins. He wants to be a Boston Bruin.

Like if Laterno doesn't get signed by Boston, he wants to go elsewhere. Like that's his choice.

That's not what I said. I didn't say he wants to. He said he's not going to sign.

He's a first round pick who will use his leverage to make sure he goes right to the NHL.

And the first thing on his resume is NHL games, not NHL games. And I'm telling you there is a difference.

But I don't understand this like leverage saying you keep using if James Hayden's wants to be a Boston

Bruin and wants to be in the organization. Like for a cutter and rucker and those guys,

like I get it. Like they didn't necessarily like want to sign with the teams that drafted that they

were told they couldn't come right to the NHL cutter. Go chase that I want to sign in the NHL.

And now he's got and I'm ready to bring you in. He's got a flyers fan base that hates him.

And he's got the one thing and rucker is the one to pick Jets fan base that hates him.

I don't think James Hayden's wants to be hated by the Bruins. But John, you're using.

Listen, if you're going to use examples of players using their leverage,

don't use the fan base. The players use their leverage and got what they wanted.

Rucker is still playing in the NHL right now. I understand that. But he did go right to the NHL

to begin with. Didn't he to Pittsburgh? Once he got traded, didn't he go. He had to say,

I'm going back to the year in order to get what he wanted. All I'm saying here is is that

you have very few points in your career to leverage your way into a situation as a hockey player.

When I see a guy who didn't, you know, I'm like this. I wanted to see him playing Boston.

James Hagen's right away. I think his games better suited for the national hockey league than

it is the American league. I truly do. But think about the situation the Bruins are in right now.

Like you want to put the pressure on James Hagen's to be a contributor for their playoff push.

Like if he doesn't, I'm just talking about the situation though. Like for Hagen's to go now

join the Providence Bruins are one of the best teams in the NHL. He has the chance to be a top guy

on an NHL team for a playoff run and earn confidence that way and not burn the year.

Like honestly, if I'm James Hagen's, I consider not burning the year because

get your feet wet and pro hockey. If you burn yourself in the American league,

it's the American league. You're there to develop. Are you not like?

I understand that. But Johnny, that's a cop out of it. Like to me, that's the more you're in.

If he goes back to college and dominates again or plays very well again in college in his junior year,

he still has to make the adjustment to pro at some point. I think he's ready to jump to pro right

now, whether that is the NHL or the HL. Like let him get his feet wet in the HL. I have no problem

with it. I don't see why it's such a big deal and Bruins fans like to me shouldn't be that upset

that he's starting in the HL when they've seen this story before. Johnny, I agree with you on

that that he's that like the American league is a great place for him to start. They're completely

different arguments that I'm trying to argue for is that when a player has leverage, I want to see

them use it. I wanted him to go right to the NHL to give him a leg up on the competition, right?

He's the seventh overall pick. Flex it, right? I'm not saying tell them I'm not coming to play for

you. I don't want to play here. You know what? You don't want to bring me back and you don't

want to bring me to the NHL. No problem. I'm going back. I'll go back to school for another year.

We'll revisit it and we'll revisit it. But we all know he doesn't want to do that.

It doesn't really matter what we know what we think we know or what is real. If he says it,

now all of a sudden the pressure goes up on Don Sweeney, the fan base. Where's James Higgins? Why

am we saying Higgins? The radio, everybody. Where's James Higgins? We want James Higgins. James Higgins

watch. I said a week ago that I thought the hold up was exactly this. That Don Sweeney was going to

be stubborn, which he is probably in a good way. And that was probably the hold up.

But when do we see a seventh overall pick? Ryan Leonard was what number? Eighth overall.

And again, James Higgins is a top 10 player for the Hobie this year. He's top 10 for the Hobie.

We're not talking about some guy who's not a good player here.

I agree with Laugh.

And my R13 though, he said, Colby, you're speaking generally about what players with leverage should do

in your mind. This is specific. He wants to go to Boston. They want him like both parties want

this to work in the long term, not just the short term. They wanted to work. He's the seventh overall

pick. Nobody is saying they don't. The Bruins, like the Bruins are sitting here and they're like

smiling and laughing. Like Don Sweeney can't believe how easy this was. He can't believe it.

Right? The fact that he didn't have a big fight for this.

Other GMs are sitting there like, oh my god, how the hell did I pull this off?

Other people are sitting there laughing going, oh my god, this is bad precedent.

I think for Higgins, it's almost like a good look on him that he doesn't think he's above the

organization. You know, like he's willing to work with them, take his time. And let's say he

does burn the ear and doesn't do well next year, then he's got one year to prove himself before

his society contract. You know, okay. So your argument is that he wants to be in the American

league, not the NHL. That's your argument here. My argument is that he wants to be a Boston

Bruin. He respects the culture of the Boston Bruins. He's a good kid who's very humble.

I mean, you're not talking about all these personal things that nobody is saying. He's a great

kid. We already went through that he's a great kid. What is being every situation is different?

I mean, so you mean to tell me, like leveraging your way into a better contract or a better situation,

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commitment. Not at all, but he wants it to work with the organization. The organization wants

it to work with him. And this was a mutual thing that they discussed. Like, that's all I got. Like,

Thomas Hickey's here. I want to bring him in. I want to talk about the Eastern Conference

Playoff race. Hics was doing the game for Amazon Prime at MSG on Monday night. The Ottawa Senators

had another big win last night. The Islanders had a huge loss. So we got a lot of things to talk

about amongst those teams. Crazy that the best three teams in the NHL since the return of the break

are the Buffalo Sabers, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Ottawa Senators. Like, who could have

fucking guessed that? But before we run, Thomas Hickey, just a quick word from our sponsor,

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of your first order. That's right. We opted to 25% and remember every game needs an outlaw with

that. Let's bring on recurring guests, friend of the show. Thomas Hickey, you've been a busy guy,

Hics. How are you doing? I'm okay. I didn't think he was going to be this hostile this morning though.

I thought we have a good time. You guys are going out into the zone. We won't be hostile with you.

We'll be nice to come with you because we love Matthew Schaefer. So we will not be hostile with you.

Good. Yeah, he's, I don't know if I've deserve any protection because of him, but if I'm

getting it, I'll take it. All 31 minutes of last night, right? All 31 minutes of over half the game.

Yeah, I think he was, I think he was 31 58 or something like that.

And I know that the metrics when he was on the ice were completely one sided.

Obviously, the Islanders were in comeback mode for pretty much the entire game.

Just incredible. We see new layers, new sides of them, new parts of the game that you're

going to appreciate from him with every week that goes by. And I don't know, I can't really be

surprised at anything anymore, but I find myself like all of us that are watching Islanders games,

there's the team in the present and then also the future and you sort of keep all three of those

things in mind. When you watch them because you know that he's going to be such a special,

he already is such a special player, but he's going to be so elite, but his potential is

something that we don't even know. And that's exciting to just consider where he's at right now at 18.

Hey, because you're in the building last night and I want to know what the feeling was like

after the game. The Islanders have a pretty big stretch here. They got 10 games left.

Eight of those games are at home, but last night to come out on home ice and kind of have a

stinker against the Chicago Black Hawk. That's a game where I feel like everyone in the organization

just has to be super angry. What were the comments from while last night? I didn't see much of the

post game. Did you catch any of that or what was the vibe around the room after that one?

Yeah, it was one of the games that I get a little nervous about.

The Islanders, I don't want to say they played down to their opponent,

CNHL, but they played better against better teams with higher pedigree and they sometimes have

trouble against teams that are lower on in the standings. Usually not late in the year,

but like early out of the season. They came up. They were ready to play it. They were great.

The first 10 minutes of the hockey game, it was domination.

It looked like one nothing. That can be a runaway, but it wasn't going to be an issue.

It wasn't going to be a question all game. Then they didn't manage the puck and then they came

off their game. They changed completely. I saw some of Patrick's quotes this morning.

I didn't read all of them, so I'm not exactly sure what the fallout was, but they got to be

disappointed. It's an opportunity that they had. On a night where you had a chance to

make big steps with everything that happened in the Eastern Conference playoff race last night,

they fell short, but it's down for a lack of effort in the third period. I mean, they

dominated the end of that game, but that's less of like, we played so good in the third.

We should have won and more of a reminder. It's like that's the youngest team in the NHL.

You're a good veteran hockey team that really shot yourself in the foot and lost

yourselves for about 30 minutes of that game and then dominated for 30 minutes of that game.

So it doesn't sit well at all. At least not getting one. That was a sticker for the

islanders. No doubt. Well, they have been a resilient team though this year, so there's really no

reason to think that they won't rebound from that. One guy that we talk about a lot and

it's been nothing but positive praise for Matthew Barzel this season, no doubt. For you,

getting to be down at ice level as often as you are and really close, such close proximity to

as a broadcaster. You were a teammate. Do you think that his game has evolved or do you think

we're just starting to sort of re-remember how good he is? Because I've been hesitant to

I've been hard on him on this show at times and not saying that I wouldn't have the guy in the

all-star game every year, but I've said he needs more around him to be great, where now I'm watching

him and I'm like, jeez, I think I'm wrong. And I think he's making everyone else great around him.

And it's not that he needs help. Now, Granted, they've put good players, they brought in

whore vat and they've done some nice things for him. But have you seen an evolution in his game

or have I just not paid close enough attention here the last couple of seasons?

Yeah, I think I'm such a big map, I love Barzi as a guy as a teammate and as someone that I

get to watch and see create offense every game. It was two seasons ago. So I guess three seasons

ago, not last year of the year before. That was his best year of the NHL to me and I know he's

getting a lot of praise right now for what he's doing and tough people talk about the two-way game.

It started when he first became a winger and then this year it's happened again,

he's playing on the wing. It looks like he's going to be a winger. He looked at things rationally,

Shen, whore vat, Pazzo, Sisekis, Richie's a guy that came into this team as a center.

You know, coming out of juniors, a highly talented center. So Matt's probably going to play the wing

and for some reason it suits his game better defensively. Maybe a little bit more energy to come

back and stick lift and pick up pucks like the year of the season I'm talking about. He'd let the

league in takeaways. He was a past, he was persistent, he turned that all into offense. I think

that was his best season in the NHL. I know a lot of people have talked about this being his best

season. That's fine. We've no picking shoes. I'm not saying there's a market drop off for level

up in any ways. But yeah, I think Colby, what you probably saw right away is a guy that is a

pointing-aid player coming in. And I think for a lot of people that don't get to watch the islanders,

you go, well, is he just not as good as he was at the beginning if he was a pointing-aid player?

And he's creeped lower and lower. And then had a season here there where he's up there.

Well, he's creeping up to a point of game this year. Not exactly the environment. Maybe he hasn't

had the people to play with as a center iceman for I think eight, nine years in the NHL.

But now he gets to play with some of the best and guys like Bo Orbat recently, he's been with Shen.

But his best hockey is definitely played with Orbat. I don't think you're off base. He's been

very good for a long time. I think that other element of his game was added a couple years ago.

And I'd love to see it every night because I think the world of him, I always think Barzi's got

another level just because I think so highly him. And by the way, like I'm sure people are not happy

about that turnover last night on the largest goal. And I'll just defend that. I'll defend that play

actually. When you have a guy like Matt Barzell, he makes that play 95% of the time.

Yes, this is a high-risk play at the top of the blue line, but he's going to his backhand.

He makes that play so, so often. And I know that this timing year, like mistakes are magnified,

but there's an argument to be made against it. But I didn't see that play and think,

oh, my God, this guy. Listen, sometimes you're trying to make a play. And if most of the time,

you're the guy who can make it, I mean, that's a play that he makes most of the time when he tries it.

I didn't have a heart attack from that play. Maybe that's a bad thing to say.

Didn't help that Tony got hurt on the backcheck, too. So Tony was like, I'm sure fans were freaking

out about that turnover last night. And I just, like, shit happens in a game.

Yeah. Yeah, I'll take you. I get to talk to Patrick Wang, you know, quite a bit.

Take you inside his mind. I'm not trying to speak for him, but the thing that he said over and over

again, mistakes he could live with any time that the effort's not there. That's what he can't live with.

Matt Barzell ran that play about, it's probably five minutes earlier in the game. They created

a nice chance off it. It was off the face off when he sprints up, created a lot of confusion.

He should make a simpler play right there. But yeah, whatever mistakes happen. Yeah, he's

really got one option to go to his backhand to Tony D. Tony D looks like he pulled something on the

way back. The only part I didn't like about it, I think Barzell can be back quicker. Patrick,

what talked about that after the game, the momentary laps, you make the mistake and then you're like,

that was the mistake, right? And then by the time the play transpired, Tony looks like he

who knows what happened with Tony D. And all of a sudden, it turns into a more dangerous situation

than it probably did the second that it left your stick. So that's the only area. And he was

determined after that. He had a ton of chances to make up for it, you know, set up the third goal.

But yeah, you live and die. Like you want to encourage your team to be creative. And you've

got to be willing to live with the mistakes that they make. So whatever, that was a long way from

the goal. And the goal didn't even happen right off that play. It was, you know, a continuation of

the things that happened after that. Well, I got one more Isles question. It's kind of in relation

to that a little bit, Hicks. So I do want to jump around the east a little bit with you. I want to

talk about Ottawa. I know you covered that game on Monday night. And you spoke very highly of them.

And as you should, they've been unbelievable. But the islanders and those 10 games left, like I

mentioned, they have three back to backs. So six of the 10 games, you know, are, you know,

whatever. Everyone knows what a back to back is. David Ridic gets pulled last night.

Sorokin comes in. He could have arguably gotten that start since it wasn't one of the back to

backs that they have left. Like what are you going to expect of his workload here in the last 10

games? Like, does Sorokin realistically get eight of those 10 starts and have to maybe play a

back to back with how Ridic has been potentially potentially. I think I sort of, I sort of

started talking to Brendan off camera about the Sorokin starting the game, the fact that it was

riddock starting only after David Ridic went out and didn't play well. If he played like he did

against the category flames, there's no conversation. You win the hockey game and you're probably saying

smart move starting David Ridic. He just had to play his game. He did. They won. And now maybe

Sorokin can be lights out. And he got a chance against the Dallas stars, one of the better teams in hockey.

So I don't have any issue with who started. David just didn't play well enough in that game.

He struggled to find his game. But his one before last game was one of his best and recent memory.

And that's the type of game that you need from a backup. It was good game. It wasn't like he stole

the show. You wonder what the workload is going to look like now for Sorokin because

I don't know what the record needs to be here. As you come down the stretch with 10-11 games left.

I think he's going to play a lot. It will come down to Patrick what did say after the game. He

didn't have an issue with with riddock. It was more of a wake up to the team. At the same time,

I've seen David Ridic be really good. He wasn't on top of his game. I think it could get really

happy for Sorokin and have a lot to do with maybe how he's looking. Less of like we don't want

to tire him out. And more of like let's use the eye test to make sure that he's really not

get worn down. But it's one of the best. If not the best in the world, he gives you the best chance.

It would be too tempting not to flirt with play in every single game and then maybe rationalizing

using your senses as as puck draws near and then figuring out what you got to go with.

Yeah, shutting out Columbus after being yanked the night before Montreal. That was incredibly

impressive earlier this week. But I do want to talk Ottawa with you. I correct me if I'm wrong.

I think you said on the broadcast that the senators have one of the more well-balanced

four groups in the NHL. And I couldn't agree more just confirming that was you that said that.

Yep. So like they're 10, 2 and 2 since coming back from the break. You know,

obviously guys have gotten healthy. Shane Pinto was heard a little bit earlier in the year. He's

come back. He's playing well. But I want to hear more about like what led you to say that because

I think the senators this year have been very underappreciated. Like Batherson's had a great year.

Students obviously. We all know the skill he has. Cut Chuck, you know, the mix of grinders and

skill guys that they have. And you see on this play last night Detroit. I'd love to hear more

about your thoughts on the Ottawa senators for a group. Yeah, I think they've been one of the

best teams in the East all year. Obviously the standings don't show that at all. Issues in that,

like not going to beat this up. Everyone is talked about the Ottawa senators a lot in that regard.

Yeah, they've got maybe the best balance of forwards in the league and maybe not like the most

top top high end skill. But I love the way they're set up. I mean, they're I think the second best

faceoff team in the NHL. Look at their look at their lines. They've got a lefty and a righty

great faceoff man on every line. So it doesn't matter where the where the faceoff is set up.

You can have someone taking a draw in his strong side. He like put clothes in his 60s. And you've

got everyone else like hovering in the mid 50s. It's unheard of because they can all go in and take

a draw on their strong side when it suits them best. Whereas he had some of these great

sentiment with a high percentage that it's like these own draw on your forehand against the other

team's best sentiment. And you got to find a way just to tie up or maybe try to win it. These guys

can be at their strength at all times. The Shane Pinto line, Cousins, just in a Mario like such a great

shutdown line. I hope there's some Shane Pinto love in the Salky universe. His career goes on

and getting love and votes maybe further down the ballot. I think he's been outstanding. You look

down the middle. Stood slow. You've got Pinto. You've got Dylan Cousins who's turned into a hack

of a player. He's a power forward. Brady Kichok. We don't need to say more on him. Stood slow is

that step right under a superstar to a star that can take over a game and be the difference maker.

Coach Arru, what a great leader under your fourth line. I don't know. I'm missing some guys.

Ridley Gregg. Can you imagine planning against that guy every night? Like he drive you crazy. And

in your fourth line, Fogo's been a 20 goal score in the league. Zetterland's been a 20 goal score in

the league. Lars Aller, you know what you're getting with him. So they've got a great balance.

They've got great depth up front. Obviously their depth on the back end is getting challenged. But

every time I've seen Ottawa with my eyes, I look at it and go, I don't know how they're not a playoff

hockey team. It's been months of this season. They're finally to that point now. And maybe

their biggest test of diversity with a battered back end. But I like watching the scenes. It's good,

honest, true, hard hockey, the way it should be played. And they're starting to get results.

I wanted to ask you that too. Like obviously Shabbat and Sanderson are out.

Jensen's out. Yakum Chuk makes his debut last night. Gold and assist. A snipe of a goal too.

And a sick assist between his legs and the blue line. But you know, as a defenseman yourself,

like they played, I think, 40 minutes of hockey at MSG their night rotating four defenseman.

Have you ever experienced anything like that in your playing career? Was there a game where you

guys had to run for? Not for that long. Not for that long. Like there was, you know, Colby, you

probably had this many times. First period, someone gets hurt. And you're like, we're going to be

five all night. This is going to be tough. There's also been times when, whether it's me or another guy,

that you get down to five and someone gets banged up. And that guy's just sort of like,

maybe I'd be leaving the ice. If it was, if we had six guys, but we've got five. So I've

got to find a way to stay in. Obviously, Lassie Thompson couldn't do that for that long of a stretch.

Unbelievable. Difficult. Cleven on the back end. Like he's not Sanderson. He's not Shabbat.

But he impresses me the more and more I watch him. I think he's stealing parts of those two

guys games. And I haven't seen a lot because obviously we were doing the game last night. Quick

box score to keep played 28 last night. He was outstanding. Was it Monday night at MSG?

Clearly played a lot. Soon we played well. They're beat up. I mean, that was, that's devastating to

lose Shabbat. Like we know how good Sanderson is. Whether you think he's going to be a Norris

finalist or a top 10 D. I know it doesn't slide down past that. I think the world to him in Shabbat.

Maybe one of the only guys in the world that can really fill in. He's not trying to be Sanderson.

He's not going to clean up mistakes and shut down players like Sanderson. But he was filling

those minutes so, so well. And then he gets hurt. We'll see when Sanderson comes back. Because

I guess if you can survive without Sanderson, you can survive without Shabbat.

7-2 and L without Sanderson. 7-2, which is incredible. And Thomas Shabbat is so,

I don't want to say he's so underrated, but like,

thought the world at him when he was 1920 playing all these minutes. And then you forgot about him.

His game's changed and he's added a new element. So like if you mark short as a playoffs,

if he's not available to massive blow because he's an underrated hockey player.

Good to see, Yakum Chuk step up. I don't sense fans have wanted that.

I've been on a couple of SENS podcasts and the Clamory just trying to get Yakum Chuk up.

And on the big stage, I saw this on my phone last night.

Yeah, he's a big boy. Makes it look pretty easy too.

Do you think that they find their way into the playoffs? And I mean,

G's plus 22 goal differential. You don't usually see a team on the outside looking in with a plus

22 goal differential. I know we live in a totally new world where maybe even individual plus

minus isn't taken as seriously as it used to because they have all the other metrics to look at.

But goal differential, that doesn't lie. That's a stat that I think is very indicative of the

success of your team. And for them to be sitting at a plus 22 and, you know, outside the cut line.

They're in. They're in. We got to take your site. Oh, I don't have the right day here.

I have like, they got in last night. They're, uh, they're the second wild crossback plus 23.

It's weird because I keep refreshing my browser. And it's still not giving me some time to

sit. Yeah, there you go. I'm trying to tie this down. So do you think that they stay in at least?

And, and, you know, if they do stay in, obviously that that has ramifications potentially on

the islanders, you've got the red wings on the outside looking in. I mean, I made comments the

other day about the red wings picks that the fan base had a meltdown on me. It's still happening

by the way. I'm still getting, you know, comments from people. I'm just like, look like these are

the teams that are supposed to be on the up and up. The islanders, they're the house money team.

Nobody expected this from the islanders. Obviously now everybody wants it, right? But when you look

at the senators, you look at Detroit, you know, they're supposed to be the up and comers. So like,

who gets in in your opinion when, when the final bell rings here?

Yeah, I'll start with Ottawa. Um, I do think they get in because I've been saying it for like

two months when they've been down and out. And like, there's no part of me that the sends get in.

I'm like, well, I said so. I just what meets, meets my eye every time I watch them. I'm like,

they're too good not to get in. They're one of the better teams in the east every time I see them.

So how could they not get in? And, and while we were all the last couple weeks talking about this

is a crazy playoff race and talking, you know, about Columbus, about Pittsburgh, um, about Montreal,

about Boston, about Detroit and about the New York Islanders. I'm like, but don't forget those guys

because they're coming. Well, they've already, they've already passed. Um, the only way they couldn't

get in is if they can't get saves, which they haven't been able to do this season. Omar looked like

didn't watch the game. Numbers looked great last night. They, you know, third pair against the

islanders. That Thursday gave up one shot against went against Toronto gave up 14 shots in the whole

game. And then the Rangers nine. I know not like elite competition. They've gotten ability to suffocate

and shut it down. It's just a matter of how soon's Jake Sanders and coming back. Uh, I, I think Ottawa

stays in and I wouldn't want to play Ottawa in a playoff round. Um, healthy. Obviously, um, but yeah,

I, I think Ottawa stays in because I felt like they were coming for a long time. Um, but everything

else is, you know, all bets are off. Um, it's, it's going to be wild as we come down the stretcher.

I do think the sends will stay in, but they're just another fly in the way. They're, they're another

factor. It's, it looks like they're going to do it. Someone's going to collapse and someone's

probably going to go on a crazy run. We'll call it the last seven eight games of the season. Um,

that they just make sure maybe let's get to the teeth. Like, when out, go six in one, maybe six one

and one six. I want to, someone's going to do that and find themselves in. Someone's going to collapse

and, um, someone's barely just going to make it. The only other team I wanted to ask you about

in the east today. Hicks was the Montreal Canadians. And I wanted to ask you about Noah Dobbs.

And obviously, specifically, um, again, like, I know you work last night. So I'm not sure if you

caught like this clip. Uh, but on the Canadians, their goal, Noah Dobbsen makes an unreal play. He

takes the puck from the D zone to the offensive zone starts the ozone play and then makes a sick

little shot pass, a cold coffee old to help set up their go ahead goal in the Canadians. Again,

like, the way that those guys skate around the offensive zone when they have lane huts and

tops and Suzuki coffee. It's of course, you all these guys that are, as Colby says, kind of

positionless and demodov. Like, they're, they're a pretty dangerous team. Like, doing this against

the Carolina Hurricanes who were always known to be one of the better defensive five on five teams

is pretty goddamn impressive. And I'm just curious of what you made from from Dobbsen so far in

his first year in Montreal or I own a fans missing him. Or are they, uh, still happy to see him go?

Well, first of all, I hadn't seen that, uh, so coffee is up to 44 now. Okay. Yeah. Um, yeah.

That was that. I'm sorry. It's not asking you about coffee. Let's go to another one. So he's, yeah.

Okay. Good. Um, well, I'll start with, I'll start with Noah. Um, he's, he's been really good

there this year. Um, that's not the same no adopts in the plate for the New York Islanders.

That clip that you just saw with him carrying the puck. Yeah.

Exiting and entering. That's what Islander fans got accustomed to. I've seen a lot of

know this year. I've been up in Montreal a handful of times. Um, I talked to him about his game.

It, it looks like, uh, it looks like his games refined. It looks like a guy, um, that went from

the young guy in the room always surrounded by veterans to a veteran overnight. Um, it looks

like a guy that that handled things extremely well. That's, that's a lot of pressure. New sort of

color shot side of big ticket. And in Montreal, a lot is expected of you. And he's, he's answered that.

So I guess first of all, I'm just proud of him, but it's refined game. It's not him like that clip

showed to contradict my point here. It's not him up and down the ice because he doesn't need to.

Marty St. Louis. I love listening and talk here. I'm talking about his players here. These

players talk about him. Um, a lot of guys come in there and struggle right off the hop to understand

the way Marty wants them to play the philosophy that he has. No, he hasn't struggled with that. And

I think what he's learned is less is more times and at his age now, I think 26, you guys can

check that for me. Um, he's, he's figured that out. I don't think Islanders fans should miss him.

I think this is the perfect situation where maybe he needed to go somewhere where he was going to be

a veteran guy to, to learn this and become that, um, but big time maturity on his part that I'm

really proud to see. But it's a different hockey game that he's playing. It's not the Noah Dobson.

They made an aim for himself here. Going up and down the ice having a couple 70 point seasons.

This is a guy that makes the simple play every single time. And there's less and less of those

moments in his own end that leave you wanting more, um, firm download. There might be the occasional

time that his guy gets body positioning on him, but less and less and less as time goes on. So, uh,

he's, he's been a really good trade for the Habs, a good siding for the Habs. Um, and Islanders fans

have a lot to be happy about themselves as we know on the back end and uh, uh, you know, you're

going to play it quickly on the Habs. I, I, I've also liked the Habs all year. Uh, when, when

they're on, they're a deep hockey team up front. They've, they've got defenseman, they can all make

plays in the back end, um, back end sort of, you know, I'm not saying Strubel and Jack, I don't make

plays. I'm saying the other five guys that are in there, they don't miss any plays. Heads up guys,

physical, close, the mix of small, big, long, ranger, power play penalty kill guys. Um,

gold timings, obviously, can be the question from Montreal, but they're another scary team

in the East. Like, you look at that Fowler or even Dobish. Like, I remember Yara Halak

started instead of carry price and he can win the Appalach series too. Like, one of these guys

have that ability, the potential in them. We talk about it as a weakness. Um, maybe they don't know

how big the stages and can, can do something like Halak did and go and run. Uh, the Habs, the Habs

are good. And as far as an exciting watch, I'm, how do you guys feel watching the Habs games to

always entertain it? It's, you know, it's got some Harlem Globe trotters feels to it of just

total puck control and, and there are ships when Lane Hudson and Noah Dobson are on the ice

together. And I, when you're talking about just sort of realizing like, oh, wow, now I'm the older

guy here. You can really see that when he's on the ice with Lane. And I think, I think the other

thing is too, like, you think about the mix of, of, of the decor when he was in New York. Um,

and now you think about the players he surrounded by just from a talent standpoint. Like, he

understands like, okay, when I'm on the ice with Lane, here's sort of my role on the pair.

And you get that with age and you become a wiser player. And, and then the other thing I'll say, like,

you know, to me, you can have a guy like Lane Hot Lane Hudson. I was just going to call him

Lane Dobson, but sure why not? Uh, you can have Lane Hudson and Noah Dobson paired up as a,

as a legitimate pair at some point as these two players play together for the next eight years.

And I'll tell you why. Like, they're both offensive thinking sure, but they go about it in such a

different way. And they're both so good with the puck that I think that they create space for

the other guy. And when you have a partner that is so good at bringing people to you and then

giving it to you, that extra one or two seconds of space that either Lane gets from Noah or Noah

gets from Lane, it gives elite players. And, and, you know, I think you right shot the fence

man who has had 70 points in this league. I mean, he's got an elite ceiling, Noah, for sure.

And what Lane Hudson has done, I mean, like the names that you look at, I mean, you're talking about

a player that is scratching the surface of elite, if not already, um, at that level. Like, I think

you can play those guys together, Hicks. I don't think that that's some defensive disaster that

I think some people may go, whoa, whoa, whoa, you can't have them on the ice together. No,

because they're always going to have the puck. And they're always putting the next guy in a better

situation. Like, I always tell our guys on our, on our junior team Hicks. And it's, it's not,

you know, it's the North American league, right? So we're not tier one junior. We're a tier two

junior league, but I say, don't be like an oh shit passer or, or a problem passer. Oh,

shit, I better pass it or I have a problem. So let me pass my problem off to. I try to get these

guys, especially the defenseman to realize like you should always be a safety net for your partner.

You should always be working under them. You should always be there and move it before you have to

and, and those two guys, when you watch them together in particular, I just think they put

everyone else in such a good, like I'd love to be a forward on the ice with those two,

even though yeah, you're going to have to be F3 a lot. You're going to have to be a little extra

careful as F3. But you know, when you get it, you're going to have time because they're drawing

guys in. So I have seen exactly what you're saying. And you can really see that and know his game.

I've, I've been a huge Noah Dobson fan and, and argued in his favor, even when he was,

when he was still an Islander, like I've never wavered in my support for Noah, because I just

think that his ceiling is, you know, the sky. And I'm not being, I'm not exaggerating with his

tools and his gifts. Boy, you see a talented hockey player. Yeah, I think he's, what he was,

the New York Islanders, you could say he's going to be great offensive defenseman.

Now with Montreal Canadians, you're like, he can be a really good defenseman, right? And,

and, and, and that's true. He said, he said to me, you know, on the island, I was sort of the guy

to go. And if we needed offense, like I sort of had to join them. It was the makeup that we had

and here, there's so many guys that can do it and even the coaching staff's like, hey,

there's a time in a place that you've got great scale. We're going to need you to jump and join.

But it's not always. We're going to move the puck and pass it first. That goal is a great example

against Carolina. Yeah. Showed. But, um, and late Hudson's a good defender. I don't care if people

are like, oh, he's just all offense. I know one. The way this thing is stick the way he competes.

It's like, you know, just just because he's a great offensive player, some guys can get the

bottom pair that their bad defenders. It's not true. It's just not true. Is, is he an

undersized guy like I was? Can you lose some battles because of that? Of course he can. Can you

make turnovers because you're making plays all the time? Of course he can. That doesn't mean

you're a bad defender. Watch him defend one on one. Um, he's, he's a lot. And I think I'll have

to handle for his teammates and practice. Like he's, and he's so, yeah, yeah, that's,

that's, yeah, that's a great pair with the great maps. Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad you said that.

I really am because I, I, you know, there's going to be risk in his game at times. Like, and you see

a boy, boy, the reward outweighs the risk. Um, and, and, you know, he, he's, uh, yeah, I really

am glad you said that because people just, it's a lazy take to say he's a bad defender. It really

is. He, his feet and his stick and his compete. I saw a clip the other night where he, he loses

a puck in the offensive zone down low. He dogs the puck coming back so hard. I think Tofer Scott

actually posted it. Yeah. Tofer's great. After he loses the puck and, you know, like he

dogs the puck so hard that the, I think it was Slavkovsky was able to then pick the playoff

in the island. I mean, and the, and the Canadians going out and score a goal all because lane,

you know, his compete off the puck. He doesn't get a point on the play, but, you know, I,

I am glad you brought that up. And when those two are on the ice together, like, it's, I,

I think eventually we could see that as an everyday pair at some point in, in their career and,

and good luck for checking that defensive pair. Like good, good luck playing those guys in the

neutrals on the offensive blue light. Good luck. I, I, I, I wish you well on that one.

All right. Well, Hicks, we really appreciate your time this morning. Where you headed next?

Where's the next week Amazon Prime game? Denver. So I got, what do we got? We got Thursday at home,

islanders, Dallas, Saturday, Matinee against Florida. And then Sunday, I'll be heading off to

Denver for, I'll be missing, I'll be missing hit in the islanders, which should be tough for

to miss, but I think they won. Yeah, I'm prime. I'm prime. We've got Colorado, which is always great

in the Calgary Flames. And then I'll be redying up to Buffalo for a massive game on Tuesday. So

it'll be a fun busy week. Yeah, fun lay a little break today. So it was fun coming on with you

guys. Yeah, well, good for you. And, and thanks for coming on on your off day. Sorry, I didn't

realize that you had such a busy week ahead. You are the best. Thank you. Thanks, Hicks.

Appreciate it, boys. Take care. All right. Love him. Awesome guy. I got to see him at MSG on Monday

night. I didn't catch him last night, but I always appreciate Thomas Hickie's insight. Colby,

one thing I really want to bring up to you today. And I want to play this clip while we're talking

here because, and there's no way on the first person to say this. I'm sure this has been said

before, but in the Detroit Ottawa game last night, the Red Wing score, the first goal of the game,

but it's called offside. So it comes off the board in what would have been a huge first goal.

Ottawa then ends up taking a three nothing lead. And the game is totally different. But Patrick

Kane on this entry, he touches the blue line. The puck goes across the blue line. He obviously

enters first. And I know this is offside, but the point I want to make here, Colby, because everyone

is so sick of these offside reviews, right? Everyone complains, the fucking offside review,

it's nonstop every, every goal gets challenged. Why is it that when the puck is staying in the zone,

the blue line counts as onside? But when the puck is being entered into the offensive zone,

the blue line is no good. If we just allowed the puck to hit the blue on the entry,

there'd be so much less offside calls and offside reviews. I don't understand why the blue line

is not just one thing. Yeah, make the blue line like part of the offensive zone is what you're

saying. Yeah, I would limit so many offside challenges, because if Patrick Kane, if the if the

rule is the blue line is good on both sides, that's a good goal last night. Everyone is on side.

But because you have to be in the way completely or the puck has to be in the way before you enter

the zone, like I think that is a small little fix that would make the game flow so much smoother.

And it doesn't change the game. I don't think the game is completely different if you just make

the blue line good. New York Marine, he says, shockingly rare, good idea from Johnny. Yeah,

I just don't understand why there's two different things. The goal, the goal is always more goals

and more offense, because it's more entertaining. Provides that, right? Yeah, I don't think that

that's a bad idea, to be honest, like just make it part of the offensive zone.

Yeah, I guess it would just be, then it would, the reviews would be well has the,

because all that would just hit the blue. Yeah, but it would just shift everything back.

Like players would start trying to make the play just before the blue line thinking, okay,

as long as I, I think you'd still run into like reviews, Johnny. But I do think there would,

obviously, you'd be adding another, you know, six inches or however, I don't know how wide is the,

how wide, no idea how wide the blue line is in hockey, 12 inches wide. So you'd be adding

another foot to the offensive zone, which I mean, over time, yeah, but that's what I mean,

like from an entry standpoint, you're getting another foot and you're taking away a foot,

another foot from the neutral zone at that point as well, right? The neutral zone is where they

continuously shrunk the game and like they've tried to add more space in the offensive zone.

That's something that they've done, you know, since like the early OOS or whatever. So,

yeah, I mean, listen, Kane should have held on to the puck for one more second. So, man,

red wings, they melted down on me this week, huh? I didn't think what I said was that crazy

after last night's game, I think more people are siding with you though. Like I've seen a lot of

red wings, at least from what I've seen. Like the first day, it was red wings fans like defending

Iserman. And listen, this is like the Carolina Hurricanes fans who always defend Rod Brindemore.

Like, Rod Brindemore is a good coach, but they haven't won anything, but Rod Brindemore is a

legend in Carolina. So they're not going to criticize him. Well, and that's half the responses to

me that day were like, he played on a bad knee and like he can do no wrong. And people are just

like, you're a moron. You're lazy. And it's like, look, I said in the clip that they've had good

drafts. They've picked some good players. But you have a few guys that are up. You have a like,

where are they going? Where are they going to take the next step? They're going into year eight.

Right? I mean, and my question was was very, very, you know, clearly what other GM gets eight

years without making the playoffs and keeps their job. And I was, I said, ask the chat,

who can come up with a name for a GM that got to miss the playoffs that long? I mean, I get it.

It's a rebuild, but this is part of that larger conversation. Like, do rebuilds really work?

I mean, Detroit is now not just on the line. They're one even below now in the

standings. I mean, do you think Detroit's going to make the playoffs? And it's not that there

hasn't been progress. Sure there has. But like, who on that team is the guy that's going to get

you over the hump? Like, we've really never, we've never seen to bring cat in the playoffs.

Like, is he going to be a playoff performer? Well, it's another year where we're probably not

going to know. So I don't know. Like, I just asked a question. And I was surprised at how it

felt to me like unanimously. People were like, people were like, I thought it would be more split

than it was. And it sort of makes me wonder, Johnny, like, maybe hiring the guy that was the

beloved player isn't always the right decision. I mean, Chris jury was a beloved ranger, wasn't he?

That is no longer. Yeah. I don't know if he was like, so beloved. I mean, he was not on the

longest time. Yeah. And it's a legend, an absolutely legend. So I don't know. Like, the chat,

I don't know. Do we have our Red Wings fans here today? I was just surprised. Like, people,

people didn't listen to the whole clip. I think a lot of people just read the quote and

they didn't actually listen to the clip. But the reaction to that video was definitely a lot

different and crazier than I thought it was going to be. It really was. I mean, I didn't expect

that level of hatred to come back for just asking a question. I don't know. Like, it was,

yeah, maybe Euler fans has all the Red Wings fans are boycotting us today.

I haven't seen Colonel Ludlow in a couple of days, I feel like.

No. But also, like, you know, you look at the draft picks they've gotten, like,

Cider has panned out, Raymond has panned out. Cider and Raymond are great. Those are great players.

Are those, like, are those, like, I think Cider, more of Raymond? Are those guys that are like

franchise guys? Are you building your whole team around? Yeah. Are you building your whole

team around them? We asked that question about, we asked that question about Chicago about a lot

of the high end Chicago draft picks. But Dard is a player you build around. Is Lev Schunoff?

Is Nazar? Are these up? We don't know the answer to that yet, right? You're shaking your head

maybe not, right? And we just don't know yet. But, you know, Ed Vinson is being thrown in the chat.

Listen, I love Mosider. Like, I'm not, I like to mean that guy's a star. He's an underrated star.

Yes, they have Trey Augustine. That's on the up and coming. But he's an undersized goalie.

Cross. Cross is doing well too. And then Grand Rapids agreed. Oh, they, that's why I said he's

had some good drafts. But are they good enough drafts to get you over the hump? Or it's looking

like more and more. They need to go out and make changes, trade some of the prospects, bring in

some really good NHL players, get a little bit more aggressive. Excuse me. Come,

so I'm not crossing my bed. It's very fine. No, I listen, he's a, I don't, I don't like getting

names wrong. So I'll say my bad. But yeah, I haven't watched the Grand Rap, I haven't watched

Grand Rapids play this year. You know, I just see what I see this first age. Don't you think

like Steve Iserman should have like maybe done what Bill Garen did? Like, give him back. Yeah.

Give your Zeeb William up. Give him up to go get Quinn. Yeah, it's a good point. Red wings,

Red wings would be sitting in a different position if they had Quinn Hughes right now. That was

a percent. That's a great point. What, what big splash have they made? What big splash have they

gone and made? I mean, listen, he didn't go out and he, he got fall. He, he tried to improve his

back end. But listen, you're about five to seven years too late on, on fall. You know what I mean?

Like, he's still a very good player in the NHL. But, you know, so I don't know, man. Like, I just,

I know they have the Iser plan and, and I, I have a lot of, listen, Steve Iserman is a hall of

theme or like growing up. I was number 19. My first or second year when I was on the Valley Forge

Minute Men because Joe Sackick and Steve Iserman were two of my favorite players. Joe Sackick was,

was number one for me. But like, I wore 19, even as, like, I, it's, it's, I just, it's a question

that like, how can you not ask that question? You know, like, that's the, the, the overwhelmingly

crazy response to me is one of the reasons he still does have his job. There's obviously not a lot

of noise from the fan base because so much of the fan base is looking at Steve Iserman the player

and saying, we love him too much. Well, I think a big part of the response I saw too was fan saying,

like, Iserman's building for 20 years, right? He wants to be a competitive team for 20 years. Like,

they just were, like, they just were, you know, they were making the playoffs every year for however

many years it was. You know, I don't think they want to rush it because they want to be competitive

for decades. But that's like, that's such a hard thing to, to bring to fruition. Yeah, I mean,

listen, be competitive for 20 years. I mean, how many players play that?

Reed McCannick's real comment. McCannick's bill said, what I think is that Iserman inherited a team

with zero picks and zero prospects. This is a unique situation to work properly as picks and

prospects have to develop. He has a better answer to develop them. Like, that is true. He was,

he inherited nothing, you know, so he's had agreed. But like, Kyle Davidson inherited nothing.

Like, do you think he's going to get eight years without making the playoffs? I mean, no, no,

so I'm saying like, like Danny Breyer inherited a fucking dumpster fire of bad contracts and

he's having to unwind and do things and people are freaking out already. People are starting to

come for him, like, which I don't agree. I think it's too early for anything like that. But I'm

just saying, like, you know, like, there's, this isn't the only organization that you got handed

an absolute dumpster fire. And eventually, you got to, you got to not just show that we're

getting better and win participation. You got to get your team into the playoffs. Like,

this is the NHL. I just, it's, you know, with the Blackhawks, I wouldn't say the Blackhawks

aren't even close. McCannick's bill, like, when the dark, they were in the playoff picture,

like until the dark got hurt. I know it's, again, like, it's a small sample size in this season,

but I wouldn't say like they're, they're not even close. And Frandell makes his debut last night,

picks up an assist, a beautiful play. Well, that's the big thing. They're some of their bit,

like some of the guys that actually look like they're going to be those pillar, pillar players

haven't gotten there yet. Frandell is one of them who showed up yesterday. I didn't watch Chicago

last night. So I know he had it. He looked good. I was there. Yeah, he looked good. Yeah. Okay,

so for an NHL debut, he looked good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, but the big thing I would say with

them, like upfront, they still, like, does their prospect pool? And it might, and I'm,

I'm sort of trying to run through it in my head as we're talking, like, do they have a lot of

big forward prospects? Like, Nazar's a smaller guy. Lardus isn't that big. Is he? He's a little

bit more on the undersides. Well, there's big. So if he, if he becomes what they think that he

can be, you know, then he, he's certainly a bigger, heavier guy. I mean, all we, we read Emily

Kaplan's thing the other day that said, he can't wait to fight me NHL. I mean, I, I don't know how

excited that would make your team when you're, you know, but they're just not a big, like,

Oliver Moore is not overly big. I love Ryan Green. He's going to be a, he's already playing like

a little stuff. He played well last night. He's going to be on that team even when they're good

again. But like, none of those guys are big forwards. On the back end, they're big. You know,

you've got crevier is huge and, and Rinzel's big, crevier is big. I don't know, ultimately,

what they do at Del Mastro, although he's an RFA. So like, it'd be, you know, I doubt you're just

walking away from him. He's, he's been serviceable. Um, you know, he has. So, you know, Lev Shunov's not,

he's not small, but he's not huge, right? So he's a, he's a, he's a, I'd say he's kind of big. He's

like huge, but he's big. He's big. He's, he's a strong guy. Yeah. I think that's one area. Well,

Mason West, I guess he's a big, yeah. Mason West is the guy. Yeah. How's the six or go? How's

Mason West been in Fargo? I don't think he's literally lit it up. But Fargo is right. They're

having a good year. They're a good team. Yeah. Um, I got a great coach. Like,

Skinner knows what it takes. So him, him being there is Mason West committed to Minnesota. Do you

know where he's going? No, Michigan state. Michigan state. Michigan state. Ah, so he's gonna go play

for Nightingale and, and Jared and Michael. And I mean, he'll, he'll get great coaching at Michigan

state. So that's a, that's a big heavy forward draft pick there for, for Kyle Davidson. So,

but I don't, I don't agree either that, that, that they're not even close. But I also think like,

they're not in year seven. Kyle Davidson's in what year four of his rebuild.

The drafts, the drafts of Bedard in 23 was Kyle there the year before. That his first year was

that year, right? Yeah. Well, that was the year where he had to unwind everything. Like that was

here. We had to trade for Bedard. The trade came. Yeah. That was, that was the unwinding year.

So they're like three and a half years into their rebuild. So like, Kyle's at the halfway point

of where Steve Isermann is at. You know, and I've heard rumblings that Kyle Davidson's gonna

sign an extension soon, which again, I think is the right decision because you need to let him

see this through like he needs to get at least five years to show ownership like, hey, like we

really are prime to have a good run here. I'm not saying you need to be ready at five years,

but I think you need to show, hey, the foundation and like we're, we're knocking the foundation.

So, so yeah, I don't think that's totally comparable, although fair to bring up Mechanicsville,

but, but I don't think that it's, it's totally like an apples to apples situation there, Johnny.

Yeah. No, I agree. Anything else that you want to get to today before we wrap up only one more

show tomorrow is the start of the NCAA tournament. So don't forget to submit your brackets.

I think Colby, you said we have 330 people. That's always it. Let me look. Here's what I'm

gonna say too. No, there's 384 people. Holy shit. That's a lot. If you played last year and you

haven't filled out your bracket, fill it out. It's the same username, password, all that stuff.

Victor, you still have the, the information, Johnny, can you like retweet it or something? I can

try to find it online and retweet it or whatever, but here's what I'll do. I'm gonna up the prize

from $100 for winning it to $200. I'll give 102. I'll give 102. Okay. I'll give 200. I'll give 100.

You give 100. I'll do all you, so $300 prize to the winner now. So we just update from 100

to 300 in the winner. So Colby, I still owe, I still owe 10 people, 10 people that listen to our show

100 bucks each because the Rangers will make the playoffs. Big Willie has been letting me know all

year. I'm actually gonna give it to 10 people that aren't big Willie just because he's been so

fucking annoying with it all year. But I love you big Willie. I didn't mean to to make that a

personal shot. I just wanted to let you know that I'm still a man of my word and I owe 10 people

$200 once the season concludes. Sorry, continue. So yeah, sign up for that. And if you are

just just make sure that you fill out your bracket because yeah, the game start I think tomorrow

at one o'clock. Is it tomorrow? What's today? Wednesday? Yeah, you're right. I'm flying out

a couple hours actually. So I should probably go pack, get myself together here and get ready

to go. Do we have, do we have a confirmed guest for tomorrow, Vic? I think there was a rumor.

Jackie, but it's not confirmed. Yeah, Jackie's doing the Sabers Bruins, or yeah, Sabers Bruins tonight.

Um, so we'll have Jackie out and talk about that tomorrow, only two games tonight. So Dwayne,

I've been seeing your comments in the chat all day about the Buffalo Sabers weren't gonna talk

tomorrow. Someone said, oh, they're not talking about Buffalo Colby's hatred for Buffalo continues

or whatever. Was that the same was it was who was that? It's Dwayne, Dwayne, Dwayne. Okay, yeah,

I did see that earlier. I was going to chirp back, but then we kind of just switched topics.

And I, and I have to say something. So, um, I did just write in the chat about Colby just for

that ranger thing. I wrote in the chat request. My Venmo is Johnny Hyphen Lazarus request $100

for me. I will pick 10 people on April 15th or whatever day the season ends to give that money to

$50,000, Johnny. I made the bet. I said it at the start of the year. I'm a man of my word. I'm,

you know, it's, it's just how it goes. Um, but yeah, so are you taking, are you going to be taking

a loan out for that thousand bucks or what? No, I still owe you like $800 for the computer, I think.

You do? Yeah, I got to pay you back to that. Oh, geez, I forgot about that. And I think I owe

Pasha, I owe Pasha like a thousand dollars. Or what? Me and Pasha make rangers devils bets every

season. Um, so like, you know, I, I think the only one that I'm winning this year is Nika to have

more goals in Tima Meyer. I owe Vic 350 books. Yeah. I'm, uh, I'm, I'm, he helped me with a clip, uh,

earlier in the year, but I haven't paid for that yet. I think what we need to do is we need to come

up with a way for you to, to you, for you to clear like, and, and, well, just, by the way,

these bets are for like the end of the season. So the season hasn't ended yet. So I don't

owe the money yet. Like, I'm the thick one I owe $350 bucks to, but the other ones are like season

long bets that I basically already lost. So I'm gonna, and I forgot. And I never ask you if I,

I didn't know. No, I, but I'm clearly, I have other people to pay off too. That's why I haven't

paid you. Well, listen, I'm gonna give you an opportunity to, to either like go double or nothing

and clear whatever you owe me. So we'll have to come up with a way. Okay. For you. I'm getting so

many. I'm almost right here. You're clear. You're dead with me right now. Uh, I don't know what it is.

Maybe the chat can help us with that. But, um, I'm gonna give you, uh, I'm gonna give you an

opportunity to clear that with me. So you don't have to give me back for the computer. But we'll

figure that out. Emily's having, Emily's having oncrustibles for the rest of the season for dinner.

Okay. Let's make sure we hit the like button on this episode too. Yesterday we got a lot of

views on YouTube. We didn't get a lot of likes or comments. I, I, I really like talking to Brandon

Dorado yesterday. I really did. I don't know how you talked about that. I love Michigan. Man,

Michigan got, got the clips going. Michigan hockey had so many clips from our show yesterday.

I was catching, I was catching a lot of shit from my friends at, uh, from my teammates and my

friends at BU, um, for how much love I was giving Michigan yesterday. And I'm like, hey, guys,

it's true. Like you all know it. It is true. So that was a great conversation with Dorado though. He,

he's got one of those hats for me, which I'm pumped about. He, he texted me after the show. So, um,

I, I will be wearing that hat for sure. You know, so I can't please them all. I'll just write,

can't please anybody. Yeah. I think that that's way more, uh, I make every, I make everyone mad.

It's really the hat that I need, Johnny. It's kind of been like that for the last couple of weeks.

I've been, I've been pissing people off, left and right, more than normal, honestly. Pretty much.

All right. Nothing else yet to really today. Let's do our bet three six five bet of the night.

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tonight we're taking the Buffalo Savers to win in regulation and home against the Boston

Bruins. You can catch that game on TNT. The Bruins are playing the second leg of a back-to-back.

The Bruins lost last night at home. Toronto is huge loss for Boston. And I very bad win

for the May beliefs as far as the lottery goes. The Savers are minus one thirty two tonight to win

in regulation. They've been the best team in the NHL for quite some time. And again, like Buffalo is

just one of those teams. You go into every single game, not expecting them to lose. So the Savers

are the pick tonight. And Dwayne, Dwayne just vent on me one dollar and said give it to Colby

for at least mentioning the Savers today. Sabers, Sabers, Sabers, Sabers, Sabers. I'm

thinking of the Savers in my cup. I'm picking them in the cup. No, I don't know yet. I don't

know yet. I have no idea. But I mean, listen, wouldn't a, wouldn't a Savers wait? So could the

Savers, I'm just going to see if I can pull up current standings here. Could they end up

pass the hurricanes and take number one of these in conference tonight?

They'd have to play Tampa, though, before before the conference finals, right? So yeah, same

division. So I was going to say, like, how good would a Tampa Buffalo conference final be with

like the hatred that's been building between those two teams? Yeah, I'd be sick. You know,

we didn't talk about today that intent to injure penalty by PLD. We didn't even touch the

the takedown on who was that Robert Thomas on Thomas. This was pretty ugly, huh?

I just saw it trending on social media, but I didn't really see that's like a pretty ugly

point. Yeah. I mean, I'm not like saying he should get 10 games for that, but that was pretty

ugly. You can't really do that. Yeah, it's like a food foot. It's a body slam. You could throw

a guy on his head there. I didn't, I didn't love that. I still hated the Greer hit way more than

that, though. I mean, that wasn't very good. That wasn't very good, but that was not very good.

But I, I, I still hated the, I still hated the other one worse than that. Yeah, I agree.

For that, PLD. No, I don't think so. Oh, I got to hop, Koby. I got to hop. Go ahead. Yeah,

I'll finish. Yeah, just wrap the show. Sorry. All right. Make sure you guys hit like on the

episode. Make sure you subscribe to the daily face off YouTube channel. Leave your comments

on the stream. Get the automatic downloads going on Spotify and Apple podcast. We're definitely

having a really good month with our audio downloads and keeping all the bosses happy. So we

couldn't do that without you guys. So keep those up. What else do we got? I think that's pretty much

it. Tomorrow, I'll be at a hotel in the Loveland, Colorado. It'll be a nice early morning for me.

Hopefully, I don't have to stand in like a 10 hour TSA line and Philadelphia airport today.

Johnny's already off to skate. We've got Jackie Redmond coming on the show tomorrow after

doing the game tonight. We always love when Jackie comes on the show. We appreciate the chat today.

Make sure you guys keep sending Johnny the Venmo requests. I'd say you guys need to get to at least

five or 10,000 on there. Keep pushing and pushing and pushing. So we appreciate you guys for hanging

around today. We appreciate the chat for chiming in on the show. We appreciate all of the questions

and we will see you all tomorrow at nine a.m. as we always do. Have a good day. Everybody.

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