The Canadiens’ Top Trade Target Should Be… | The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro March 5 2026

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Aaron arrow the sick podcast that can't wait to talk habs with Brian wild let's bring

him in Brian wild brought to you by fruit three to learn a family run business

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Brian how are you I just immediately got hungry

yes as I do so many times he reading that off but this time

it just put hunger in me I feel like I'll get this sandwich right now

I hear you my man I hear you before we went on air you and I had a chance

very briefly probably last thirty seconds to talk about the Toronto Maple Leafs

who lost big tonight wow Tony Tony they were playing tonight a team

the New York Rangers that also has given up that is side lining players

that has already traded Panara and they lost six to two

is it rebuild time in Toronto should they tear it down

it's six straight losses since the Olympic break

there's an image that circulating on social media tonight

where Craig Marube is yelling at them at the bench and they're all like this

shut this have the guy I saw it I saw it you saw it yeah it doesn't look

but it was so not interested it looks like they're doing them out

they're looks like they're tuning them out I saw a tweet tonight it was pretty

funny somebody said yeah Mariner no problem Michele is going to pick up

sixty points Nicholas was going to pick up forty points

Brad Tree Living's a genius type of thing and I wrote back and how did that

work out it didn't obviously because I think they don't even have

fifty points between the two of them and Nicola Wall was traded earlier

today to the Colorado Avalanche so obviously yeah

parting waves with Mitch Mariner and making a trade for Mariner

and bringing in guys like Michele and Wall it didn't pay off I mean that

backfired and that that turned out to be a disaster

it turned out last time Matthew scored last time Matthew scored has been a

while Neil Anderson has been producing pretty good yeah

but Matthew's been a while I think they should trade

them oh no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

all right bring bring up is he bring up his DB bring up his DB

page that okay well I shame go on master control if you can bring it

up but I I know what it is I mean Brian the guy averages one point

one point per game in the regular season and has for a deck

bucket of box Tony and averages point

nine points per game in the average is point ninety five

points per game in the playoffs he's a six foot three

centering of two hundred and fifteen pounds he's twenty eight

years old he's in the best years of his you can never win a trade

like this didn't you learn from Mariner you can't

you can't it would be a blockbuster obviously but I think the

guy is I think like when you look at everything recently you

know and Brady could chuck feels the same way in Ottawa

if they found themselves on an American team right now

I don't think they would be that upset about it

but I think the guy is I think like when you look at everything

recently you know and Brady could chuck feels the same way in

the game they would be that upset about it to be honest I

think that they would not frown on a trade to an American

team now obviously when I suggest it might be in the best

interest of the Toronto Maple Leafs and when we do look at those

numbers we do see a player sixty nine thirty three twenty

six so far this is not a sixty nine or a sixty goal score

anymore so like when you're trying to win trades you and I have

discussed this a million times together Tony you're trying to

get in front of a player who may be regressing soon

Elias Pederson like that's what you're trying to get in

front of so I'm not saying he's it you know

lousy and I'm not saying the trades of bag of pucks I'm

saying he's not we're sixty nine goals anymore and if

you're trade living maybe you get in front of that especially

if maybe he wants to play in America all things considered

these days okay so now I know that there's a political

angle here it's been brought up and stuff like that you

a lot he went to the White House it upset some people he

wants to play in the States he's not crazy about Canada

yeah yeah yeah yeah I've never heard him say that he's not

crazy about Canada here's the deal and I also know that

there's some people right now in the YouTube chat that are

saying okay it's not the same obviously Marner was at the

end of his contract and he was going to leave for nothing

so the Leafs said no no you can't leave for nothing we

got to make a deal and they ended up making deal and it's

not the same thing I get all that okay I really I do but

with all this talk and and I heard there was a couple of

members of the media today that were actually saying that

they don't believe that Austin Matthews they believe Austin

Matthews going to get traded they don't believe that Austin

Matthews going to finish out his contract with the Toronto

Maple Leafs but with all this talk other teams see you

coming from a mile away and I just you know what the

exception of what the exception of Ryan O'Reilly who by

the way is nowhere close nowhere close to the offensive

player that Austin Matthews is a very good defensive

player yes a better player on 200 feet I think you can

have that debate a better offensive player nowhere close when

Ryan O'Reilly was traded that was a deal to the St. Louis

Blues that both teams ended up winning the trade the St. Louis

Blues won the Stanley Cup with Ryan O'Reilly in 2019 and

today the Buffalo Sabers have taged Thompson to show for

it but usually when you end up trading number one

centerman like Joe Thornton back in the day or like Jack

Ikel and so many others you don't end up winning the trade

by Ryan I don't know what the solution is in Toronto

obviously they sent in Craig Brube they thought he was

going to be able to change the culture of the team the way

Barry Trots was able to do it in Washington and ended up

winning the Stanley Cup you remember in Washington everyone

was talking about the capitals were a country club well

Vetskin was a loser he didn't know how to win the big one

we heard that talk for 10 years Trots went there and they

won the cup they were hoping that Brube was going to do

the same thing it didn't work out but you can't trade

Austin Matthews right now okay I brought up my points

about it you know in terms of Canada versus American in

terms of the player that seems to be regressing just a

little bit in terms of being 28 years of age but what I

haven't added yet and I want to add to it now it also

factors in the same way that Vancouver feels about

Pederson and feels about where they are in a rebuild and

they did it with Queen Hughes as well where do the Toronto

Maple Leafs feel that they are yeah like did they feel

this is just a one-off bad season and they're still

an amazing team or did they feel that they're not in a

rebuild but in a bit of a reset like so far they seem

you know fairly confident still I'd like to hear Brandon

Carlos name on the training block I think he'd be

fantastic for the Montreal Canadians for example right shot

deep but they are they're you know not selling or sending

a message of selling just yet but when did they get

there Tony when did they get there if there's talk of a

rebuild right now I know if there's talk of a rebuild

right now in Toronto though I think the fan base is going

to absolutely lose it back in 2018 back in 2018 the

front page of the hockey news was the Toronto Maple

Leafs are going to win the Stanley Cup in the next

several year and they're going to in the next years

and they're probably going to win a couple of them

they were supposed to have done their rebuild right they

knows straight away the likes be on for enough and fill

Quesil and they voluntarily thank to train win to get

for a spot in the lottery and get Austin Matthews

after they drafted him and you still have Austin

Matthews and you still have Morgan Riley and you know

what I think Morgan Riley could be a guy you could

look at train he still have Neil Anderson I don't

think that you know what look you said he's on the

code ones in your mouth I think you said

something to the effect of Matthews this program

on the decline, regressing, okay?

I think Matthew's just having a bad season

on a bad team.

What's a bad season?

It went from 59 to 33 last year.

Yeah, last year, once again, let's bring it up.

He had 78 points and 67 games.

So he was averaging 1.1 something points per game this year.

He's had 52 points and 57.

I don't want his goal total, 69 to 33.

69 to 33 years, right?

I hear you, but I mean, the year before he had 69, he had 40,

and he had 85 points.

The year before he had 40, he had 60.

The year before that, he had 41, 47.

I mean, it's really tough to hit 69 goals, right?

I mean, in this national, I understand it.

I mean, this is a guy that in the end, averages.

33 is 33, Tony is like goal all the way.

That's the worst total in his career.

33.

I hear you, I hear you, but I'd be willing to bat

that if they have a good year next year,

he's going to do more than 33 next year.

Is he ever going to get back to 69?

No, I think that's a big number.

I also think it's a great number, by the way,

but we're, you know, let's stick to hockey,

but I think it'll be tough.

You get away with anything in a podcast.

It's a podcast.

You know what?

If I was working for a big company,

I would have been fired by now,

and that's why I'm happy I'm not.

What can I tell you?

Yes.

Yeah.

So anyway, listen, it's a great discussion.

It's a great, I'm not totally opposed to doing

something drastic with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I just don't think the timing is now,

especially not the question.

Would Gordon use trade Austin Matthews

on a bat season for him?

No.

I was going to ask you instead.

Are you ready?

You're the general manager of the Montreal Canadiens.

Yeah.

Here Austin Matthews is available.

How hard are you working to get him?

You want him?

Do you want to lie as Patterson?

Do you want him?

I would touch Patterson with a 10-foot pole

that was dipped in gold.

I'm not the president of the

Elias Patterson fan club, but I'm going to tell you this.

His talent is undeniable, and any player who's out there

that hasn't worked out, I'd be really confident

that they can find their game under Marty,

seeing the Wii, and playing in Montreal

with this kind of talent surrounding them.

All right.

So he can score goals, and that's the hardest thing

to do in the National Hockey League.

His 200-foot game is in great,

but Coffields wasn't when he broke into the league either,

and look how good Coffields 200-foot game is now.

So yeah, he's a player that would interest me.

He is, but I'm going to tell you this.

I think the absolute best player for the Montreal

Acadaine's first line, and my opinion,

has never changed on this, is Slavkowski.

I think Slavkowski was born to play with Suzuki and Coffield.

You have a 5-foot 11, over 200-pound thick

sentiment, who's a tremendous playmaker

with absolutely incredible vision,

and an incredible processor that works at very high speeds.

You got an incredible goal scorer,

who can score from anywhere,

and you have a guy who's big, who's strong,

who's powerful, who can crash the net,

when he puts his head down,

and he puts his shoulder down,

and he decides that he's going to the net.

He's hard to be stopped.

When he's on his game, he's very difficult to be contained.

He can change the momentum of a hockey game.

I think we're going to see his best moments in the playoffs,

and we will, for the rest of his career.

I think those three are perfect for each other,

and I get it, that Slavkowski was amazing,

for the two months prior to the Olympics,

playing with Kapanen, Aruki, and Demidava Aruki,

and he was carrying the mail,

and because of that, a lot of people wanted him to stay there.

I think he's going to take everything that he did great

with Kapanen and Demidava,

and he's going to bring it back to the first line,

and they need to get him going,

because he hasn't been going since he returned from the Olympics.

And why, Tony?

Why?

He had an amazing Olympics.

I think everybody felt that he was just going to start flying

at the NHL level.

Gave, take all that confidence.

I have a theory.

Yeah, I'm going.

I have a theory.

He was amazing at the Olympics,

until he got hit versus Germany,

and I was at that game.

And he went into the board's head first.

And all my eyes were on him,

and I didn't look at anybody else.

And the doctors and the trainers went over to him right away,

and they started doing like this and stuff like that,

and I imagine it went well,

and I imagine his eyes were following the finger

and stuff, because he returned in that hockey game, OK?

After they did that, and after they did

maybe some concussion testing on him

to see if his eyes would follow,

they went to get a bag of ice.

And I saw him for about five or six minutes

on the bench, or at least it seemed that way.

And he was putting the bag of ice on the back of his neck,

and then he was putting the bag of ice on the back of his head,

and then he was putting the bag of ice on his head.

And when he came back, he wasn't the same.

And for the next couple of games in the Olympics,

he wasn't the same.

And I get it, the game's got harder there after.

And when they played Finland for the bronze medal game,

when they played the States, they never had a chance.

And so that States team was just too fast, too skilled,

and too deep for Slovakia.

So it's hard to judge that game in his performance.

But when they played Finland, he wasn't himself.

His team lost big versus a team

that they beat in the first game of the Olympics.

And I think the fact that he took a shot,

coupled with the fact that he came back with no medal,

coupled with the fact that it was just a roller coaster

of emotions, and the trip, and the fatigue,

and carrying a nation on his back,

and the jet lag in this and that, that's my theory.

I think if you add it all together,

this is why you struggled, and this is why I'm giving him a pass.

I'm good.

You're not amazing for two months,

and amazing in three or four very big

and important Olympic games, and all of a sudden,

some are saying, oh my God, what's wrong with Slovakia?

Slovakia will be fine, Brian.

He'll be fine.

But now this, putting him back with Suzuki and Coffield,

I think this is just what the doctor ordered

at the right time, and by the way,

I know Suzuki and Coffield didn't have a good game last game.

I think they need Slovakia.

I think Slovakia needs them,

and I think Kirby Doc's effort level last game,

there's no problem with Kirby Doc

moving down to the third line.

That's right there.

Yeah, I love your theory.

I've just one thought that I want to make

in terms of asking you a question though,

is like do you feel now, when you've all that you've seen

in everything, do you feel like he's having

posed concussive symptoms, or is it more fear

of getting it again, or it's still all fatigue and let down?

No, last game, and I know that he was unable to,

last game was his best game, like he had a ton of shots,

and I think only of them, three of them hit the target.

I don't know if you had a chance to see

the hockey stack card last game.

I didn't see the stack card.

So why don't I do this?

Why don't I bring it up right now?

I'm going to send it over to Shane Gomal,

and I'm going to bring up because of bed.

Because I think that this is, I think this is very good.

I think it's something that you need to see.

The hockey stack card, and I don't want to give it away,

but I'm going to tell you that I think

that you might actually be a little bit surprised by it.

So here we go.

I've sent it over to Shane's hockey stack card.

I think it's very accurate.

So probably my favorite metric.

So perfect.

Look at the, OK, who in your opinion

was the best Montreal Canadiens forward last game,

or the best two, because the two come to my mind right away.

Coffield and Suzuki had quite a hard time.

Correct.

Man, I didn't really think.

New hook at two goals, right?

New hook had two goals.

So I mean, he would obviously be up there.

He powered the third period.

A really, really like New Hook more than some fans do.

I think he still has breakout in him.

I haven't said they got a couple of points.

I thought Evans and New Hook, you're

by far the best Canadian's forward last game.

OK, I didn't, I didn't pencil Evans.

I just know that the top line struggled and the second line

struggled.

And I really didn't like the so-called shutdown line at all.

I think they're aging fast and worried about them.

So I have New Hook and I really can't come up with a second.

So perfect.

So what that said, you said that you think

that the hockey stack card is very accurate, OK?

Yeah, I do.

I really did.

And I tend to agree with you.

There's sometimes that the stack card sees certain things

that I don't, but most of the time,

like before I even look at the stack card,

I could pretty much guess who were the three or four

most effective forwards?

Who were the two or three least effective forwards?

Who were the two most effective defensemen?

And who were the two least effective defensemen, OK?

So if you have last game in your head,

and now you take a look at the stock card,

Chingamaw Master control, if you can bring it up,

Jake Evans and Alex New Hook are leading the way.

Slavkowski was the fourth most effective forward

in the hockey stack card.

Now, who were the three least effective?

The guys that want to combine minus eight

and were caved into their own zone.

Suzuki, coffee, old and Kirby dock.

Who were the two least effective defensemen?

The guys that our eye test told us were Carrier and Strubel.

And who were the two most effective?

The guys that our eye test told us as well, Hudson and Matheson.

So look at that.

Your ice love, Kowski, from a hockey stack card perspective,

last game was a score of 1.52.

He had the fourth best score of any Canadians player that night.

So I think even though he didn't produce,

his game was the best game since he returned from the Olympics.

He was coming around.

And I think he had a chance to, and about with about six minutes

left in the game in a game that was tied.

Yet a shot right from the slot.

And there was a good save that was made.

And yet a chance the beer hero last game,

but he wasn't unfortunately.

So 250, 250, the last two minutes and 50 seconds.

They had them him dim.

I thought for sure they were going to score.

You usually get rewarded for two minutes and 50 seconds

consecutively in the other team's own with Goldie Pold.

Little unlucky, you know, in terms of,

little like we don't want to rehash the entire game.

But little unlucky in terms of the extra man penalty, too.

I didn't really even feel that that was a warranted too many men

on the ice penalty to be honest.

They didn't have the pop committee.

It was really weird.

What did they, the ref punished them for three extra feet

of leaving too soon?

They, you don't get punished at the NHL level much,

you know, leaving a little early.

We are, we're going to, by the way,

you talked about the Leafs and I just saw something that came up.

Maple Leafs cramming two six game losing streaks inside a 15 game span.

They have two regulation wins in their last nine games.

Man, what'd it be fun to do sports in Toronto right now

because they're so bad?

And by the way, speaking of which, back on the 9th of February,

if memory shows me well, I think the date was the 9th.

We debuted a show out of Toronto, the Sid Sixero show.

And if you can watch it, it's on YouTube.

It's a fantastic show.

So Sid is doing really, really good things with that show.

And yeah, I love the fact that he's got his name on it.

The Sid Sixero show powered by sick media.

I mean, that's, that's, that's pretty cool.

Okay.

Oh, and he's, he's got a lot to talk about.

He's got a lot to talk about.

Yeah, they must be up in arms because, I mean,

they thought they were going to win a cup

as soon as last year or two years ago, right?

I'm going to put up my, I'm going to, I'm going to put up my hand.

Okay. My heart goes out to them.

I got it wrong.

I got it wrong.

You thought they were going to win a cup?

I thought they were going to win a cup.

Yeah, did you?

Yeah.

No, I didn't.

I never liked the core four.

You owe really good.

I never believed in them.

I never believed in them.

You're smarter than me.

I thought they were going to win a cup.

And as a matter of fact, they had the best chance

was when they had Zach Hyman.

Yeah.

That was a big, big dumb move by the organization.

And he's been amazing in Edmonton that they, that they treated him the way that they

treated him.

Like they should have given him a big offer and they should have kept him down.

He is a playoff performer.

He's a blood and guts guy that they made a big, and I think Zach Hyman, if we're looking

for a, a winger to play with the Montreal Canadiens to fill out their top six, that dude

would be great.

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Chad Dementius, did Dementius, pardon me, was a founder of, expected Buffalo and expected

Buffalo.com, and he writes about the Buffalo Sabers, says that based on his information,

the Sabers are closing in on Logan Stanley of the Winnipeg Jets.

It's a six foot seven defenseman, and that would make sense, because guess what?

The Sabers are on side.

They don't like any one under six five six foot four Samuelsen, no, six one, Bowen Byron.

Okay, thank you.

Bowen Byron is six one, Rasmus DeLine is six three, Samuelsen is six four, Owen Power

is six six, and Kessel Ring is six five.

By the way, they're going to look at it, they're going to look at it in a six five as

well.

Logan Stanley is six foot seven, Logan Stanley six foot seven.

I like Logan Stanley a lot, he's a, he's a left handed shot.

And by the way, he reports, they might be in on Luke Shen as well.

Oh, yeah.

Could you imagine?

Luke Shen hasn't had a great season, but he's highly respected.

I would take Luke Shen on the Canadians right now.

Yeah.

What did you?

I would, yeah, I said on Blue Sky that I would, I would be interested in him.

And I mentioned I'd be very interested if the Maple Leafs have decided that they're

going to suck for a while, really interested in, in, in Brandon Carlo.

That would be a real great acquisition.

And I think it would take a first rounder.

And that's okay, because that's the 25th pick overall.

And that's a 50, 50 prop with a 5% success rate for being a star.

So go for it.

Yeah.

And it's not because Michael H. Panned out at 21 that you have to be worried about giving

up 25, because like you said, there are numbers, there are statistics playing math.

I mean, Mishar was 26.

There you go.

Unfortunately for him.

I watched something other night that, that game there and for Laval when they were terrible

against the Toronto Marles and he showed me nothing.

It's been a disappointment, obviously, Mishar.

I mean, it's not over for him, but you know, the, the road is running out.

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Shane Gomo, in about a minute, I'm going to ask you to bring up the Eastern Conference.

Actually, you know what?

Why don't we do it at near the end of the show because there's some games that are not finalized

yet?

So, why don't we do this before we get to our Q&A, Brian?

Why don't we get to the lines?

When we got these from Canadians.com, earlier today, here are the lines, Suzuki with Slough

Kowski on his right and coffee on his left, Capitan with Demi Dov on his right and Newhook

on his left, Jake Evans, centering Dock on his right and Bulldoch on his left, Dano

with Gallagher on his right, and Josh Anderson on his left, Carrier Gouli that should be Hudson

and Dopson, Jack I and Strubel, I don't know why that was crossed out, by the way, and Dolby

Shannon.

I don't think Matheson had a day off, that's why.

No, no, I understand that, but I don't know why there's a line through Hudson and what

you've done.

Yeah, but, yes, it says Patrick Lyney and Alexander Dexie skated his extras while Mike

Matheson was absent from the session, taking a therapy day instead, all right, okay.

Before we get to our question and answers, let's say the Canadians would have added Nikola

Huat today and his five goals, okay, and they would have had him for tomorrow night's

game, yeah.

Where would he be in the lineup?

You'll understand where I'm going with this in a second.

Old dukes?

Spot?

So you'd move the centerman to the wing?

Yeah, I think so, because you're not suggesting Dano out of the lineup, are you?

They just acquired him?

No, no, I had a discussion earlier on French television tonight where my buddy, G.C.

La Joie, said that the Canadians should have been in on Nikola Huat, because if they would

have been, he would have been centering the second line for the Canadians tomorrow night.

Oh, come on.

And I said, well, no, he wouldn't have.

And I said, how many goals did he have?

And he said, well, he's just having a bad season, but he should be centering the line.

And I said, well, listen, all the recaptains got 19 goals.

And he's on pace for 26.

So all the recaptains centering your second line.

The thing too is somebody says somebody's just having a bad season.

You can't, like, I had this discussion with somebody today when I was talking about

whether you'd want Robert Thomas.

And I said one of the things that I didn't like about Thomas is he's got six goals in 52

playoff games.

That's not a really good number.

And they said, well, to be fair, he was a rookie in the first season when they won the cup.

And, you know, that total of 52 is, you know, mitigated by the 20 that was his first year.

And I'm like, well, hold it now.

Like why are we arguing to be fair is like taking away a statistic.

Fairness is relying on the statistic, not fairness is throwing facts away so you can

win your argument.

So somebody can say, Niqua, oh, he's just having a bad season, but to be fair, well, that's

not fair.

Fair is actually using the numbers and winning an argument with them.

Yeah.

And so he's not been good, and Thomas's playoff goal scoring is a little bit of a concern.

You want a guy to rise to the top when the playoffs start.

And so far in his career, he's been quite an underachiever in the playoffs, not to suggest

he's soft or anything, but the numbers are what the numbers are.

And I think when I mentioned the numbers, I'm actually the one being fair.

I hear you.

And listen, sports is a matter of opinion, I guess, and I guess there's no right answer.

But obviously, I know I was right, and so does everyone else in Montreal.

But that's okay.

You know what?

In terms of what?

I think it made for good television.

Well, Niqua was obviously what would obviously not be the second line center of the

Canadian.

No, no, no.

And sometimes he hears some, some things that I think come from a little bit of heritage.

So like you know this milieu, a lot more than I expected from heritage.

That's a great way.

Yeah, man.

You're the best man.

So I think there's a little heritage in that discussion.

All right.

Okay.

Sam Carrick.

Tabuffalo.

I think Shane is letting us know that Sam Carrick has been traded to the Buffalo Sabers.

Shane, if you could tell us what the return is for now, Antonio, they're coming now,

who is something he's going to have a day tomorrow.

He's eight.

Was that was that was a toughest nails player with the New York Rangers.

And you know, he's a he's a he's a right handed centerman who can also play wing.

He's a veteran.

He's 34 years old.

And but this Buffalo Sabers team like they're not messing around.

They want to add size.

Hey, they want to act great.

They want to.

It's 15 years since they made the playoffs.

Yeah, but they're going to go from making the playoffs after 15 years to being a serious

Stanley Cup contender.

Yeah.

No, I'm just making the argument of, you know, why the general manager is going for it.

They're a serious Stanley Cup guy.

And then it's like, Hey, we've been bad a long time.

We got to show our fans something.

Yeah.

They're a serious Stanley Cup contender.

All right.

Okay.

I agree.

You're ready to start the Q&A or you want to just one minute on the lines because no,

no, nothing more on the lines.

I like new hook getting a chance for sure.

I'm a big new hook fan.

And when he's got four points in three games after breaking his ankle, that's pretty

goddamn good for a guy just coming back.

You would, you couldn't ask for more than that.

Just before we get to the questions, I have a couple thoughts I want to leave on the

table.

Yeah.

If they were interested in a centerman, what do you think of Trochek?

I really like his profile.

I mean, he's 32 now.

Yeah.

He's out of bits, but he's still a really nice hockey player.

His numbers are pretty good this year on a bad hockey team that's given up.

I think he's a really good second line center.

I'm going to tell you something.

You're interested.

Go ahead.

I like Trochek more than I like Coddry.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, you've got a better profile in terms of age, for sure.

If you're worried about aging out, Coddry's 35, Troche's 32.

So you got bad as a big winner.

I think he's got a nicer contract.

I believe as well, Trochek's underpaid, I believe, four and a half-ish and Coddry's

seven and a half-ish.

I mean, these are just numbers.

I'm off the screen.

Yeah.

No, I think Trochek is, I think Trochek's more expensive than that as a matter of fact.

I think he's got a million more.

Okay.

5.625.

That's what I thought.

Yeah.

Okay.

So I'm off by a million, but that's not.

So five, six, seven, he's got three years left on his deal.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's okay.

And tough as nails in the playoffs.

He's been a real good performer.

He's a great face off player, Brian.

He's a great face off player.

Yeah.

I really like it.

Like if you were breaking.

Frankly, you know, and I know this is probably not going to be a heritage moment for me now

that I can keep using this theme, but it might have been wise to wait on Trochek instead

of a choir to know because Dino is lost to step Tony.

Yeah.

Dino is lost to step.

He's lost to step.

Yeah.

And the good point is he's only got 20 games this year and 82 next year.

It's not an albatross around the neck of the organization.

So it's fine.

You know what I mean?

But we can see that entire line is aging out right in front of our eyes.

Yes.

I know that.

But you know what Brian.

The lab leaders that really like that line.

I am not one of them.

Yeah.

But you're likely, with all due respect, you're likely going to see those three players

on that line.

Probably have their final days with the Canadians by the end of the next season when

they're contracts right now.

That's it.

For sure.

100%.

Yeah.

That's why they got three guys waiting in the wings.

There's too many.

You don't want like, there's too many, even if they would take a hometown discount.

I mean, I think Anderson has a chance if he takes this count, but it's, um, close your

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I think he's got a chance if he takes a discount before them, it'll be tough, I think.

I think there's too many guys, too many young guys waiting, like you said, too many young

guys waiting.

Yeah, you know, like when you look at those three that I've just mentioned that I think

are aging out rapidly and will be done at the end of their contracts, which expire next

year.

You've got easily hage Sharovsky that are replacing him.

You've got Bulldoch who sits some nights.

You've got Texia, they signed for three who sits right now, Owen Beck's ready to play

in the NHL.

I mean, the bodies are there waiting at full position to step in.

It's not like they'll be a dearth if all three are done.

They're ready.

The bodies are ready.

I think Owen Beck is ready and I got it by next year.

I also think Florian Jack is going to be ready.

Really?

You know, yeah, he's our horse.

I think so.

I think so.

I think Florian Jack, I can be on the, on the Canadians next year in the fourth lane.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

And that's how everybody's felt about them too.

Like, and I think you can get like, there are a lot of rumors circulating all the time.

For example, who's ever the mouthpiece that's giving the media, all the news in St. Louis, shut the hell

up.

You know, shut the hell up.

I know what you're trying to do.

You're trying to create a marketplace for Thomas

that's exorbitant, like four prime assets.

Like at some point, shut the hell up.

Like everybody knowing Colton Perrego is traded.

Like you're not supposed to be a mouthpiece on that

until Colton says, I'm okay with that.

Like that's a big organizational mistake.

So I hear you.

So we heard that it's on Thomas

and we should hear more on Trochec

because he is also on the block.

Yes, but I'm gonna say this.

I know it's not the same discussion,

but teams talk to members of the media, man.

It's just the way it's always has been

and they just continue to talk on this matter.

And you're right, they shouldn't have talked until

he agreed to waive the no trade.

There's no doubt about it.

You know, well, they're setting a marketplace.

That's what a general manager or the lackey

of a general manager, whoever he makes the mouthpiece.

He's saying set the marketplace for me on Robert Thomas.

I want four prime assets.

Tell everybody that's what I want.

And even if the blues actually are saying,

we're not getting four, tell everybody it's four

because I want you to set the marketplace for us.

Can it be, it might be just three that they're hoping for?

Can it be that they actually leak the trade

for so that it so that it's out there to try and force his hand

so that he says, yeah, okay, I'll waive it.

I mean, all right, it's out there.

Everyone's talking about it.

People are saying, oh my God, the Buffalo Sabers,

what a powerhouse would call to break

while they're going to the Stanley Cup final this,

that and whatever and all that stuff.

Can that be?

I think so.

100% 100% that's not even can it be.

That's probably what happened

because, but you have to be, you have to be more responsible.

You know, I don't know if it goes as high as Armstrong,

maybe it's a lackey lower than him, you know what I mean?

Yeah, but you have to be more responsible.

They're human beings in this equation.

And Colton Pericco is now being viewed as like the bad guy

and that's so unfair to him.

It's so unfair to him or to the right to have a no trade.

And the exercise is no trade.

Yeah, I remember when Matt Sundee,

remember when Matt Sundee had a no trade in Toronto

and he exercised it and then he got booed.

Like you put Matt Sundee.

Yeah, he's a legend.

Come on, you can't boo Matt Sundee.

So it's too bad it happened that way.

And I think there needs to be some real gut check time

in St. Louis among the management to get mature, to grow up.

Mike Sullivan says the near-crangers talk

before antivids and trochec and Sam Carrick

before scratching them due to roster management.

We tell them the truth.

He said, we're honest with them.

They deserve that.

All right, okay.

So we'll continue to monitor this situation.

Paul Maurice on Y.A.J. Greer, who's from Joliad,

by the way, did not play tonight with Columbus.

I think they're calling that roster management

is very sought after young man

and that'll sort itself out over the next 24 hours.

So there you have it.

Okay.

Would you take AJ Greer and Davis?

Like AJ Greer, they don't need a player like that.

The Canadians?

The Canadians, yeah.

I take him right away.

Yeah, but how many bodies do you want, Tony?

I think you're looking for game changers.

Like you like that's, if I'm the general manager,

I don't need more third before slime bodies.

Do the Canadians really have an energy line?

The last couple of years, and I know it's,

you know, it doesn't have to be a copycat lead,

but the last couple of years have shown us.

The teams that win the cup, they have an energy line.

I mean, the energy line was famous with the Detroit Red Wings

when they had Draper and Moppy and McCarty.

They was, it was, it was, it was, it was famous

with the New Jersey Devils when they had,

Murphy was on that line and they had, and they had Randy McKay

and they had Bobby Holik.

It was, it was famous the last couple of years in Florida

and AJ Greer was on that line.

The Canadians don't have an energy line.

The Boston Bruins have an energy line.

There's some teams that have an energy line.

The Canadians don't have one.

AJ Greer has 11 goals and 61 games.

He's got 22 points.

This guy gives you 100% of what he has.

He defences teammates.

He defences teammates.

He's 29, he's six foot three, 250 pounds.

He's a Jollyhead boy.

The price is not going to be exorbitant, Brian.

No, it's not going to be exorbitant,

but what about all the bodies and what are you going to do with them?

You think they're taking, you think they're taking Gallagher

on the, on the other side of that?

Like what are you going to see?

You know, you're, you've got only so much money

you can put on the roster and only so many bodies on the roster.

I mean, bulldover already sat and text you a sitting

and they only texted, they signed two months ago.

Are you starting to wonder why they did?

Well, yeah, if you're going to sit a guy two months

after you sign them, yeah, I'm definitely wondering.

And also when Trochex on the market right now

for what everybody's saying is not going to be very expensive,

I'm wondering why they hunted to no doubt.

Yeah, I hear you now having said that.

I'm going to say this.

I think AJ Grew is going to end up going

to a Stanley Cup contender.

I'm not so sure the Montreal Canadians are that team.

I want to be surprised, I want to be surprised

if the Buffalo Sabres are going to be in on AJ Grew.

It's going to be in on everyone.

No cap limitations at all,

just because they didn't find.

Yeah, because you remember they had a big guy on their fourth line

that I think they lost the injury, right?

Isn't Greenway out?

Yeah.

So you know what?

I wouldn't be surprised if they're going to be in on him.

I really wouldn't.

When we're still lying in it, you like him?

I think he'd be a good good member

of the Montreal Canadians.

His prices.

Not needs for the team are right shot defensemen.

Obviously, like they're not getting comfortable with Jacki.

They're not getting comfortable with Struple.

And who is last on your stat card just now?

Struple on defense.

Yes, right?

So like they're missing, they're missing a six defenseman on

somebody.

Somebody answered that the Koreans were in, you know,

went out to get the know when Jake Evans was hurt.

How long did we think Jake Evans was going to be hurt?

I hear you.

Like when they're going to miss the playoffs or was the team going to

fall apart without, you know, when they were a little bit light

at center because of injuries, like, and I'm not knocking

Hughes here.

I mean, I think Hughes is amazing.

You know that he's the best general manager this century

for the Montreal Canadian.

I know what it's search of art, you know what?

I think so too.

And with, with all the respect to the center who still is in

pole position because he has two Stanley cups as a GM,

I believe when all will be said and done,

Kent Hughes will go down as the best Montreal Canadians,

general managers and Sam Paulock.

Yeah, and I love him too.

But having said that, having said that,

I would have gone after Conor Murphy and I don't understand

how Conor Murphy who was moved for a second round pick

to the Emmet De Noires, the Canadians didn't have

offer a second and a fifth.

Like I don't, I don't so, but now there's some things

that we don't know and, and, and you know what?

Maybe they have somebody else identified.

Maybe for whatever reason they just don't want to

trade with the Canadians.

I don't know, but, but let's say this, Tony,

I'm going to say this.

If it's 305 tomorrow and I'm sitting right beside you,

I'm going to look at you if they haven't done anything,

and I'm going to say they really needed to get a defenseman

that they were comfortable with as the 60 on the team,

because they do not have one.

And it will hurt them.

It will hurt them.

I think they needed to, by the way,

so we're going to get to, we keep on saying,

we're going to get to that Q&A and we are, okay?

Yeah, but anytime.

You and I, I think are on the same page, okay?

They've got to do that.

It's a huge need.

Everyone wants the center, and I wouldn't say no

to a second-line centerman, and they would take so much pressure off

of Capitan who, by the way,

I think one day is going to end up scoring 25 goals as a third-line

centerman, which is going to be unbelievable.

I wouldn't say no to a second-line centerman.

I wouldn't say no to a top six player.

I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't.

But here's where we know.

There's only two teams, I believe, that have scored more goals

than the Canadians thus far this season.

Colorado and Edmonton.

The Canadians have offense.

You can tell me that goals are going to be harder

to come by in the playoffs.

They're going to be harder to come by for everybody.

For every team.

There are only eight teams that have

conceded more goals than the Canadians, only eight.

Those eight, none of them are making the playoffs.

So the Canadians could see too many goals.

There's only five teams that have a worse penalty kill

than the Canadians.

And the Canadians goalies have a below 900 safe percentage

since the holidays.

So having said all of that,

you can't go out and get four or five pieces

and trade deadline day.

It doesn't work that way.

I mean, it's pretty hard to do that.

If they can get a stay-at-home defenseman, big, strong,

ideally a right-handed one.

Who can eat shit out of everybody in front of the net?

Who can eat minutes, ideally,

because you can get one that can play 12 to 16.

And you can get one that can play 16 to 20.

You can get one that can play 20 and more, right?

There's different tiers.

And the one that can play 20 and more.

That's really, really hard to come by.

But if you can get one that can play somewhere between 16 and 20,

I think that player makes your defense better.

I think that player puts everyone

in their best chair possible.

That's what I was going to say, best chair.

I think that player makes your system look better.

I think that player brings down your goals against.

I think that player

gives you the ability to win games

when you're up by a goal late in the game.

I think that player makes your penalty kill better.

And by all of that getting better

and you're protecting your goalie,

that player ends up bringing up your goalie stats as well.

So for me, the priority.

I know it's not popular because everyone wants the center in the goal score.

And I'll take it.

Right.

For me, it's the defense, but we could eat minutes, ideally on the right side.

Yeah, that's what I feel is the number one need of the team too.

Because as you just mentioned,

all the offense seems to be taking care of it can always get better.

But it's pretty much taking care of.

When you're third in the league, it's pretty much taking care of it.

And yeah, it's going to be harder to score.

Sure, it's going to be harder for everybody to score.

You're still third.

Yeah.

Imagine if you would.

Carlow comes from the Maple Leafs.

Remind me, what did he go for last year from Boston?

Fraser Minton.

Fraser Minton.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Fraser Minton.

It's going to cost, you know, it's going to cost a little for sure.

It might be your first rounder.

25th pick.

But imagine a scenario now.

Hudson can be on his preferred left side all the time.

Yeah, you got a first pairing.

A Matheson and Dobson.

You got a condition.

You got a second pair of Hudson and Carlow.

Yeah.

And you got a third pair of Goole and Carrier.

And everybody's in their proper seat.

Everybody is assigned where they can be.

Everybody's on the left that belongs on the left.

Everybody's on the first pair that belongs on the first.

Everybody's on the second that belongs on the second.

Everybody's on the third.

It belongs on the third.

Just imagine the level of improvement from that.

Yeah.

Instead of the nine or eight minutes,

that I'm not saying that we feels comfortable enough to give Arbor Jacki.

And remember, when you're only comfortable in the regular season to give eight minutes,

how many minutes are you comfortable in the playoffs to give Arbor Jacki?

And also, how hard are the working minutes in the regular season to playoffs?

You're giving 21 hard minutes to Dobson.

Those feel like 27 in the playoffs.

You're giving 26 to Matheson.

That feels like 32 in the playoffs.

And should it go to overtime?

And you only like five in your D.

Those guys are exhausted halfway through the first overtime period.

Yeah.

So that's the biggest need for me is the guy that Mantis and Luis says,

I love that guy.

I love that right side D guy that I'm using on my second pair.

If they did that, I like them in the playoffs a lot more.

They got a conditional first for Brandon Carlo

and they got a fourth pick as well.

Matthew Knies, Matthew Knies could be available for Toronto,

but it would take a massive off of the paper.

I heard that.

I heard that.

That's talking like what what phase of this rebuild or reset

to the Maple Leafs think they're in.

Why would Matthew Knies be on the block?

I saw that article and I made my head explode.

Why?

Yeah.

That makes no sense.

I would take him on my team, but I don't see the Canadians trading in.

By the way, I think if Toronto, if Toronto say we gave a first,

a fourth and Fraser Minton for Brandon Carlo one year later,

we want the same return that we gave up or close.

Yeah.

I don't think the Canadians can do that.

But if Toronto want to trade Brandon Carlo for a couple of draft picks

and a B prospect, yeah, or you know, a draft pick and a B prospect again,

Boston Toronto, Fraser Minton.

Okay, getting a Fraser Minton going back.

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Uh, I don't know.

I don't know.

Bumping that okay.

Fraser Minton, no one back her.

My little low one, Owen Beck.

Fraser Minton's got 14 goals and 29 points and 61 games.

Uh, I, you know what?

He's too low on Owen Beck.

He's a six foot two two hundred and four pound

sentiment that I think can end up being a 20 goal

score in the National Hockey League.

I don't think going back can be that guy.

All right.

So the Canadians don't have a prospect

then that they would be interested in.

Because you're not getting the top tier.

You're not getting Jorovsky.

You're not getting age.

So you're dropping a tier.

And so that makes the carlo trade.

Well, what they are, I'm sure they would,

I'm sure they would definitely take cap it in.

But I'm not doing that for a player,

Brendan Carlo.

That's 29 years old.

It's got a couple of years left.

It's contract.

I'm not doing that.

I'm not saying cap it in.

I'm talking about a guy that's Minton ish.

He's got a year left on his contract.

They by the way, he's in year five of six.

So he's got next year and the rest of this year.

Well, okay.

So that means his value has gone down even from last year.

Yeah, you don't own him as long, right?

Correct.

I like Brandon Carlo a lot, by the way.

I you know what six foot five two three six foot five two twenty five right

handed charges here too.

He would be just what the doctor ordered for the Monterey.

He really would check his plus minus Tony.

Yeah, on a terrible hockey club.

That's right.

I'm calling the Maple Leafs a terrible hockey club.

Such happiness.

I'll do that right now.

Okay.

I'm keeping you busy tonight.

Toronto.

Okay, let's go to skaters.

Let's go to the fence.

Okay, we got it.

Brandon Carlo.

It's good.

What plus six?

Yeah, come on.

Plus six.

That's crazy.

What's their differential?

As I make you go to the standings now.

Yeah, that's okay.

I could do that because they're differentials terrible.

And he's plus six.

That's pretty bloody impressive.

Right?

Okay, so now I'm going to go to the in the league.

And I'm going to go to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

And I'm going to go to their differential minus 21.

Yeah, plus six on a minus 21 team.

Yeah, that's good.

That's Nick Suzuki-ish.

During the rebuild in the first couple of years.

I like that name.

And guess what?

Buffalo can't have them because Toronto's definitely not helping the Buffalo

Sabers.

No way.

Yeah.

Well, maybe they wouldn't even help the...

I think they probably helped the Canadians more than they would help Buffalo.

Because could you imagine if the Buffalo Sabers

two hours proximity from Toronto end up winning the Stanley Cup?

When no one's talked about them and they've been like the laughing stock

of the league for the last 14 years.

And the Leafs were supposed to be a dynasty where they were supposed to win

two or three cups with the core.

Yeah, yeah.

That would be crazy.

Okay, I want to show you some names.

We're going to bring them up very quickly.

There are about 50 names.

Okay, I want to credit Frank Saravali

because I'm using this.

I got it from Frank Saravali.

Okay, I was looking for...

Because everything's been so easy for him.

I've been looking for players that are available.

And Frank put out a list of his top 50 players that could be dangled.

So here we go.

Justin Fock, Vincent Trollcheck, Blake Coleman.

Oh, I like that he's got the shooting way there.

That's good.

Yeah, okay.

Why don't we do this?

You want to take a look at right hand of the defenseman?

Oh, well, we can look at him right now because it's right there.

Okay, yeah.

Okay, well, let's just concentrate on right D.

Okay.

Okay.

Justin Fock.

Yeah.

Rasmus Ristilainen.

Trevor Van Riemstein.

Yeah.

Colton Perrico.

Oliver Ekman Larson.

No, definitely not.

Doug E. Hamilton.

Next page.

Jonathan Kovasevich.

Oh, I can't name me.

Yeah.

Troy Stetcher.

Next.

No other right D's in a top 50.

Now Brandon Carmel is not on this list.

Well, he's Kirby Docs in the final year of his contract.

Okay.

Right.

Now he's an RFA.

He's in the final year of his contract and it hasn't been overly conclusive.

Yeah.

So those are the right hand of the defenseman that according to Frank

are, you know, likely to be dealt.

Brandon Carmel is not on that list.

Who would you like the most on the first page?

I mentioned Ristilainen earlier.

Well, there's something going on there.

Colton Perrico has not come into the Canadians.

I don't like Oliver Ekman Larson.

They're looking for a defensive profile.

Doug E. Hamilton, there's something going on there.

He's unpopular in every dressing room that he's ever been in.

Out of that first page, I like Ristilainen the most.

Trevor Membrane's deck is a rental.

He's in year three of three.

He's 34 years old.

And so if the price is in big,

you ask him.

He plays on your third pairing and he's an upgrade.

He's an upgrade on what they have.

For sure.

He's an upgrade on what they have.

Because once again, you end up moving ghoulie now to the third pair.

Can we get the second page?

Is there anybody worth considering on that?

Thank you, Shane.

So you can end up putting Matheson with Dopson.

You can end up putting Hudson with Carrier.

You can end up putting ghoulie with Trevor Membrane's deck.

It's not something that's going to improve you a lot,

but I think it'll improve you a little bit.

Ultimately, the real goal is if you could even be comfortable

and think that the player was talented enough

that they ended up being second pair.

Yeah, and play with Lane Hudson.

That would be best.

So let me ask you this.

It's a discussion that we had.

It doesn't look like Colton Prickle wants to come to the Canadians.

But if he would be willing to,

if the Blues were going to trade him for Radham Murkha and a first,

Murkha is a former ninth pick overall, the 2025 draft.

Ryan Bakker is the fifth pick overall in the draft of,

I think it was 23.

Would you do Ryan Bakker in the first for Colton Prickle?

No, I wouldn't because of the age.

Like I'm like, you know, like people like are always talking these days,

especially you're hearing a lot of chatter about how amazing Robert Thomas is.

And of course, he's a really great player.

Like don't get me wrong.

But one of the things in the salary cap world that people don't discuss enough is

you're not sure how good Michael H. could be, right?

Yeah.

Well, he's cost control for like five years.

And the other guy's making eight already.

And like that's value.

$975,000 a year is value.

So if one guy gets you 75 points for $8 million

and the other guy gets you 55 points for $975,000,

there's really no comparison between those two players, Tony.

The $975,000 player for 20 less points has way more value.

So I would stay with Michael H.

And I'm the same way with Paraco versus Ryan Bakker.

I have expectations that he'll still be good.

I'm disappointed so far, but

he's a 21 year old defenseman.

And they have like even Logan Mayuga, 22 minutes last night, Tony.

Like it can happen.

Keep reading on defenseman.

They can figure it out.

So I think Ryan Bakker's still going to figure it out.

So I would not make that deal.

And you wouldn't either.

No, I wouldn't.

No, no, I wouldn't.

Yeah.

You know, um, another thing that no one's talking about.

Expansions coming in the NHL, right?

Yeah, Pierre keeps mentioning that.

I don't really see many headlines on it though,

but if they can get a hundred million dollars each,

they're going to take it in the other side mean.

So, um, I think NHL expansion is coming in the National Hockey League.

Is it going to be seven, three and one again?

They they they are not pursuing expansion,

but the future expansion feed by the way is about two billion dollars.

And cities like Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Indianapolis, New Orleans have expressed interest.

By the way, this is courtesy of I think the Internet or Wikipedia or whatever it is.

And um, it's important to keep young players.

Players that are in their first couple of seasons don't have to be protected.

That's right.

Our outside of the protected, right?

Like if you get it.

Yeah.

Barraco and they announced expansionally, it's already,

if they go by the exact same rules as the last time when it was seven forwards,

three D and one goalie or four, four,

depending if you like your defenseman more.

Yeah.

You got a hard choice already for those three defensemen.

Yes.

Right?

And you'd have to leave Matheson off because of his age.

It would be Dopson, Hudson and Gully.

Yeah.

And hope nobody takes Matheson D because of his age when you're, you know,

a franchise is just starting out.

So it already be dicey.

You had a Barraco.

It even gets more dicey.

So you're absolutely right.

There's value in the exempted player of which right backer would be one.

There's, there's the other thing as well is that, um,

look, I know that and by the way, out of all the trades that we've discussed,

for me, the one that's the trickiest would be this whole Robert Thomas thing, okay?

Because I like them a lot.

A 26 year old right hand that centerman,

who averages, give or take about 70 points per year up until now,

who had points in the 80s, the last two seasons,

who's going to be in their contract for the rest of this season.

And the next five years after that,

you're getting him, you're getting him at his best.

He's a former Stanley Cup champion.

So he knows what it takes.

He's a Canadian boy and Ontario kid.

So he knows how big hockey is in Canada.

He's very respected by his teammates.

No one's ever said a peep about him.

He's never had a problem with any coach that's ever coached them.

Um, at $8.1 million a year, which is a great contract.

Because let's just say even a guy like Michael H.

Burns the first year of his contract,

the M for two.

If he signs a seven year deal after that,

there's a pretty good chance he might even sign for more than $8 million.

So, you know, there's so many things that I like.

But Suzuki's got five years left.

Right.

After, you know, uh, Thomas would have five years left as well.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, when you say Suzuki is five years left,

let's make sure everybody understands the contract five years.

Correct.

So he's got 10 years left as hockey.

No doubt about it.

Okay.

So Nick Suzuki has five years left on his contract,

the fun non-mistake in five, six, seven, eight.

He's got four and a half years left on his contract.

Okay.

Five, six, seven, eight yet.

Nick Suzuki has four and a half years left on his contract.

Okay.

At the end of his contract, he's a UFA.

Okay.

Now, everyone knows that you want to re-up Nick Suzuki already when he's a UFA and he's 30 years old.

Okay, you want to get that done beforehand.

Okay.

Yeah.

Let's just say for whatever reason,

it's not going to happen.

Let's just say it's not going to happen.

And let's just say you get Robert Thomas.

And after this year, he's got five years left and at the end of his contract,

he's a UFA.

And let's just say he doesn't end up staying either.

Now, I get it.

If, if a disaster like that would happen,

you would end up trading them and you would get something

for them, you would not make them walk for nothing.

Mind you, sometimes in that final year,

a team thinks that they're close to a cop.

And they actually, you know,

what will keep the player?

And if he's losing him for nothing,

they lose him for nothing,

or they're trying to negotiate with another team

for his negotiation rights before July 1st opens up, right?

Yeah.

With a guy like Cage,

because a lot of people are saying,

yeah, yeah, I give Cage.

If Cage burns a year from his contract, he's got two.

If they sign him to Max, he's got seven.

Now, all of a sudden, you have nine.

So now, if your first window is four years, four to five years,

you have another player that gives you an opportunity

of having a window of nine.

So that's why I'm not doing it,

but I respect everyone's opinion that would do it,

because you'd be getting a really good player in return.

But Craig Button was my guest last night,

and he said unequivocally,

when no hesitation, he would trade him.

As much as he loves Michael H,

he would trade him no doubt about it for Robert Thomas.

Immediately without any hesitation whatsoever.

All right, so does Button have any untouchables?

We didn't discuss it, but if Michael Hague is considered the best prospect

on the Montreal Canadians, and you're willing to trade him,

and then I guess you're willing to trade the other.

Now, he did say, he did say,

hey, look, if they would ask for Michael H,

Gen Oliver Capitan, I'm not doing it.

He believes that it would be a great trade for both teams

if it was H for Thomas one for one.

Why do people think St. Louis's rebuild is like this 10-year project?

I don't understand that thinking.

They've had like 850 gold tending this year.

Biddington's been brutal.

They haven't gotten a save this whole year.

They're back up sucks too.

They're a good hockey team.

They're not that bad, but when you're goalie,

let's end five a night at an average 30-shot game.

You don't win a lot of games.

Look at the Ottawa Senators.

They can't get a save.

That's a good hockey team.

Their metrics are top five in some instances.

You look at goals expected.

Corsi, Fenwick, they're like top five.

And they're going to miss the playoffs.

Gold tending matters.

I don't think the Blues rebuild is 10 years, folks.

I think it's one year when they get a save,

because they can't get one.

On the other side of the fence,

you've got teams that are getting excellent gold tending

that can't win games.

How bad is Winnipeg?

Their goal is just one of the gold medal and stole it

with a 4.61 goals saved above expected in the final.

And Conor Halibar saves everything.

And they still suck.

St. Louis is pretty good.

They're overreacting.

Ottawa's pretty good.

They got rid of Peron tonight.

I think they're overreacting too.

Yeah, let's get to that.

Let's bring it up actually as a matter of fact.

The Ottawa Senators traded David Peron

who back to the Troy Redwings,

where he used to play conditional fourth round pick in 2026.

What do you think of that deal?

Fourth rounder.

That's a 4% chance to make it in the league.

A 0% chance to be in a star.

Yeah, one half of one.

Okay, why don't we do this?

We announced the Q&A and we haven't done it yet.

So Shane Gomo and Master Control,

I can't believe we're now 13 into the show.

This is crazy.

It's been fun, though, eh?

Yeah, my buddy just texted me,

says, Tony, you got a really long day ahead of you tomorrow.

You should probably get some sleep.

I can't because we didn't get to the Q&A.

Yeah, but yeah, tomorrow will be a long day

because I'm going to go in at around nine o'clock in the morning

and the show will start at 10.

It'll end at 12.

My French show at 12.

I'm going to start a brand new show.

The second I end the French one.

I'll start a brand new English show at 12 p.m.

And we're going to go until 5.30 p.m.

But I'm going to I'm going to leave it off to some of my people.

Eric Cosiel will be hosting tomorrow.

So I'll start off the 12 p.m. show.

I'll do a couple of minutes.

And then I'll make my way to TV sports

because I'm on the panel between 1 p.m. and 3.30 p.m.

Eric Cosiel will take over for about an hour, an hour and a half.

I like Eric.

He's fantastic.

She really is.

Shane will take over for about an hour, an hour and a half.

Madelheim will take over for about an hour, an hour and a half.

You will be on the panel.

Simos, Nick, Wavair will be on the panel.

Others will be on standby.

And then I'm going to get off the panel at 3.30 p.m.

I'm going to run from the TV studio A to go into a TV studio B

which they reserve just for me where I'm going to bring.

My day kicks off of the refreshing Celsius energy drink

then straight to the gym.

Pre-get pickup, back home to meal prep.

Time for my fire session shift.

One more Celsius got to keep the lights on.

When the three alarm hits, I'm ready.

Celsius, live, fit, go.

Grab a cold refreshing Celsius at your local retailer

or locate now at Celsius.com.

Spring is here and there's a whole new way to chie at Starbucks

that's made perfect for you.

Choose your sweetness, style it up or keep things light.

Add a touch of pistachio, a hint of strawberry or vanilla

or make it a spring classic with lavender

because this season bears endless ways to chie at Starbucks.

My tripod and my phone and my microphone

and I'm going to host the podcast from about 3.30 to about 5.20 p.m.

At 5.20 p.m. I'm going to stop that.

I'm going to run back at the studio A

because I have my hit at 5.30 p.m.

At 5.30 p.m. I'll finish that at around 5.45 or 5.50 p.m.

At 5.50 p.m. I'll then leave there and I'll go to

Cogical Media where I'm going to do radio between 7 p.m and 8 p.m.

At 8 p.m. when I finish there, I'm going to make my way back home

and get home for about 8.40 p.m.

At 9 p.m. I'm going to watch the Canadians versus the ducks.

That'll finish at around 11.45 p.m. or so.

At 11.45 p.m. or so, I'm going to go on the Sick Podcast

Habs Post Game Show and do that till about 1 o'clock in the morning.

Oh, no way. Are you serious?

Yes.

Oh my god.

They're finishing at 1 a.m.

I'm actually going to use it.

So you with the air are starting at 11.30 tomorrow?

I'll actually be finishing at around 3 o'clock in the morning,

but what kind of finishing are we talking about?

All right, okay.

Let's get to a question.

No, no, she'll be well asleep.

Yeah, she's going to wake up.

She's already angry at you for the preview.

She's going to wake up.

Trust me.

All right, she knows right now.

She knows what time it is.

We're marinara.

All right, okay.

I just tell her it's time for marination.

All right, okay, let's get to the Q&A.

I love this thing.

There's no way I can get fired.

Like I pretty much my own boss.

Oh, right.

I'm not going to fire myself, right?

They didn't ask any of this.

What do we give for Tro check?

All right.

Brian?

Well, he's going to take a first for sure, right?

He's going to take your first, because the value of the first

is not great.

It's just 25th overall pick, which is not amazing.

And I would say you'd have to throw in a prospect too.

Pretty good prospect as well.

And your grade A, not your Xerovsky or your Hage,

but grade just under A.

We might as well give a quick little list of the prospects.

I feel you've got two untouchables.

My untouchables are Hage and Fowler.

Then you've got close to untouchables.

And that's Xerovsky and Ryan Becker.

And then the lower level starts with Owen Beck.

And I think he's the only skater at that level.

And then you have a lower level still.

The J- I don't know what the Joshua was.

I don't know what category I put him in,

but I'm a big Adam Angstrom fan.

I like him a lot.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

I forgot Adam Angstrom.

My apologies.

He would be in the Beck category.

My apologies.

Becker Angstrom.

Which is your third tier?

Third tier, yeah.

So you've got two guys in the first tier.

And then you've got two guys in the second tier.

And then two guys in the third tier,

just Becker Angstrom.

And then the rest are fourth tier.

And where's the second tier?

Oh, jeez.

No, I think Becker is the third tier.

I think the Western Hockey League is pretty watered down this year.

Okay.

What do you think?

Do you think I'm right?

I'm not second tier.

That's too high for him.

Yeah.

He's in, he's in, he may be in the Beck angstrom tier

and maybe even lower.

So you know what?

Amazing things.

He had another atrick the other night.

Four young goals he's up to.

Yeah, I think we should create a tier

just for Pickford and Angstrom.

And probably call it the 2.5 tier in between the second and the third.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, Angstrom's proven himself quite a lot more already, right?

He's played in the NHL already.

Yeah.

I pickford, I am really curious about Pickford

because what he's doing is all world, right?

Yeah.

Like if we were back in the, even the Gooley days,

yeah.

You know, you would be salivating

at what he's doing in the Western Hockey League.

But Pierre was the one who mentioned it.

Brian, don't get too excited and I agree with him

that, you know, Gavin McKenna's not there.

And you know, there are a lot of guys that are

taking a lot of NIL money now in Colin Chalki.

And so that league is slightly watered down.

But the numbers are amazing.

Pierre McGuire, by the way, says that he doesn't think

that there's going to be a trade between the Canadians

and the New York Rangers because he doesn't think the relationship

ended well when they relieved Jeff Gordon of his duties.

But why does that have anything to do with that?

And he thinks it's carried over.

I don't know.

Yeah, but I always agree with Pierre.

I think he's a hockey genius.

But I think that I disagree with him on that.

And here's why.

The bottom line is you have to take care of your own team.

And if you have a good deal, you must do that deal

because you cannot let personal grievances get in the way

of creating the best hockey team that you can.

I hear you.

Benefits yourself as the general manager of that team.

You know what?

I was just going to say something.

And Bobby actually messaged it.

Everything is personal in life and sometimes even in hockey.

Yeah.

Yeah, I don't know.

Maybe that's just me.

I don't think I'd ever let my feelings get in the way of doing

the best job that I possibly could.

I hear you.

But that's just me.

I understand the way other people behave.

I've seen it in my life where I've said,

wow, person doesn't like me.

They're passing me over for something I did

and had nothing to do with work.

So it's happened in my career too.

And it happens in all careers.

So maybe Pierre is more of a pragmatist than I am.

Okay, next question.

Shane, go more on master control if you can bring it up.

Hub City icons as you think,

Louis Crevier is available.

And if so, would you, what would you pay for him?

A big, great hand to the defenseman with a heavy shot.

Looks to be a good skater for what he is.

He could be had.

Hey, I don't think that'd be costly.

I don't think so.

Yeah.

I mean, he's a, he's a seventh round pick.

But and the Chicago Black OX are willing to make trades.

I would imagine.

Yes.

So I think he can.

But I mean, I, I, I want my sense in the way

when he gets that guy for him to say

with four minutes left in the game,

that guy can play.

I can put him on ice.

Does, does Crevier answer that question for you?

Like that's the number one question.

That's the number one question for me is,

I want to know that the answer is yes.

When I'm not going to say in the way,

looks down his bench.

Robi Dove is doing it for him.

Looks down his bench and says,

what about I'm going with it?

Because he's not that with Arbor.

He's not that with Jayden.

And that is what worries me in the playoffs.

The games get tougher.

They get more physical.

They're last longer.

They go to one over time, two over times.

And you're going to be riding five D.

You know, the kid get comfortable.

You know what?

Arbor Jack, I could be the guy.

But he has an up until now.

But you know what?

You can't get comfortable with him.

I would, you know what?

It's too bad.

Like I would, I would,

and I've said this before,

like I would tell Arbor to watch tape,

a racco gouda's.

Yeah, it would be that guy.

You know?

Yeah, he's a gamer.

Gouda's right?

He's a man.

He is a gamer that guy.

Like I have mad respect for him now.

And I didn't before.

I thought he was just like a kind of a goony type

who, you know,

didn't bring much to the game.

But boy,

he was good at the Olympics, too.

Next question.

Pulling wax.

What is the issue with the development of Jack guy?

Is he lack of mental maturity?

Can he be coached?

Is Robby done not the right question?

I've said this before, Brian.

I believe that,

you know, the fact that he only played 17 games

at the American Hockey League level.

It's caught up with him.

And it's going to continue to catch up even more.

But I also believe that there will probably be another team.

And there probably is another team

that will probably live with the kind of player

that he is a little bit more so

than they're willing to right now with the cranes.

That doesn't mean that I think they're going to move him right now.

But it does mean that I don't think his career

is going to finish as a monstros Canadian.

Oh, you know, Nate?

No.

Well, he's still like he's done.

Brian, and you get to think about this, right?

I mean, they have angstrom.

They have Rhine backer.

They have Pickford.

I mean, there's there's other players that they can go out and get.

They already have all those other four or five

on their contract long term.

So I guess when I was disagreeing with you slightly there

was in terms of his age.

You know, he's still a young man.

I believe he's 23 now.

You know, he's still pretty young man.

I don't think the defensemen are finished.

They're development until maybe even 27.

Like Mike, at this and leveled up at 29.

Like, you got to give.

It's a long, long ramp

for a defenseman to skate on before you said the guy's done.

So I feel like Arbor, too.

I just 25 by the way.

25 already.

Oh my god.

Yeah, he'll change my philosophy now that.

When did you do 25 just recently?

30th of January.

Yeah, okay.

So 25 now.

Man, the runways.

It's got a year left.

He's got to start.

Oh, forget.

When he made the Canadians,

he was like 21 and a half.

He was on a range out of Hamilton, right?

He was, he was never drafted.

Yeah, that team, that team won that,

that Hamilton Bulldogs team won the cup.

And I believe the owner of the team was Michael Ann Lauer.

And the Canadians were in training cap.

But Michael Ann Lauer said,

Hey, let's give this kid a shot.

Let's give him a try out.

And right place at the right time.

He's got to figure it out soon.

And the answer to the question the fellow said,

you know, was it a mental makeup?

I feel like, especially recently,

you'll have Arbor having like,

you're watching him specifically and going,

he's having a really good game.

And they don't make one mistake.

And then the whole game's gone.

So the answer to the question is,

when someone's sailing along really nicely,

but then has a hiccup.

And then they react to that hiccup by declining a lot.

That's usually mental makeup.

That's usually an insecurity about your own game.

And I know hockey team,

there are players that have a longer leash than others.

And if, and he makes that mistake,

he doesn't have much of a leash.

So he reacts like he has no leash.

Lane Hudson can have a game where he's just awful

and go minus four.

And when he's minus three,

like they're putting him out back out there right away

because they know that he's got the ability

to turn around and he's great.

And they'll live with his mistakes.

Arbor doesn't have much of a leash if any.

That's just the way it is.

I have a question for you.

Yeah.

You mentioned Pickford angstrom.

And we really like Ryan Bakker's.

Like, do you think that

Ryan Bakker could be traded?

And if he could be traded, what would be his value?

I don't think he's an untouchable.

I don't either.

I

and what would his value be as if he were

13th 15 17th because he's not like top five value anymore.

Yeah.

What about Nenech?

They would only trade him.

I think if they got a player that was

that's still many years left on his contract

that had many good years ahead of him, right?

So almost like a dobson versus Ryan Bakker kind of trade.

Maybe even younger than that.

Like, I don't think like they would they would trade.

Dobson was 25.

Yeah.

Well, I could be I guess.

Yeah, I guess so.

I guess so.

That's 21, 20, 20, 20.

Yeah, I guess so.

I guess so.

I think anybody that you feel like the window is wide open for eight years

like Dobson, you make that deal.

I don't think they're looking to trade Ryan Bakker by the way.