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- [00:01]
Commercial Announcer
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- [00:33]
Ben Green
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- [01:52]
Frankie Corrado
Foreign.
- [01:56]
Sean Gentili
What up what up C Athletic Hockey show. It is June 18, 2026. I am Sean Gentili. I am joined by Frankie Corrado and Sean McIndew. Boys. How happy are you guys to see me sitting in my home and not in a B list Marriott property somewhere in the United States.
- [02:15]
Sean McIndew
Good looking hotel you got there. What's nice crisp Wi fi. What's. What's happening?
- [02:21]
Sean Gentili
I'm just glad nobody was asleep in my bed whenever I, when. Whenever I got home for this one.
- [02:28]
Sean McIndew
We don't need to go.
- [02:29]
Sean Gentili
We don't need to go into that story. That was. That was. That one's.
- [02:33]
Frankie Corrado
I hope you made yourself a breakfast with like real eggs. You deserve that at this point.
- [02:37]
Sean Gentili
No, but I, I mass ordered the powdered eggs that I've eaten in Fairfield Inns across the United States over the last. Over the last two months. It's a Stockholm syndrome situation, fellas. We're recording a little late today and it was beneficial for us. It is Mike Babcock day. Congratulations everybody. The league has completed its review of the Babcock investigation.
- [03:01]
Sean McIndew
Yes, been Completed.
- [03:03]
Sean Gentili
I'm going to read this word for word. The league has completed its review of Mike Babcock's tenure in Columbus and of certain alleged conduct associated therewith. Our investigation has concluded that even in a light least favorable to Mr. Babcock, there is no current basis to restrict his employment in the league. So everyone get excited. Edmonton, this is your guy. Don't you feel great about it?
- [03:30]
Sean McIndew
Right.
- [03:30]
Frankie Corrado
So good.
- [03:31]
Sean Gentili
Right?
- [03:31]
Frankie Corrado
So good. I got. I got two main thoughts on this. First of all, from an analyst point of view, a guy who sits at TSN watching games, doing SportsCenter hits at 1 in the morning when the Edmonton Oilers are close to being on my do not watch list because they're playing horrible, I will hold nothing back. I will not feel any ounce of remorse. Neither will any other analyst who has to talk about this team when they inevitably play horribly. So thank you, Mike, for coming back into the mix. You have made my job a lot easier. The second thing.
- [04:08]
Sean Gentili
First time. First time for that that's happened.
- [04:10]
Frankie Corrado
Yeah. First time he's ever made my life easier. My job easier, literally. The other thing, there's a vibe about the Oilers right now with this whole thing where it just looks like the guy at a bar who looks way too desperate, like he's throwing stuff out there, like, hey, you come here often. Like, he's just. And that's what the Oilers, that's. That's kind of how they look and operate with this entire thing. I get it. And I've said it on the pod, right? Like brilliant X's and O's. Guy understands the game better than everybody. But there's more to hockey and coaching than that. You know, you guys, like, would be familiar with this, but if you've ever had any kind of interaction with someone who's a life coach or a broadcast coach or a business coach, it's a little bit about the protocol. It's more about how they communicate with you, like how the messaging gets across. And that is where he is the most efficient. So I think it's going to be fascinating to see how the dynamic is with him and McDavid and Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard, of all people, is going to be amazing. I can't wait. It's pure cinema. If anything else, this year will be pure cinema from the the Edmonton Oilers.
- [05:23]
Sean McIndew
And here's the thing, like all great cinema, if you're gonna serve up a sequel, you gotta have a little bit of a twist on it. And the twist now is we've all been doing the same narrative for the last few years in Edmonton, which is poor Connor McDavid. Poorly. Andrei Seidel. Oh, yes, these superstars surrounded by this incompetent organization that can't build around them. And now this time, there might be some incompetence here, but Connor McDavid doesn't get to be the victim here. Connor McDavid was part of this decision. Presumably he and Dreidle said, that's our guy. We want that guy. Certainly, if either one of them had said, no, thank you, this doesn't even get off the ground. They pick their guy. So now if it goes bad the way a lot of us think it's going to go bad, this is no longer the poor Connor show. It's now, all right, the best player in the world got to pick his own coach. Is it going to work or not?
- [06:32]
Sean Gentili
This is. The call is coming from inside the house to take it back to, like, the movie. The movie twist analogy. I. Sean, like you kind of.
- [06:42]
Sean McIndew
You.
- [06:43]
Sean Gentili
You said it, right. Like I've. I'm saying, I'm still. I'm still seeing the sentiment expressed from people, whether it's on Twitter or whatever else. Like, how could Stan Bowman do this to Connor McDavid? It's like, folks, you were connecting the wrong thoughts here, man. That this decision is. Has been made way above Stan Bowman's pay grade. Whether we're talking about Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl or Daryl Cates or whatever. If you were an Edmonton Oiler fan or a Connor McDavid fan or a LeAndre Seidel or a Evan Bouchard fan, you need to recalibrate who you're mad at about this, because this doesn't happen if those guys aren't on board. This is not a unilateral Stan Bowman decision. This is not a unilateral Stan Bowman mistake. Like, we've seen more than enough of those over the years. But that's not what this is. This is those guys signing off on the coats that they want for what might be the end of the McDavid era. Like, that's. That's what this is. And we need to come into the season and come into the situation knowing that that's what this is. This is no longer, you know, poor put upon Connor McDavid, who's done. Who's done so much for the Edmondson Oilers and. And gets, you know, treated. Whatever this is, that's his reward. No, this is his guy. Like, that's. And that's the way we need to call it from here on out, man. This is the last coach very, very, very potentially, if not probably, that Connor McDavid has in Edmonton.
- [08:14]
Frankie Corrado
And you said, you said something there that right away jumped off the page. Like could it be the end of the Conor McDavid era? And we've been talking about it for a long time and he signs the team friendly deal. Let me ask you guys this. Is there another organization and I'm sure there are, but there's another organization that he'd be willing to go to that is going to let him have this much autonomy as a player and interview coaches and have say on personnel decisions. Like, let me paint you a picture. One day Connor McDavid decides to go to Dallas. Let's just pull a team and say Dallas. You think Jim Nil is letting him pick the new head coach? You think Kelly McCrimmon would let Connor McDavid pick the new head coach? I don't think so. So maybe the, maybe this mutes the conversation a little bit about McDavid leaving Edmonton because if you get to run the organization. Yep, maybe that's kind of nice. Maybe you don't want to leave. I don't know. Maybe you become accustomed to certain things. But I don't remember. You guys are maybe a little older than me. Dgb, you might know the history on this more, but I don't remember like Crosby Malkin, Kane Taves. I don't remember any of these guys picking coaches. I just don't.
- [09:26]
Sean McIndew
Well, and what's interesting is I'm sure truly great players, franchise players do get a say in this stuff.
- [09:36]
Sean Gentili
Lemieux did, you know. Lemieux certainly did.
- [09:38]
Sean McIndew
I'm sure Austin Matthews was. And, and we'll get to the Leafs. The Leafs later. But I'm, I'm sure Austin Matthews was involved in that decision to an extent. But, but you don't hear about it because typically that just involves a team hiring somebody that you would think they might hire anyways and not going so off the board like Edmonton has with this, this choice. I mean, I, I still cannot believe that they're doing this even, even this far along into the process. I, I still am stunned that of all the possible places for Mike Babcock to make his comeback, that it's happening in Edmonton with more pressure than we've ever seen and all of this stuff. And look, I, you know, I said the word narrative and, and that's kind of what it is with, with McDavid's influence here because he's had influence before you look at that organization, right, it's. Chris Knobloch was his junior coach. He's got his, you know, his agent is in the front office and all of this, but everybody kind of backed off of that. And, and, and now I don't think that happens. And, and look, it could work. This is the NHL. Nobody knows anything about, about what's going to happen. This could absolutely work. But if it doesn't, it's going to be a very different flavor of finger pointing happening in Edmonton than it has been in the years and years that, that we've been watching this, this drama unfold. In the McDavid era, it was set up.
- [11:11]
Sean Gentili
It was set up. I think, you know, we're in, we're talking about McDavid's potential exit, you know, a season or two down the road. If they hired a normal coach, if they hired Bruce Cassidy or if they hire, you know, Jim Hiller, pick a name out of the hat, then if, and when that day comes, the narrative surrounding it would have been completely different. It would have been a continuation of like, okay, this, this guy is given 13 years of his life, taken a team friendly deal down the stretch, did whatever it took to, you know, at least give them the best reasonable shot and then moved on. And, and that's that that was the way things were tracking until this happened. And now if we're looking a year down the road where in their trade and they're whatever he gets traded with a year left on his deal or what, whatever end ends up happening, the Babcock element completely, completely changes the mix because if he, if this blows up and if he leaves in a year, it's not just going to be, you know, the org, you know, put him in a situation where he had no other choice. It's going to be him being an active participant in greasing the skids, you know, and making the kind of decisions that, that ultimately at least as relates to Cups will have, will have turned this, you know, we'll have turned this phase of his career into, into, into a failure. Like this is, this is fascinating stuff that's taking place here.
- [12:32]
Frankie Corrado
There's going to be a point in the season where they're not playing well and maybe they're not getting saves or maybe the defensemen are up to their old tricks and they're turning over pucks and Connors doing the flyby stuff way out the far blue line looking for a puck. Like it's going to happen. I want to know if Babs has the stones to actually say something about it. And you know, because I feel like so many times in the past, all those things would get glossed over because McDavid's the best player in the world and dry Seidels right there with him. And in the playoffs, these guys are animals and they crush it. They haven't won. But I mean, how could you, how could you ask for more from them? You just, you're, you're asking these guys to be superheroes at that point, but they say they want to be pushed. Okay, no problem. You think Babs is the guy to push you? Let's see if he says it to your face and let's see if he actually holds you accountable for some of the things that have been going on there for years.
- [13:30]
Sean Gentili
Yeah.
- [13:30]
Frankie Corrado
And what's, what's more, coaches have had issues with it.
- [13:34]
Sean Gentili
Yeah. What's more likely that McDavid does the flyby and, and gets yelled at it by Babs or McDavid does the flyby and then, and then Babs does some kind of weirdo freakazoid stuff with Josh Samanski or Colton Doc or whatever it is or what's, what's more likely he holds McDavid to task or he does or he does his weirdo bully stuff on, on the, on the fourth liners. I want. I wonder what's more likely to happen.
- [13:58]
Frankie Corrado
He does weird stuff. So I remember one day, it was like an optional day and I was kind of skating and Austin was an 18 year old rookie and he was skating that day and I was just talking to him. I guess he had just talked to Babs or something. I was like, how was that? He goes, he told me to stop stick handling. He said I stick handle too much when I skate up the ice. He tells, he's telling me to just push the puck forward and I'm like, I think you're pretty fast when you stick. You're one of the faster.
- [14:27]
Sean Gentili
Hey, I've noticed something about you, man.
- [14:30]
Frankie Corrado
Like, I go, you're, you're like when you skate and stick handle at the same time, I think you're fast and I'm on the ice with you. Like, it's, you got like this little gallop thing going. I wouldn't, I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I wouldn't take that to, to heart, man. Don't, don't worry. He's like, yeah, it was a weird conversation, but like, it's just, I just want to know like if he's gonna have that conversation with 97. And hey, I think you gotta push the puck up more and stop stick handling. I can't wait for that conversation.
- [14:58]
Sean Gentili
Something tells me. No, Yeah, I said whatever. This is on. This is on McDavid's permanent record. Like, whatever happens here, like, like if they, if, if they win a cup, you give them credit for knowing what he needed and what the team needed. And if he doesn't, you know, it's on, it's on him too. And I, and, and that's, and that's my takeaway today.
- [15:16]
Sean McIndew
If you're an Oilers fan, you're going, well, wait a second. If this is McDavid's call, then if it doesn't work, it doesn't. Isn't he obligated to stick around? And Nope. Maybe, but nope. Like, that's not how it's going to work.
- [15:28]
Frankie Corrado
How about this? How about this? If you're really into the details of the game, like, I am a little bit of a nerd. The last time Babs coached in the NHL was 2019. There's been a pandemic. There's been major changes in how teams penalty kill, in how teams do certain D zone coverage things. I want to know where Babs is at with, with his X's and O's and what he's going to do, because if he's just going to roll out there with the same game plan he had for the 20152016 Toronto Maple Leafs, I think it's going to be a little stale and it's going to be outdated and teams would have, would have figured that stuff out. So, like, I'm really curious to see the first kind of run through with the Oilers, what, what they're throwing out there. Like, maybe people listening, it doesn't mean much to them, but like other teams are pre scouting and it's going to mean a lot to them.
- [16:19]
Sean McIndew
What's, what's Mike Babcock going to do when they're playing the Avalanche in the playoffs? What's he going to do about Kale Makar? Because guess what? Mike Babcock has never coached in an NHL that has Kel McCarr in it. The last time Mike Babcock coached in this league, Elias Pedersen was the rookie of the Year. Elias Patterson, who feels like he's had eight different careers since then of ups and downs and everything, that's how long ago it was. He was the fresh faced, he was the alien back then, remember? And we're all like, wow, what a, what a full open canvas ahead of this kid that's just that's how long ago it was. We were all talking about the Tampa Bay Lightning can't win a Stanley Cup. That's how long ago it was. The Florida Panthers franchise joke, a punchline. That's how long ago this was. And now he's back. I would assume he's, he's, you know, I don't know, maybe, maybe his time behind a Canadian university bench helped him really stay up to date on modern techniques. But a lot changes in seven years. That, that's, we said it last week, like putting aside all the nonsense, I still don't understand why you go and get a guy who hasn't, who hasn't been, who hasn't coached in seven years. Whether it was because he retired or went on vacation or whatever it was. It's been seven years.
- [17:44]
Frankie Corrado
Are we sure what this is it? There's, there's an unknown out there and they haven't won a Stanley Cup. And the unknown at one time was revered as one of the best coach in the game because the NHL thought so and Hockey Canada thought so. And if they're willing to do everything they possibly can to win a Stanley cup, beg, borrow, cheat, steal, you name it, they're going to turn over that stone. And this is what that whole process is. And optically for them looking outward, this is their way of saying we are going to be cutthroat and we're going to win a Stanley cup and we're not going to apologize for it. The same way Kelly McCrimmon doesn't apologize for being the most hated team and the Florida Panthers don't apologize for playing the way that they play. This is their version of that. Does it work? I doubt it, but they're going to try.
- [18:34]
Sean Gentili
And we do have a bid from Ryan Rashad. TSN sounds like final details of the contract to be a nailed down. But barring a last minute rush, I wouldn't expect a press conference in Edmonton until early next week for Babcock. So we got a few days to chew all this over and for people to come to terms that this dude is back in our lives. Congratulations.
- [18:53]
Frankie Corrado
Let me ask you something, Let me guys ask you something. If, if there, if we're at like a hotel convention room and DJ Smith is standing in the middle and Jimmy Hiller's at one side and Babs is at the other side and they both say, come here D.J. which way does he go?
- [19:10]
Sean McIndew
Run to the one you love most.
- [19:14]
Sean Gentili
Okay, that's, that's a classic. That's a classic Frankie throw.
- [19:17]
Frankie Corrado
We got.
- [19:17]
Sean Gentili
We do have an act coach. What's the word? I'm looking for an actual coach vacancy to be officially filled. It's your buddy. It's Jimmy Heller. 41st coach and leaves history. Head coach of the Kings from 23 to 26. Spent a bunch of years as Babcock's assistant, of course, with Austin Matthews and William Nylander in Toronto. Frankie, you know this guy. Is this going to work? What do you think of the hire?
- [19:47]
Frankie Corrado
Okay, let me start by saying I have a lot of time for Jimmy Hiller. He is a really nice guy. He was a joy to be around. He was one of the few people, the teammates were awesome, but, like, on the coaching staff, I guess he was a guy who made conversations a little more enjoyable. So I got a lot of time for his demeanor and everything about him. But he was an assistant coach at the time. And for me, there's a very distinct difference between being an assistant coach, where the bad cop is really, really bad and you get to be the good cop and being the head evil cop.
- [20:24]
Sean Gentili
Evil cop, good cop, right.
- [20:26]
Frankie Corrado
Yes. Yeah, it was, it was evil cop. It wasn't even bad cop. It was evil cop, good cop. And Jimmy was really good at that. You know, it's funny because I never, I never thought he had the, the Persona to be a head coach. I didn't know it was something he ever wanted to pursue. And then sure enough, years later, he's a head coach. And I thought to myself, I go, I did not, did not see that coming. Like, I think head coaching, that whole thing, it doesn't come easy to him. But he was great as an assistant and I think his relationships are long lasting. I think he's got a lot of good ideas with what he wants to do. He ran our power play in Toronto. He did a good job. I was in some of those meetings. Those meetings were always articulate and he was well spoken. But, like, I come back to this. Just very different between being a head guy and an assistant guy. And, like, I got a lot of time for him. I just hope he doesn't have. I hope he doesn't have too much Babs in him as a head coach, if you know what I'm saying.
- [21:30]
Sean Gentili
Interesting.
- [21:31]
Sean McIndew
I, I just real quick. What, what the hell were you doing in a power play meeting? I used to.
- [21:39]
Frankie Corrado
I'm not.
- [21:40]
Sean McIndew
Is it open door? Is it like, can anybody go into those things or.
- [21:43]
Frankie Corrado
It's not. So the 2015, 2016 season, I actually played some power play, if you can believe it. So I was in the meetings and I was like, if someone would get hurt that year, I was in the meetings as well. I wasn't always on it. And then the next year, in 16, 17, I just said, I'm going in every meeting because I wasn't playing.
- [22:02]
Sean Gentili
That's so great.
- [22:03]
Frankie Corrado
So I would literally go in every Face off meeting, Power Play meeting, penalty Kill meeting.
- [22:08]
Sean Gentili
You guys.
- [22:09]
Commercial Announcer
You guys.
- [22:10]
Frankie Corrado
You guys got.
- [22:10]
Sean Gentili
You guys got food in here. What's up?
- [22:12]
Sean McIndew
It's just sitting there with the goalies and they're properly looking at each other.
- [22:16]
Frankie Corrado
Every possible meeting. The guys got a real good kick out of it.
- [22:19]
Sean Gentili
That's nice. That's. And that's why you're so good at your job these days, brother.
- [22:22]
Frankie Corrado
You.
- [22:23]
Sean Gentili
You're hang. Hanging out with the. In the goalie meetings. That's a.
- [22:26]
Frankie Corrado
That's a dude who likes. That's a dude who likes homework in the goalie meetings.
- [22:31]
Sean Gentili
Mac and do. They interviewed more than 40 or more than 50 guys for this job. I think I saw 55 kick around. We did not hear a word about Jim Hiller until he was hired, basically. Weird Pavelski, Weird Bruce Cassidy. We heard all sorts of interesting. An interesting variety of names across the coaching spectrum, I would say, but Jim Hiller didn't really pop up until. Until he got hired. What is. What do you think of that?
- [22:55]
Sean McIndew
I. I mean, I, I was like everyone else, right? And that there. There was. There was not a whisper of. Of this name. And so when I saw this news coming across the feed yesterday, I'll be honest, my very first reaction was Jim Hitler. That's not. The LA guy, wasn't there. There was a guy in LA with the, say, like a. Same sort of name, but this must be somebody. Is he like a college guy? Is he what? Nope. Same guy. And I mean, I guess. Look, clearly the Leafs are trying to keep things close to the vest. They succeeded in this case with, with this hire, at least not with all the names. I honestly wonder, like, how many of those names that leaked out? Like, was that disqualifying? Like, if your name got out, did you. Were you off the list all of a sudden? And, and, you know, maybe that explains why. Why this hire ended up. Look, I've, I've, I. I probably had the same initial reaction that everyone else did, which was, what the heck are they doing? I've read some of the. The feedback and analysis and, you know, heard from some people who, who seem to know things, and that's. That's brought me back off the ledge a bit but this is a. This is a fascinating hire because this is not a guy who nobody was talking about. And then they hire him and you go, oh, wow, okay, interesting. Like. Like this was a guy no one was talking about because why would anybody be talking about him? He had been. He had a couple of years in la. It didn't go great. He got fairly or unfairly, almost directly blamed for. For them losing a playoff series in a way that you almost never see with coaches because of the challenge and everything when they were up to nothing. And. And now here we are. It's. It's a. It's a fascinating hire from a fascinating front office, and a very interesting Maple Leafs off season continues to roll along. And I think at this point, we can just say if you think you're. You've figured out what this front office is going to do and what this organization is going to do. No, you haven't, because they will. They will go in very interesting directions. And, you know, look, same thing I said with Babcock. Could it work? Yeah, of course. Of course it could. In fact, I think it's. I think it's a lot more likely to work than. Than Babcock is. But, you know, what does it mean for it to work?
- [25:26]
Frankie Corrado
It's.
- [25:27]
Sean McIndew
I know everyone's, you know, we've all made the same punch lines, right? A guy comes over from la, a team that loses in the first round every single year, and he's the guy that the Maple Leafs bring in. Talk about organizational fit. Maybe. Maybe that's. Maybe that's the key thing they're looking for. I'm. I'm surprised. I'm not. I'm not overly impressed, but I'll. I'll. I'll be patient. I'll give it a chance. Let's see how it goes.
- [25:50]
Frankie Corrado
Let's. Let's see how it goes when they start playing. Because this team had zero defensive structure last year with a head coach who was supposed to imply that, and they did a horrible job of it from top to bottom. So if they can still score the way they did this year, I know they had a lot of puck luck, if you can believe that a team that had a lot of puck luck is going to pick first overall. But it's true, then maybe it won't look so bad. But I hope this is not what Vancouver's version of trying to keep Quinn Hughes was by hiring Adam Foot. And I think it's not like, on the surface, you could make that argument that, like, hey, they just want to bring Someone who the guys liked and keep it comfortable and familiar. But like Jim Hiller has been an assistant coach for a long time, like associate coach, has been a head coach now for, for a decent amount of time. So I don't see it as the same thing. And you know, people are allowed to learn as time goes on. Like maybe he doesn't make the same mistakes that he made when he was with L. A, who knows? But you know, to be point the difference between it working in Edmonton and Toronto is for it to work in Edmonton they have to win a Stanley cup, no less in Toronto. I don't even think we really know what that is yet. Is it make the playoffs? Is it sniff around the playoffs? Is it win around? Like for the longest time it was. They have to win rounds.
- [27:10]
Sean Gentili
Yeah. What are they, what are they, what are they trying to accomplish here? And if, if you want a guy to get you to the first round and you know, instill some def. Like, because those Kings teams were good defensively, like they were. If they were of. He coached teams that played effective defensive hockey.
- [27:24]
Sean McIndew
The numbers were very good in his time in la, but they were also very good before.
- [27:31]
Commercial Announcer
Correct.
- [27:32]
Sean Gentili
That's, that's kind of what I would. That's what I was getting at. Like, I don't know how much, you
- [27:35]
Sean McIndew
know, it's, it's not like he came in and fixed a mess in la, which is what he's going to be asked to do here in Toronto.
- [27:43]
Sean Gentili
Yeah, he had, he already had Andre Kopitar and Phil Dano and pretty decent group of, of of defensemen to work with there too. So I don't know that that's necessarily the, the talent base he's, he's working with now either. Okay, we're gonna hit a break. When we come back, we're gonna Talk about Kelly McCrimmon's latest round of everybody's jealous of us comments. In Vegas we're gonna do a nice little wrap up on the Carolina Cup. That's after the break and before we hit the break. This is me and McIndo. We are happy to announce the upcoming release of the Hockey 100. It's the definitive ranking of the greatest players of the good old hockey game. It's set to release ahead of the 2627 NHL season, which is in October somehow. And you can pre order today from the link in our episode description. It features a very well written introduction by one Shanahanathan McIndew. I know they were trying to get some bigger names to fulfill that part of the, of the obligation.
- [28:43]
Sean McIndew
And then they landed, just everybody. Only one guy was dumb enough to answer the phone. I knew that intro is on the site today by the way.
- [28:52]
Sean Gentili
It's on the site and it features two, two nice little darts at me because I knew, I knew they were coming. So check that out or the book. It's all the profiles that we wrote of the top 100 players a few years ago that have been updated and edited and put in a nice little, a nice little book that's going to make sense for a lot of people come Christmas time. So hit the link in the episode description, check Sean's intro on the site and enjoy this break right back.
- [29:25]
Commercial Announcer
The World Soccer Championship takes over the globe and there's only one place to watch it. Circa Resort and Casino. From June 11 through July 19, experience every game at Las Vegas's premier viewing destination. Catch the action on three levels at Circa Sports or take it in poolside at Stadium Swim, where a massive 143 foot screen and live game sound puts you right inside the action. The World Soccer Championship booked today at circa las vegas.com
- [29:58]
Ben Green
it's smart to always have a few financial goals and a really smart one. You can set earning cash back on what you buy every day. And with Discover you can get this. Discover automatically matches all the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year. Seriously, all of it. And we trust you to make smart decisions. After all, you listen to this show. See terms@discover.com creditcard real winning means showing up stronger, faster, better than before. The drop by GNC cuts through the noise, bringing you the best new innovations in performance and nutrition. From strength and recovery to endurance and focus. You're always leveling up. The drop by gnc. What's new? What works?
- [30:40]
Commercial Announcer
What's next?
- [30:45]
Sean Gentili
All right, we are back. It was garbage bag day for the Vegas Golden Knights over the last couple of days. John Tortorella not coming back. Ryan Craig entering the discussion as their new head coach. I don't know how much there is to say about that. We not a surprise with the Tortorella decision. I think it became. It wasn't my story to report but it. I'm also not surprised that this is the way it ended up going down. It seemed like this was in the works for it's some it. It became clear at some point during the Stanley Cup Final that this is the way it was gonna that this is the way it was going to end. So whatever torts can go back to ESPN and keep cashing Those media checks, baby.
- [31:29]
Sean McIndew
Just go sit. Sit in the bullpen and get ready to start warming up in March. And we hit Enter Sandman. And in he comes.
- [31:37]
Sean Gentili
Here he comes.
- [31:38]
Frankie Corrado
This might be a little bit of a niche. This might be like a niche market for torts that he's created for himself, where he should do, like an ESP infomercial for this. Like, are you unsatisfied with your team's play? Is it getting into late March? Then you need to think about torts. If you fire your coach today, give tort.
- [31:57]
Sean Gentili
Give torts a try today. Boston Bruins or whatever ends up happening.
- [32:03]
Frankie Corrado
For one quick payment of $1 million, you can have Torts behind your bench for eight games and the playoffs.
- [32:11]
Sean Gentili
No commitments, being super duper normal at all times. The. The bigger news coming out of Vegas, though, I think It's. It's Kelly McCrimmons. I said this before the break, but his latest round of, you know, talking about how jealous all the other teams are in league of him said this yesterday. It good story by Jesse Granger on the site, kind of exploring the latest round. For me, it's jealousy, Kelly McCrimmon says, and people are uncomfortable admitting that. We've done a hell of a job. That's what I honestly think. And Jesse mentioned a fan pool that voted Vegas as the league's most hated team. I don't know if that's necessarily. You know, you like to have evidence and you like to have some receipts to pull, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure that one was particularly necessary. But McCrimmon's getting asked the question again. He's given the same. The same answer that he's given in one way or another over the last bunch of years, which is everybody's. Everybody's a hater and everyone's jealous. And that's why. That's why. That's the. That's the cause here. Nothing else. Nothing else to be seen. It's just jealousy. Over one cup in 10 years, which is the same as. Which. Which is the same as the St. Louis Blues, by the way.
- [33:15]
Sean McIndew
How.
- [33:16]
Frankie Corrado
How wrong is he, though, in your heart? Incredibly, Is he really wrong? You don't think teams are jealous of Vegas, that they just. They show up?
- [33:24]
Sean Gentili
I think teams are annoyed by Vegas. I think those are different.
- [33:28]
Frankie Corrado
In Toronto, when Vegas just showed up year one and went to the Stanley Cup Final, people were jealous, you know, like I. They are. I keep hearing this, okay? I hear it from players that have played there at some point that maybe it didn't go well, or just, you know, media types or fans, whatever, at some point it's going to catch up to them. I think the bigger question is how has it not cat caught up to them? Like how has this, how are they continuing to just kind of pull this off and roll these things over? Like for every team at some point there's an expiration date and they've missed the playoffs once. So what is the expiration date? It's crazy that they're still doing this
- [34:08]
Sean McIndew
and it, and it's self fulfilling. Right. Because they're the number one destination for players. Which is fascinating to me that, that in a league where you have all these teams that bend over backwards to treat players well, you've got Vegas, the most cold hearted cutthroat team out there and players are lining up going I absolutely want to sign for seven years or eight years here in Vegas. They'll treat, surely I'll be the exception. I will be treated well the whole time. They won't kick the, you know, they won't put a footprint on my back as soon as things go bad. And I mean look at bottom line, everything Kelly McCrimmon said was true about the jealousy. I, you know, I don't know about players or teams, other fan bases, yes, 100% a lot of this is jealousy. All you have to do is listen to all those fans of other teams out there who still to this day are doing the whole they had everything handed to them at the expansion draft thing. Even though we've seen as Kelly McCrimmon pointed out, the Seattle Kraken crash and Burn under the same rules. And I'm sure they were thrilled to, to have a starring role in that Kelly McCrewman press conference. But yes, everything he said is true. Also there's a ton of other great reasons to not like this Vegas team. To be tired of them, to hate them, to view them as the villains and you go on down the list. The Bruce Cassidy situation, Carter Hart potentially tampering with, Mitch Marner, being the team that, you know, seems to have all of these players handed to them because all these players want to go there and no taxes and all this other stuff. The, for, for certain fans, certain types of fans, the whole approach, the Vegas, you know, the, the pre game shows and, and all of the this you go on down the the line. There's a ton of reasons to not like the Vegas Golden Knights. But is jealousy one of them? Yeah, absolutely. Of course it is.
- [36:10]
Sean Gentili
It's one of them. There's reasons to dislike. This is something People don't like. You hear from a certain type of person, though, like, that there's got to be something like that at play if, if you're disliked. And sometimes, sometimes, sometimes you just don't like people, you know, sometimes. And sometimes, and sometimes you don't like hockey teams and you don't necessarily need a reason for it. It doesn't need to be jealousy. You can just not vibe with the way a person behaves when you, when you run into them on the street. And I think for a lot of people, that's. That is what has taken over for the jealousy that absolutely was evident in 2017, 2018 up to 2023. That's a long time ago now, man. Like, they've like, I, I super successful, made the playoffs all but one year, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, like all true, but they've been part of the mix now enough where there are other reasons to dislike them other than just, you know, they did a good job at the expansion draft and, and, you know, whatever. Pittsburgh had to dump Mark Andre Fleury to sign Jane Jake Gensel. Like, there, there are reasons beyond that. And I think the fact that we're. That again, we're rehashing this and it's in, in McCrimmon isn't willing to allow for the possibility that there's other reasons for this other than just blind jealousy based on the way an expansion draft went nine years ago. I. I think that's like, that's proof of. That's proof of concept. Like, sometimes, sometimes people are just annoying and sometimes people just get annoyed, and I think that's kind of what we have here in one way or another.
- [37:43]
Sean McIndew
And some people are jerks, and sometimes those people end up running NHL teams and the teams take on the personality of the people running them. And I think that's absolutely part of it, too. And I think fans can see that. So.
- [38:01]
Sean Gentili
And just like, like, if this is who you want to be, just like, embrace it. Don't.
- [38:06]
Frankie Corrado
They're not hiding from it at this point.
- [38:07]
Sean Gentili
They're not. They're not. They're not. But they're. But they're like. But they're kind. They're kind of mad about it, too. Like, they're saying. They're saying that every, that everyone hates us and everyone's jealous of us and they act like, like it's something that's been unfairly put upon them. Like, none of this, none of this at this point is. Is undeserved. So just wear the shoe, man. It's it, it fits and it's right in front of you. Don't, don't try to, don't try to convince people that, that this is something that you don't deserve. And that's, and that's, and that's, and that's what's aggravating about this.
- [38:38]
Frankie Corrado
You know, you know what would be stating the obvious and maybe I'm not. You tell me. But this whole routine, their whole thing would not work if their location wasn't Vegas. Like it, it works for them because it's Vegas because it's a, it's a highly sought after destination for players to play for, I don't know, fans to go watch games. It's just like I love going to Vegas on the road. When I get to call a game there and I see my schedule in Vegas, I'm so happy I overlook everything because I'm just happy to be there.
- [39:10]
Sean McIndew
Right?
- [39:10]
Frankie Corrado
Okay.
- [39:12]
Sean McIndew
If they were in some cold small
- [39:14]
Frankie Corrado
market somewhere, they couldn't act as brazen or as grumpy or as prickly as they, they do because, well then who cares? We're not going there like you're way over there. But the fact that they're in Vegas allows them to do what they do, which also makes it, I'm sure, more infuriating for people because they're playing by essentially a different set of rules than other markets and other teams have to play by.
- [39:41]
Sean McIndew
It does. It feels like they're playing the player acquisition game on easy mode and everyone else's difficulty slider is anywhere from moderate to next to impossible for, for some of the smaller market cold weather, high tax teams. But again, that's because. Partly largely because they win. Right? So I mean it's, it one leads to the other. You know, they, they win because every star player heads them as their number one destination and ends up there and
- [40:16]
Sean Gentili
sound pretty jealous, dude.
- [40:18]
Sean McIndew
But you know what? It's soon as, as soon as they start losing, which will happen eventually, I keep telling myself, then it all falls apart. Right? I mean it's, it's they being the jerks works just fine when you're winning.
- [40:34]
Sean Gentili
Yep.
- [40:34]
Sean McIndew
And then as soon as it goes bad for a year or two, look out because then they, they could be doing everything exactly the same. But suddenly the vibe around everything changes and then maybe that's when all the haters get to get to spike the football. But they sure can't do it now because it's working.
- [40:55]
Frankie Corrado
One more thing other than the win, the winning. You have to keep in mind older players have significant others and potentially children. That always plays a big factor for guys, right? Like if they have an opportunity to play. Play somewhere where wife or girlfriend can walk around in shorts and T shirt and take the kids to the pool and do all these things. It's like, schools are good. My life is easier now because I'm not worried about my wife's going nuts inside and minus. Whatever.
- [41:26]
Sean McIndew
Do you guys not remember, like, when they first announced they were going to have an expansion team in Vegas? I remember seeing people go, oh, good luck getting players. You'll get the young guys, but you're not getting any of the married guys because nobody's gonna, you know, the families aren't gonna.
- [41:39]
Sean Gentili
People. People didn't. How they roll in. Like Henderson and Summerlin.
- [41:44]
Frankie Corrado
Summerlins. That's what it is. Exactly. Yeah. No one's. No one's living at the Caesar's penthouse. They're living in the bur.
- [41:50]
Sean Gentili
Right. Yeah. This is not. They're not. This isn't, you know, Rasmus Anderson and his wife living in the Vidara or something. Like, like, they have. They have. They're looking.
- [42:00]
Commercial Announcer
At night.
- [42:00]
Sean Gentili
They're looking at nice places here.
- [42:02]
Frankie Corrado
Out.
- [42:02]
Sean Gentili
Out in the. Out in the burbs real, real quick. Before, Before. Before we let Frankie go here, I thought it was an interesting piece by Myrtle up on the site here where we're kind of revisiting Rod Brindemore's legacy and his whole candidacy. That's top of mind now. That's coming up in the next week or so. He's gotten, you know, sort of close before. He's certainly come up in the discussion. The crux of Myrtle's piece, and it's something I agree with, is that we need to rethink how we vote on Hockey hall eligible individuals. Like, right now, it's like you consider them as a player or you consider them as a builder or, you know, or you consider them as a coach. And that's not, you know, in. In all of those categories. Brinder Moore is not. Not a slam dunk. Clearly. He hasn't coached long enough, and he's probably on the wrong side of the line when you're talking about his playing career, but when you look at. At his life in hockey, in totality, I think it. At this point, it's. I mean, maybe not a slam dunk, but I think it's. It's a. It's certainly an easier case to make. So I'm. I'm wondering from both you guys, like, if you're on the hall and you're, and all of a sudden you're allowed to consider Rod the coach along with Rod the player. Does he get your vote?
- [43:27]
Sean McIndew
I, I, I'm fascinated by this because, you know, I, I, I write a ton about the hall of Fame because I'm a history guy. And I, I mean, I love this. I love having the arguments and, and all of that. And I, I, actually somebody sent me a link to something I wrote 10 years ago and where I said, hey, how come Rod Brindemore is not, never comes up in the hall of Fame talk. And I kind of laid out the case. I said, he had almost 1200 points. He had two, two Selkies. He won a cup. How come you never hear this guy's name? And you know, at the time it was, you know, that was, that was accurate. You almost never heard him, him mentioned. And I, I, actually, at the time, I was writing it in the context of Marion Hosa, who a lot of people were pointing at and saying, hosa's, of course, going to the hall of Fame slam dunk. Not even a question. And I sort of said, okay, well, let's put him next to Rob Brindemore. And, and here we are ten years later, and I feel like now there's all these people who say he's, he's a slam dunk as a player. Of course he's, he has to be in. And now I'm the guy going, well, hold on, pump the brakes a little bit. And, you know, I've got a piece going out probably tomorrow where I say, all right, if we're going to put Rob Brindemore in as a player, is Ryan O'Reilly next? Ryan O'Reilly's got a selkie. He's got a cup. He's going to finish with similar point totals. Ryan O'Reilly doesn't feel like a Hall of Famer to me. But, you know, if we're gonna go down that road, Rod Brindemore is not a Hall of Famer as a player, period. You know, I say that as, as the history. I'm not trying to pull rank, but I'm saying, like, it's, and, and the people out there, certainly the people who say he's a slam dunk as a player are just wrong, flat out. Now, his coaching career is not supposed to have anything to do with his player career. Right? Like, I mean, Sean, you remember when, when Eric Dahatchic was here and, you know, former former committee member, and we used to do hall of Fame Stuff, and he always nailed that. He always would tell us, like, it is completely separate church and state. That is. Is nailed home to the committee. Myrtle's argument is, well, maybe it shouldn't be that way, and maybe we should let some common sense in and not be such a slave to the rule book that we don't let the fact that this guy is having this incredible second act, maybe nudge him over a finish line that he wouldn't otherwise get to as a player, because, like I said, not a Hall of Famer in my mind, certainly not a slam dunk. But he wouldn't be the worst pick if they did put him in as a player. Like, there are some legitimately bad picks. I don't think he'd be one of them. So I think it's an interesting argument, and I like the way that Myrtle approached it of saying. Saying, like, yeah, we all know what the rules are, but do we have the right rules? And if we don't have the right,
- [46:17]
Sean Gentili
should the rules change?
- [46:18]
Sean McIndew
It's eight. It's 18 people in a room, and they never tell us what they. What they talk about or how the discussion went. So they could just kind of, you know, wink and nudge and, you know, yeah, we. We put Rod in and. And, you know, I guess the final argument I would make is it is the hall of Fame. It's not the hall of Excellence or the hall of Fame. It's the hall of Fame. And when you have a guy who is, I would argue, the single most important person in the history of one of the 32 NHL markets.
- [46:50]
Frankie Corrado
Yeah.
- [46:51]
Sean McIndew
Maybe we do find a way to just, you know, just. Just right this way, sir. Right. Yeah. I know you're. You're. You don't have your ticket stamped quite yet, but just, Just come on in. I don't. I don't know that anybody would complain too much about that, so maybe it is time to do it. Just don't act like it's obvious slam dunk material.
- [47:08]
Frankie Corrado
It's also, like, when you guys, like, if you vote on awards, you look at all these numbers, you look at underlying metrics, you look at all these things, right? And at some point, you got to put pen to paper and you got to write players down in certain areas, and in your gut, it's got to feel good. And if everyone can sleep at night at the hall of Fame saying that Rod Brindmore does not belong in here, and that's fine, they can. They can sleep at night, no problem. But I would look at that and say Guys, what are we doing here?
- [47:39]
Sean Gentili
Doesn't feel right.
- [47:41]
Frankie Corrado
1200 points. Rod Brindemore, face of the franchise, who's now won a Stanley cup as a captain player and coach with one organization. And the way he carries himself, the way he conducts his. His business, talking to people, treating all these things like, tell me that's a guy that doesn't belong in the Hockey hall of Fame. Whatever helps you sleep at night. But as far as I'm concerned, and to your point, like, yeah, there's certain criteria. Maybe the goalposts need to move a little bit because that's a guy who belongs in the Hockey hall of Fame.
- [48:10]
Sean McIndew
And the last point I'll make on this, because I know a lot of people are looking forward to this Monday, is when the committee meets and they make the announcements. And a lot of people are saying, man, this is the time. This is Brinder Moore's time. He just won the Cup. It's top of mind. And the one thing that gives me some pause there is a guy who I do think should probably be in as a player, as a borderline case, is Keith Kachuk. And you know Keith Kachuk, for a few years, yeah, you know, you heard his name. But then when. When Brady and Matthew kind of emerged as these superstars in the league, that kind of elevated Keith Kachuk. And then, you know, when Matthew was. Was winning cups in Florida, especially the first year, and, you know, they show Keith in the stands, I really felt like, okay, that's going to put him over the top. And it hasn't happened yet for him. And I almost wonder if. If the committee feels like, okay, we'll do it, but we're going to do it on our terms. We don't want to. We don't want it to look like we just all got swept up seeing a guy on TV a bunch over the last few weeks. So, you know, we're going to pump the brakes a little bit. I do wonder if. If that ends up happening with Rob Brindebor, which I guess is my way of saying, especially to the Carolina fans out there, if he doesn't get the call on Monday, that doesn't necessarily mean game over. That doesn't mean that this was. The door was. Is never going to be more open. And if he doesn't walk through on Monday, then, you know, that I wonder if the committee is just kind of going, all right, guys, maybe next year, maybe the year after, but let's not make it look like the decision got made for us. We're still the ones who, who make the picks. And so, you know, we're gonna, we're gonna wait just a little bit. I, I wonder if that's how it plays out.
- [49:45]
Sean Gentili
And this is true. The voting body for that, for that honor just in the, in the. It's crazy. It's 18 people, right? Like that's, it's a wildly. So you're talking literally single digits. There could be. And this, I'm not saying specifically about Brindamore. I'm saying this about everybody who comes up for discussion. There could be a small, A very, very small faction of people that say, you know, Brendamore's out or McGilney's out or XY, any, any, you know, debate we have had the last bunch of years.
- [50:10]
Sean McIndew
He could, he could make it unanimously. He might not even be discussed on Monday. The way the process works if he, if nobody puts their hand up and uses their, their pick on him. It's, it's very strange. But I mean if I had to bet, I think he gets in at some point in the next five years. I'm not, not on Monday. But we'll see. We'll see.
- [50:28]
Sean Gentili
We shall see and we shall see on Monday. Actually, Frankie, we are. The three of us are back on Monday.
- [50:35]
Sean McIndew
So it's going to be so fun when we're on live on Monday and Frankie. Cell phone rings and it's not. I know it's not Lanny McDonald anymore. I don't know who it is. But it's Mike Gartner, Colin, and, and Frankie gets the call from all his power play work.
- [50:48]
Frankie Corrado
Can you guys come shine my shoes? Something like that.
- [50:52]
Sean McIndew
We'll help you. We'll. We'll help you tie the tie and,
- [50:54]
Sean Gentili
and all of that in my, in my. In first ballot in my personal hall of fame. Frankie Crowder.
- [50:59]
Frankie Corrado
I gotta go. We're done.
- [51:01]
Sean Gentili
Thank you, buddy. Bye bye bye.
- [51:02]
Frankie Corrado
See you boys.
- [51:05]
Sean Gentili
Stick around. Me and McIneer to come back. We're gonna talk what we learned about the PWHL draft and also the future of hockey night in Canada. See you in a second.
- [51:22]
Commercial Announcer
The World Soccer championship takes over the globe and there's only one place to watch it. Circa Resort and Casino. From June 11 through July 19, experience every game at Las Vegas. Vegas premier viewing destination. Catch the action on three levels at Circa Sports or take it in poolside at Stadium Swim where a massive 143 foot screen and live game sound puts you right inside the action. The World Soccer Championship booked today atrcalas vegas.com.
- [51:54]
Ben Green
it's smart to Always have a few financial goals and a really smart one. You can set earning cash back on what you buy every day. And with Discover you can get this. Discover automatically matches all the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year. Seriously, all of it. And we trust you to make smart decisions. After all, you listen to this show. See terms@discover.com credit card this is Hannah
- [52:19]
Hannah Burner
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- [53:16]
Sean Gentili
All right, we are back. Sean McAdoo, I would like to tell you what I've learned.
- [53:21]
Ben Green
What have we learned, Sean?
- [53:23]
Sean Gentili
I learned that Haley Salvian, my one time co host on this show, we haven't done a show together and God knows how long. It's insane. She went 4 for 4 on the first four picks of the, of the PWHL draft last night. That is, that is difficult to do in any draft, let alone, let alone this one because there were some off the board picks we had. KK Harvey gets taken first overall, not a surprise there. Abby Murphy second overall to Seattle. Okay. Third pick was Tessa Janicki to Vegas. And that is where things went off the boards. Vegas needed a center. Haley sniffed that out. Janicky was the best one from, from the group. Obviously she was outstanding at Penn State. That bump Layla Edwards who was certainly in the mix at three but bumped her down to four with for San Jose. So Haley went four for four there and I don't know man, I think that's, that's very, it's very impressive to me because, because the mock, the mock draft game is, is, is funny in
- [54:32]
Sean McIndew
any sport because it is. But Some years are easier than others. It would. It. What Haley did yesterday reminded me of Prauman in the. With Corey Promenade.
- [54:44]
Sean Gentili
Ungodly. It was incredible.
- [54:47]
Sean McIndew
The. The. When he had. Because I remember when he had. He put his mock out with Shane Wright dropping to fourth and people said you're out of your mind crazy. Yeah. And. And it played out. It was the same thing. It was kind of like. I remember seeing like the. When. When Vegas made that pick yesterday. It was, you know, you've seen people going, oh, this is out of nowhere. I don't know. And I'm going, not for everybody, it's not. I know somebody who relies on Haley to tell me what's going on in that league. I, I saw this coming because she saw it coming. So kudos.
- [55:17]
Sean Gentili
10 out of 10 out of 12 first round picks correct for Haley. Also some interesting stuff that just took place in the draft. In the draft in general. Yeah. So head over there for the, for the full roundup. God, the PWH off season is, is completely.
- [55:36]
Sean McIndew
I just wish it was more complicated.
- [55:37]
Sean Gentili
Yeah. I wish they should add some more phases and, and add some more, add some more clauses and more pages to the 20 page expansion draft or expansion roster allocation process. I should say.
- [55:50]
Sean McIndew
Look, I, I understand that this league doesn't, you know, they don't need male fans, but you want as big an audience as possible. And I gotta say on behalf of the men, you gotta simplify this if you want us to really pay. Like you can't have different faces and everything. It's. It's got to be you.
- [56:07]
Sean Gentili
Just six phase, six phases of roster building.
- [56:11]
Sean McIndew
One face, small words, maybe some pictures and I'm on board. But do you guys colors? Yeah. Yeah. That's what I'm looking for. I learned something this week that bummed me out, which is that Hockey night in Canada is no more. I, I can barely believe I'm saying that. And I will. I should explain this if. For I think primarily for the Americans who. Because it's a little bit confusing. So sportsnet has the rights up here in Canada, the national rights. They had them previously on the previous deal and they would then license out games to other places, including the CBC with the traditional Saturday night Hockey night in Canada games. And with the new deal that is kicking in imminently, sportsnet still has those rights, but they have announced that they are no longer going to work with cbc. And whether that's a sportsnet thing or CBC or, or you know, they just couldn't agree on. On a price or a scenario that worked. And the CBC owns the rights to Hockey Night in Canada. And so this, this doesn't mean that there is no more Saturday night hockey in, in Canada. And it doesn't mean that you won't necessarily see a lot of the same faces that you've been seeing on, on Hockey Night in Canada, but it won't be called Hockey Night Canada and it won't be on the cbc. And that just stinks, man. Like it's, it's, it, it's, it's such a bummer. And, and I say this is someone, you know, obviously I've got Sportsnet and all the streaming services and, and most people do up here. There, there's not too many people watching hockey on Bunny ears anymore. But it's, it's still, it just, it's just one more thing, one more twist of the knife. This is not, this has not been a fun time to be a hockey fan in Canada in, in recent years for a whole lot of reasons. And this is just one more twist of the knife that, you know what, 70 years of getting the family together and turning on the CBC and watching Hockey Night Canada, it's done. You get, you're gonna have to buy this channel and that channel and this service and stream here and, and all of it. And it's just, I mean, it's just one more thing. And yeah, we probably should have seen it coming. And yeah, a lot of us were already watching their Saturday night games on, on Sportsnet anyways, so maybe it doesn't,
- [58:41]
Sean Gentili
it had the branding though.
- [58:42]
Sean McIndew
Like it, like this, this is like the branding. And, and look, I mean it's, it's at some point and it wouldn't shock me and if at some point the sportsnet and CBC just got together and said, is there something we can do? Can we license the brand? Can we do this or that? And, and maybe, maybe that's, that's how it plays out.
- [59:00]
Sean Gentili
But down the line, maybe.
- [59:02]
Sean McIndew
I don't know, man. It's just, it's to say that you're going to turn on the CBC on a Saturday night and you're not going to see Leafs and halves or you're not going to see Vancouver and Edmonton coming up in the late game. It stinks, man. And I know it's the bottom line. It's all about. You're paying $11 billion to broadcast this league. It all becomes financial. It just stinks.
- [59:30]
Sean Gentili
There's some version of that happening with the NFL where, you know, we're seeing, you know, there's games on Thursdays and there's games on Tuesdays and there's games on Christmas and, and you know, like it, it's been so spread out and there's, there are mechanisms in place for the NFL now where, where like CBS and Fox, which are the primary, you know, early window networks, they're going to get less games to choose from and blah, blah, blah. Like it's happening to some degree like in the NFL, which is obviously the closest analog in the States, but we're still going to be able to watch 1:00 clock games on CBS and Fox and we're still gonna, we're still gonna watch Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football and abc. Like those aren't going anywhere. The quality of the games might be lesser, but we're still going to get, you know, the packaging around it and that's, and that counts for a lot, man. And it, and it, and in the seat in the hockey 9k thing is, there is no winding way of me to say that there is no analog there for, for any sport in the United States.
- [60:28]
Sean McIndew
And I'll, I'll just say this as my last thought on this is, is the, the Stanley Cup Final we just watched, which was a great final entertainment value off the charts, did quite well ratings wise in the United States. Sort of buried under that good news was that it did very poorly up in Canada. And, and I will just say that this seems like yet another decision by the NHL and its partners and its stakeholders. That is so much of what this league has done and not done in recent years seems to be based on the assumption that Canadians will always watch hockey. And there is, you can take them, go ahead and call it taking them for granted or whatever you want. Hockey is a permanent part. The NHL is a permanent part of Canadian culture and it'll never, ever go away. And there is nothing that you can do to those fans and those viewers. There is no penny that you could squeeze out of them that will ever be the final straw. They will always watch. Maybe they're right, maybe they're not. I guess we'll find out. But it is, it's, it's an interesting, it's an interesting bet to make if you're the NHL and sportsnet and everything. Because personally I, I think at, at a certain point you poke fan base enough times, you feed people, if you
- [61:52]
Sean Gentili
feed people slop for long enough like,
- [61:54]
Sean McIndew
like it's, and it's, and I'll tell you it's if, if that were to happen, it's not first of All. It's not going to be an overnight thing, and it's not going to be something you can reverse overnight. It won't be like there'll be some final straw, and then you'll go, oh, okay, well, you know what? We'll put the branding back on Hockey night.
- [62:11]
Sean Gentili
The slits, the slow boat. That's. That's. That's what we're talking about.
- [62:14]
Sean McIndew
It is. You are. You are slowly but surely pushing an audience that still drives the revenue in this league. You're pushing them further and further away. Maybe there is no such thing as too much. Maybe there is depressing me. Or maybe at some point, everyone looks around and goes, damn, we may. We. We should have. We should have been looking out for that audience. That was our golden goose. More than we were. And now that we figured that out, maybe it's too late.
- [62:51]
Sean Gentili
Hey, why is the bar empty all of a sudden? Do people not eat here anymore? That's. That's. That's what the vibe's gonna be. All right. God, what a downer. Holy hell, Macindale.
- [63:01]
Sean McIndew
This is what happens when Frankie leaves two depressive losers.
- [63:07]
Sean Gentili
Yeah. What. What post is going up next? Where? This is Thursday, so do you have
- [63:12]
Sean McIndew
a friend I'm gonna look at? Yeah, tomorrow. I gotta put post going up tomorrow on something I like to do around this time of year. Got a half dozen active players that I think are shaping up to be tough hall of Fame. Obviously, there's some players that are sure things, and there's. There's lots of active players who aren't coming near it, but there's a half dozen that I. I picked out that I think are, you know, maybe gonna be on the fence and.
- [63:39]
Sean Gentili
And see, we're simply not consistent 10 with pissing off every Carolina Hurricanes fan on the. On the Internet yesterday. You wanted to spread the wealth to other fan bases, I see.
- [63:47]
Sean McIndew
That's right. Yeah. I want everyone to. And none of these guys get in until Rod Brady Moore does.
- [63:52]
Sean Gentili
There we go. Easy peasy. Thank you, buddy. And thank you, Frankie. And thank you, fine folks, for watching us and listening to us. The three of us are back for a special Monday edition of the Wednesday show. Again, that's on Monday ahead of the draft in Buffalo later this week. Enjoy. Oh, I guess we're in the off season now.
- [64:12]
Hannah Burner
I hate to.
- [64:13]
Sean Gentili
Hate to admit it. Enjoy that content, enjoy the draft stuff, and we'll be back to talking in a couple days.
- [64:24]
Ben Green
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