Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: It's time for the Game Sports podcast is your host, David McCaig Jr. The game is powered by 91 Network and featured on Spaces. 91N is a YouTube channel where you can check out video editions of the
[00:00:17] Speaker C: game as well as other podcasts, and
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Spaces is through Village Media and Sue Today. Check out Spaces today to get into the space that you want to check out. The game is in the sports and hockey space of Spaces on the Sault Ste. Marie platform. And Spaces has expanded throughout Ontario, so you can definitely get into a lot of conversation and ideas and interact with a lot of people with similar interests. Fantastic platform to check out, but of course, 91N, where you might be tuning in on this show with us right now. So if you're not like following subscribing on that, make sure that you're doing so. And speaking of that, social media, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Facebook, all at the Game Sports podcast. And we've been loving the interaction on our TikTok page as of late, so make sure to keep that up and we'll continue to bring you the electrifying content that we have here on the Game. Now, I want to let you know that it's been almost two weeks to, to. To.
[00:01:14] Speaker C: To.
[00:01:14] Speaker B: To this point that we haven't had a show and It's Saturday morning, April 18th right now, and I haven't done a Saturday recording and I can't remember how long. And we've been kind of unexpectedly away the past week and a half to two weeks because, well, number one, I decided that, of course, that given that I took a puck in the face in my men's league, last men's league game of the season, I didn't feel like coming on the show with swollen nose, looking like the mayor of Whoville and stitches. So I, we ended up canceling last week's. And then this week on the night of the recording, yours truly's basement flooded because of sump pump failure. Yeah, I'm talking about that on a
[00:01:56] Speaker A: sports podcast right now.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: But you know what, it's been a hectic couple weeks here and we wanted to make sure that there was no distractions and all that has been contained. So we're excited to bring you content here this morning because, of course, there's a lot happening in the world of sports getting started. You got the NHL playoffs. You got the NBA playoffs. You know, there's been some, some good sporting moments that have happened up until this point. We got NHL news. We also have some major junior news, not the best news when it comes to our local team here with the game, the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. But on tonight's show I'm going to give a little shout out about golf. I'm going to talk NBA playoffs, I'm going to talk WWE WrestleMania, yet another event this weekend and NHL playoffs and full out NHL news. Then Jordan Trudeau will be coming by to talk Chuck A Puck in our
[00:02:47] Speaker C: one of our last episodes of Chuck A Puck for the season.
[00:02:50] Speaker B: We still have a couple more to go, of course, as the OHL and Major Junior Playoffs continue, but that will be more towards the that will be at the end of the show rather. So let's get started. We want to keep this within the hour, if not less for you to have enjoyment of brief but also again electrifying content here on the game. But before I do that, I want to give a special shout out to somebody, Jerry Rowlandson. He has been fantastic for the show with editing and production. He was our student here on the game and through 91 and doing the
[00:03:21] Speaker C: editing, the productions, the clips that you
[00:03:23] Speaker B: have been so definitely majorly invested in on TikTok for the past few months. That is because of the work of Jerry and obviously it's been a great help to myself and our team when it comes to having editing and production. So we greatly appreciate the work that Jerry has done for the show and we definitely wish Jerry the best of luck going forward. We're back to our normal format where we have our team doing our edits and production. And if there's anything that you want to see us either upload, talk about, make sure you're commenting below. But again, special shout out to Jerry Rowlandson for a fantastic job the past six months or so.
Now let's get into the first topic. Very brief, very simple Golf Masters Rory McIlroy, back to back Masters champion, one of a select few to do so. You know, obviously I'm not a big golfer. Those of you that know I brag
[00:04:16] Speaker C: that I can drive the ball far
[00:04:17] Speaker B: in that one time I drove at 300 yards. I don't know if that's true or not. I got told maybe a friend was blowing smoke up my rear end. But nonetheless I love thinking that I
[00:04:25] Speaker C: can drive the ball once out of
[00:04:27] Speaker B: 18 or 9 holes over 250 yards. My mid plate on the fairway getting to the green is horrendous. When I putt, I get lucky. You can ask a few friends about that at a bachelor party. Years back we had a fun little tournament game going on And I won
[00:04:40] Speaker C: on a probably 12 or 14 foot putt.
[00:04:42] Speaker B: It was fantastic. But as much as I love playing the game, being with friends, which is the whole point of it, I don't golf too much, but I love watching a lot of the championships. The big one that I like to be invested in is definitely the Masters. As friend of the show, James Duthie would say, definitely one of his favorite sports to commentate and be involved of is being down at Augusta. So we, my wife and I were watching that and it was a little bit, of course, getting into the last day, Rory had a commanding lead, right. And again the last couple days, things started to narrow up. And to be honest, I am a Rory fan. I've been a Bubba Watson fan. I remember Mike Weir, a Canadian, won the green jacket. It's another good moment in Canadian sports history. But I really wanted Justin Rose to win. I just feel like he's been, and I don't like using the saying he's been the bridesmaid, not a bride at the, at the Masters. But obviously he put it down, right down to the finish. It.
Not that it was right down to the excitement that it was a year prior when they had sudden death when Rory had to win.
[00:05:43] Speaker C: But it was still tight. But I would say in the back
[00:05:46] Speaker B: nine, it was a lot less, I guess, exciting than it was for that first nine on Sunday.
[00:05:51] Speaker C: So.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: But shout out to Rory McIlroy winning back to back green jackets. Great, great moments. Obviously last year was just a priceless
[00:05:58] Speaker A: moment and just emotion for him, but
[00:06:00] Speaker B: it was a great tournament overall and something that I'm invested in. And if you're ever in Sault Saver, you want to golf with me, let's send me a message below.
[00:06:07] Speaker C: Let's.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: Let's golf. Or anyone in the Sioux that you know is looking for a guy just
[00:06:11] Speaker C: to be able to ride around the cart with.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: And maybe you can use my best ball once in a while or type
[00:06:16] Speaker C: of scramble, whatever you can. Let me know.
[00:06:18] Speaker A: We'll have some fun doing that.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: I want to get out on the
[00:06:21] Speaker A: golf course a little bit more and
[00:06:22] Speaker C: I have a friend that owns one
[00:06:23] Speaker B: and former and casual host of the show, Dustin Grandin. So maybe I can just start getting out to the links a little bit more now. NBA playoffs and WWE are the next two that I'm gonna get into before the National Hockey League, but I'm gonna actually start with the NBA.
And I am, I am very, as I sit here thinking of how I want to proceed with this, because I'm Definitely going to give you predictions, but I feel like that this whole NBA
[00:06:52] Speaker C: playoffs, I want to say it's wide open.
[00:06:54] Speaker B: But if you quote me back three, four, five months ago, even before that would have had some discussion about the, about the NBA. It has been me bragging about the Thunder. And I want to clarify, I am a Raptors fan, but this Thunder team looks, looks real good. And I think the NBA playoffs, the
[00:07:13] Speaker C: way that the season went, is actually
[00:07:15] Speaker B: kind of like predicted that it would be. Especially when it comes to the Western Conference, the East.
[00:07:21] Speaker C: I feel like if you look at
[00:07:22] Speaker B: the, the Magic, the Sixers and even
[00:07:25] Speaker C: the Hawks, you can argue if that's
[00:07:27] Speaker B: where they would have been if you
[00:07:28] Speaker C: predicted the beginning of the season.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: But if you look at 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, pretty predictable. I feel like that this season kind
[00:07:36] Speaker C: of went as predicted and I've had
[00:07:38] Speaker B: friends that were die hard NBA fans that have told me that they have lost interest in playing because done playing. Sorry but watching the game and, and the big thing for me is that NBA is such a different sport and what I've been really dissatisfied in the last decade plus is the super team proceed, right? You had LeBron do that with Miami, Golden State, but they didn't build us, they drafted those guys. Right? So it's, it's just been the obvious that we, that we knew were going to win. It felt like you're either choosing Golden State or you were choosing Miami before you had Cleveland, before the Lakers, right. But then the Thunder make this absolute absurd trade to get George and you're wondering what the heck are they doing? Or sorry the Thunder traded away George. Sorry to get all the picks that they did in Shea. And looking at this Canadian guy said this guy looks really good. This was a package in a haul that the Clippers gave up to get Paul George.
[00:08:41] Speaker C: And I said that that is a
[00:08:42] Speaker B: crippling move to an organization because it puts you in a tough spot getting
[00:08:47] Speaker C: rid of all those future picks.
[00:08:48] Speaker B: And the Thunder have been able to capitalize and build through the draft.
[00:08:51] Speaker C: And I've said it before, that is
[00:08:53] Speaker B: the next Dynast the NBA. And they look you're going to see it and they'll show in my predictions.
[00:08:58] Speaker C: But I just want to say about
[00:09:00] Speaker B: the NBA just because given time I can't dissect into more. This season kind of went as predicted mostly in the West. I feel like there wasn't too much excitement, you know, there. I feel that the NBA just kind of came and passed by and there was nothing that really Attracted me too much from a news perspective. But I'm excited about these playoffs. Playoff sports is fantastic.
[00:09:20] Speaker C: So let's get into predictions for this
[00:09:21] Speaker B: and I'm going to start with the Western Conference and work my way down based on the ESPN bracket. So Thunder and Sons. Thunder are winning that series.
[00:09:30] Speaker C: Lakers, Rockets.
[00:09:31] Speaker B: I am taking the Rockets in that series. Nuggets and Timberwolves. To be honest, I'm taking the Timberwolves. That's my more so my surprise for round one for the spurs and Trailblazers. I am taking the spurs for the Eastern Conference.
[00:09:45] Speaker C: Pistons over the Magic. I'm taking.
[00:09:48] Speaker B: Not because I'm biased, but it's going to be one heck of a series. It's going the distance. Raptors over the Cavaliers, the Knicks over the Hawks and the Celtics over the Sixers.
So overall the Raptors only being the only upset in that. Now to fast forward ahead, I'm going to predict who's going to be in the finals and who's going to win. So I'm actually going to go and it might be a boring pick, it might not be. I think this is a what I
[00:10:12] Speaker C: would like to call sexy pick.
[00:10:14] Speaker B: I I am going Thunder and the Knicks in the finals. I don't think it's going to be
[00:10:18] Speaker C: the Pistons or the Celtics. I think it's going to be the
[00:10:20] Speaker B: Thunder and the Knicks in the finals. New York will get there and then to win will be the OKC Thunder.
[00:10:28] Speaker C: As I said, this is a team
[00:10:30] Speaker B: that is going to be winning multiple NBA championships. Who do you think is winning the round one games? Comment below. And who do you think the finals is going to be and who's going to win ultimately the finals of the NBA. Now let's get through to Uwe briefly here. Okay? So what I want to dive into with WWE is when it comes to the matches in wwe, I know that people wonder, you know, we may not be invested, you may not be. I was invested in WrestleMania a couple years back when Cody Rhodes finished his story and the Rock came out. Undertaker came out. Really hoping Stone Cold was going to. But the only thing I got to say about the wwe, it has been very bad since after John Cena turned back to being a baby face. Okay. Since he turned back to being a
[00:11:19] Speaker C: baby face, it really changed.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: It really, really changed my perspective on what the heck the content team is doing. The heel run was short lived. It wasn't organized because the Rock didn't stay and he obviously couldn't stay because he's doing a big movie with Martin Scorghese. So he had a lot going on, couldn't stay, could have found, found a way to substitute. But they didn't. They had Travis Scott come out to screw Cody Rhodes over to win for Cena to win the belt and win it for a 17th time. So, look, I was invested. I'm starting to not be as invested.
[00:11:50] Speaker C: But WrestleMania is always something that is
[00:11:53] Speaker B: very exciting to watch. Very, very exciting to watch. And I am excited to see if
[00:11:58] Speaker C: there is going to be any surprises, see if Triple H can make up
[00:12:00] Speaker B: some of this brutal content. Because speaking of the brutal content, no offense to Jelly Roll, but great guy. I've watched the Unreal documentary on Netflix. I'm not watching WWE to watch. To watch Jelly Roll, okay?
[00:12:12] Speaker C: If I want to watch Jelly Roll,
[00:12:14] Speaker B: it's on a music video or, or listen to him through music. I'm not here to watch if I know he's a big fan. There's been some storylines before, but I'm over that. The Pat McAfee story, him being the person that Randy Orton was talking to was absolutely brutal.
[00:12:28] Speaker C: I don't know what they're trying to
[00:12:30] Speaker B: plan with this whole thing. If McAfee is going to be like a Paul Heyman guy type thing when Paul Heyman retires, I don't know what they're thinking about doing with this with his character, but that is such a brutal move. But I get what the content team is doing because they're trying. He's such a popular podcaster and known figure that it definitely helps get numbers and that's what they're looking for. It's a business, everybody, so you can
[00:12:56] Speaker C: hate it, but WWE is probably not
[00:12:58] Speaker B: hating the hate or the income that's coming in from this. But it is a brutal story. It is so bad and is not entertaining whatsoever. Pat McAfee, come on. Stay on the behind the commentary. Best for commentary with Michael Cole and do your podcast. I don't want to see Pat McAfee. I wish that was. It would have been better if Orton was talking to himself because he hears voices in him. But, you know, it would have been better if it's Kevin Owens, you know,
[00:13:20] Speaker C: or if it was the Rock.
[00:13:22] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:13:22] Speaker C: Or if it was just somebody different,
[00:13:24] Speaker B: Kurt Angle, someone just to be out of this blue, out of the blue to. Or Batista, somebody that would have been a big surprise going into WrestleMania now.
[00:13:32] Speaker C: I think we're still going to see surprises at WrestleMania. I think we're going to see some
[00:13:35] Speaker B: people come out and some surprise stories that go on Here.
[00:13:39] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:13:39] Speaker B: I've already predicted this and I'm going to go through these predictions quick before I get into talking about the NHL,
[00:13:47] Speaker A: which is a lot for me to get into there.
[00:13:49] Speaker C: So let's start from like number one match right to the bottom.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: Okay, I'm going to give you Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton who is with Pat McAfee in this.
[00:13:59] Speaker C: I've been really torn.
[00:14:00] Speaker B: I've really thought Randy Orton was going to win this. I am going stick with Cody Rhodes. I am torn on that. I feel like Orton getting that title, Mac of he winning it, that's what everybody wants.
[00:14:11] Speaker C: But I am going to say that
[00:14:13] Speaker B: Cody Rhodes wins this match and it's not going to be liked by people if Randy wins. I'm okay with that and to be honest, much I'm a fan of Cody Rhodes. When I watch wrestling, I actually want Randy to win. But I got a very weird feeling that Cody Rhodes is going to win this match. Liv Morgan and Stephanie Varquare, this is going to be a great match. I'm saying Live is going to win this match. However, when it comes to Seth Rollins and Gunther, look, the ring general who retired Cena, no, they've been giving him a lot of wins. It might lead to a match between Lesnar and Raw and Gunther. Like if that's going to happen or
[00:14:51] Speaker C: I know Rollins wants to fight Lesser.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: Maybe a triple threat match lead up
[00:14:54] Speaker C: to the next pay per view. This isn't going to be a popular
[00:14:57] Speaker B: opinion either, but I'm saying Gunther is
[00:14:59] Speaker C: going to beat Seth Rollins, AJ Lee and Becky Lynch. I am taking. This is not the popular pick.
[00:15:06] Speaker B: I am going to say that Becky, or it is. Sorry, the more obvious pick. My apologies. Becky lynch will beat AJ Lee for the title. Now the. The tag team match between you got you. You got a packed house here.
[00:15:22] Speaker C: You got Nia Jax, last Legend of the champion, Charlotte Fair, Alexia Bliss Bailey
[00:15:27] Speaker B: and Lyra Valkara and then the Bella Twins. I am going to say the Bella Twins are going to be the champions
[00:15:32] Speaker C: after this and maybe see a little
[00:15:33] Speaker B: bit of a feud between Charlotte Flair and Bliss begin now for McIntyre and Fatu. I'm not as invested in Matt in this match. McIntyre does do good matches, but I'm going to say since it is an unsanctioned match, it's. I think Fatu is just, just continuing to come out of the shell And I think McIntyre has been somebody who has had no problem losing and falling
[00:15:55] Speaker C: for that with the Duck.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: Him taking Jacob Fatu in that matchup
[00:15:59] Speaker C: for the absolute boring match that I
[00:16:02] Speaker B: didn't even touch on with I Show Speed. Absolutely garbage storyline here. Sorry. But I am gonna say unfortunately the Villains are winning this Logan Paul Austin theory and I Show Speed are going to beat the Usos and La Knight in some sort of lame fashion now the World Heavyweight Match and like I
[00:16:20] Speaker C: said, I'm just going from top to bottom per the W website.
[00:16:22] Speaker B: I am going to say for the World Heavyweight Match and I know people don't agree with this because they feel Roman Reigns is on a part time
[00:16:29] Speaker C: kind of basis, but I'm going to
[00:16:30] Speaker B: say Roman Reigns against CM Punk. This is not the popular opinion and I talked about someone being part time winning the championship. That's where my head was and going up to before I recorded this podcast.
[00:16:41] Speaker C: But then I remembered the prediction that
[00:16:44] Speaker B: I had on a recent episode and what crossed my mind. Surprises at WrestleMania. I think that CM Punk is actually going to win this again.
[00:16:52] Speaker C: I'll say.
[00:16:53] Speaker B: I thought Roman Reigns is going to win this title. He said that if I lose I'm going to leave the wwe. That ain't. That ain't happening.
[00:16:58] Speaker C: He is part time.
[00:17:00] Speaker B: I thought maybe they would give this to him so he can have a good little full time storyline for the next six months to a year. But CM Punk wins and the Rock comes out to help CM Punk to win. Which is going to lead up to to a Raw to a Rollins, Roman Reigns and Rock matchup for next year's WrestleMania to say and CM Punk saying something, doing something that he said he would never do.
It's going to start turning around and he's going to turn into being under the Rock. Very bold, very bold prediction. And Jade Carhill and Rhea Ripley. I'm saying Rhea Ripley gets the title back here. You know she's had it, not had it for a little while and she's a fantastic performer. She is. When it comes to the female wwe,
[00:17:43] Speaker A: I still consider her the face her.
[00:17:45] Speaker B: And of course Live Rhea gets the title back. Then Finn Balor and Dirty Dom. Look the demons back.
[00:17:51] Speaker A: He ain't losing.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: Very simply put. Now Trick Williams and Sami Zayn, I would love Sami Zayn to be a WWE Champion.
[00:17:59] Speaker A: He just.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: That would just be a great storyline.
[00:18:01] Speaker C: Opar will love that.
[00:18:02] Speaker B: If when I say that and I know people think Trick is winning this matchup but I'm going to be bold and go on the other side with it. I think Sami Zayn gets the win and there's going to be some sort
[00:18:14] Speaker C: of surprise that happens there.
[00:18:17] Speaker B: I'm not sure if it's with Carmelo Hayes, whatever, but I think Sami Zayn is actually going to win. Now the match that I'm looking forward to, Brock Lesnar and Obafemi, my goodness, this is going to be a match. This is going to be something. I am going to say that Obafemi defeats Brock Lesnar. I know people are thinking that that's nuts to say, but I am going to take Obafemi over Brock Lesnar for Penta's defending his Intercontinental Championship against Javon Evans, Dragon Lee, JT McGanna, Rusev and Rey Mysterio Penta, they're really building this character. I was really almost hesitant to choose Javon Evans in this or even Rusev to really go with that storyline. But Penta, such a fan favorite, such a great athlete. This is going to be a very this is the match that needs to be very much entertainment to really set the tone in the night. This needs to be the match that
[00:19:12] Speaker C: all the stops come, all the ladder
[00:19:14] Speaker B: sorcery with the power bombs through ladders,
[00:19:18] Speaker C: off the ladder into a table.
[00:19:20] Speaker B: This needs to be the set the tone type match for the remainder of the night and the weekend. I'm saying that this will be the match that needs to set the tone, but I'm picking Penta.
[00:19:31] Speaker C: So that is the predictions for the
[00:19:33] Speaker B: WWE WrestleMania, which starts tonight and is this weekend the big weekend that they call it their super bowl in the wwe now the NHL. We're going to take a quick breather. When we come back, we're going to talk the National Hockey League.
[00:19:50] Speaker A: There's a lot to talk about there. The Leafs.
[00:19:52] Speaker B: Leafs losing out on Sonny. Sonny going over to New Jersey. It's always sunny in New Jersey, I
[00:19:56] Speaker A: guess if you get the pun bonus
[00:19:58] Speaker B: staying in Columbus, celebrini breaking records. McDavid and Nate doing their thing. NHL playoffs, playoffs that the Leafs aren't in afterwards, Trudeau will be on by. We will not be talking too much if at all W we already talked wwe, the mlb, but we might have a little tidbit in there with Jordan Trudeau when he comes by.
[00:20:18] Speaker A: But just because of content here today,
[00:20:19] Speaker B: we are likely sticking with the NHL and OHL slash Major junior but if we have time we'll give a little tidbit because I do have a reaction
[00:20:26] Speaker A: about the Blue Jays start to the
[00:20:28] Speaker B: season and the MLB season overall. But that might have to be on next week's agenda given time. But we're going to take a quick break. Welcome back to the Game Sports Podcast. David McKay continuing to host you today
[00:20:39] Speaker C: here on the Game.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: Again, the Game is powered by 91Network
[00:20:42] Speaker C: and featured on Spaces. Now we're going to get into the hockey portion of the show and just a quick audible, Jordan Trudeau will actually be unfortunately not joining us this evening. You know, the flu bugs going around Trude's.
[00:20:56] Speaker B: Hopefully you feel better.
[00:20:58] Speaker C: So it will be me solo for the entirety of the show. But no worries, the agenda is going to remain the same. It'll be NHL and then I'll get
[00:21:05] Speaker B: into some major junior update, including and most notably with the Sault Ste.
[00:21:09] Speaker C: Marie Greyhounds and in a Chuck a
[00:21:11] Speaker B: Puck of sorts segment, an independent version.
[00:21:15] Speaker C: And if there is still time, I will dive into a couple minutes of baseball. So there may be six total topics that are discussed throughout the entirety of the show. You got golf, well, wwe, NHL Major Junior and mlb.
[00:21:28] Speaker B: MLB is still tentative given time, but
[00:21:31] Speaker C: let's get right into it with the National Hockey League. And I have a lot here and I'm gonna try to keep myself organized with this. If everybody knows me personally, I tend to go down a rabbit hole, I tend to talk, I tend to have that retriever mentality, squirrel type thing and get distracted or get really passionate about topics. I always have been known to do
[00:21:55] Speaker B: that since I've joined the Game Sports
[00:21:57] Speaker C: show prior now podcast. And look, I was thinking about where to start this NHL segment, the top
[00:22:04] Speaker B: shelf segment, if you will. And obviously with Alex or Brennan or when Justin jumps on, you know, there's, there's banter back and forth with it.
[00:22:13] Speaker C: Right. But you don't get that opportunity this on the show. You're just going to hear me the
[00:22:17] Speaker B: entirety of the time.
[00:22:18] Speaker C: And I want to make sure I
[00:22:19] Speaker B: start it with the topic that is essentially going to be in the title
[00:22:24] Speaker C: and is our thumbnail picture. So I'm going to start with the National Hockey League playoff picture. Okay.
[00:22:31] Speaker B: I'm going to discuss the bracket, I'm
[00:22:34] Speaker C: going to discuss some teams, some matchups that are highlights to me. And then I am going to predict the first round, then the Stanley cup final, then the Stanley Cup Champions League this year. Okay? So let's dive right into it. And I, I honestly think this year's playoffs, I know a lot of people when it comes to this year's playoffs are, you know, disappointed if you're a Toronto fan. You're disappointed if you're a Red Wing fan. You know, obviously if you're a Winnipeg jets fan. You had more hopes as well. And it's going to be a very interesting off season, especially if you're a Leafs and jets fan. Right. And you see teams that are getting back into the playoff picture that we used to see before.
Right. The Anaheim Ducks. You still see the usual suspects, Dallas, Minnesota, Colorado, Louisiana, Utah sneaking its way in there.
[00:23:24] Speaker B: And obviously Edmonton ain't sneaking any way in there. They've been in there and they've been
[00:23:28] Speaker C: the Stanley Cup Finals back to back times.
[00:23:30] Speaker B: They're going to be hungry.
[00:23:31] Speaker C: You look in the Eastern Conference, you see Buffalo Sabres, division winners, Boston, bottom 10, the National Hockey League last year, and that's called a retool. They're now wild card one, and they're going against the Buffalo Sabers, Carolina, Ottawa. Ottawa's back in there, but two teams back in the playoff picture after being way out of the picture. The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers. And I'm going to start with Pittsburgh and Philly. And like I said, I'm going to talk about a couple matchups in particular. I'm not going to dissect into each one, but I'm going to highlight some from each matchup, but in depth details only particular some. Before I get to my, to my predictions and I want to talk Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. I've had two different opinions be told about me when it comes to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. It's going to be the series that's least watched or it's going to be the most entertaining series. And you know what? I'm really torn on what end I want to go down. Philadelphia showing their exciting team, some young talent on that team looking really, looking really hungry. Pittsburgh, the veterans are back in it, right? Malcolm Crosby, Latang, the crew is back in there and looking for a last dance, so to speak. And this almost makes me feel like I'm back in the late 90s, early thousands seeing the Pittsburgh Penguins and, and the Philadelphia Flyers. You know, if you're looking at Chickman or you're looking at Boucher and that for Philadelphia, you got Lemieux on the other side or, you know, you got a very interesting matchup. And don't forget, these teams have a lot of overtime history in the, in
[00:24:57] Speaker B: the National Hockey League playoffs.
[00:24:59] Speaker C: This is the Battle of Pennsylvania. This is one of the reasons why the NHL had the playoff seating the way that it was. And I'm going to say it once, only say it once. I've said it a hundred times on the show.
I am over the, the way the NHL seeds their playoffs, it should be from one to eight, but I'm going to leave it at that. Okay, you can comment to that below if you want. But Pittsburgh Philly, this is one of those matchups, you're like, okay, but now if you see Pittsburgh Philly next year, the next year, the next year, the next, you know, that's when it's like I want to see something else. Rivalries build and then rivalries renew. I understand when it comes to the seating, where there's a plus in that, and this is a rivalry going to be renewed when it comes to the Stanley cup playoffs. There's a lot of history when it comes to the Stanley cup here. And when it comes to the end to the NHL playoffs, we've seen some younger teams be hungry and beat those
[00:25:47] Speaker B: teams that they maybe weren't supposed to win.
[00:25:49] Speaker C: But then we see those teams that are able to contain a hockey game and slow down the game to that experience. And I think that's where Pittsburgh has a leg up on this. Not because they're a second seed. You got Sidney Crosby on the other end, someone who's going to someone that every player on that bench wants to fight for, along with two other very good right and left hand man with Crosby, that being Malkin and Latang.
And this is a team that rebounded and let me remind you, is built by Kyle Dubitz. Take that if you will. Yeah, he didn't draft Crosby, Latang, Malka, but he had some good supporting cast and made some good trades off guys that he brought in this year that helped solidify get them back in the playoffs. They didn't just make a wild card spot, they got second in the division, arguably not the strongest division, but it doesn't matter. This is a team that deserves to be there. And Crosby being back in the playoffs, you know that he is going to be hungry. And what's going to be a big deciding factor in this series is if the youth is going to outwork the veteran key leadership or if the veteran leadership is going to help mold a team to bring the game to its own level. And Philadelphia won't be able to overcome that matchup. And what I mean by that is that Pittsburgh having veteran leadership is going to be able to capitalize on special teams. They're going to be able to slow down the game in high pressure moments. Goaltending is going to be a question mark all around. That's what's going to make the series interesting. I was torn if it's going to be high scoring or not. I honestly think we're going to see almost more of a high scoring matchup between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. And it's going to be very intense this series. I'm actually excited about it. Obviously there's a lot of NHL people that are saying they'd like to see Philly because they haven't been able to be successful in a number of years. I don't. As a Toronto Maple Leaf fan, as Toronto's not in the playoffs, you don't want to cheer. I don't, I don't really have a team that I'm really cheering for per se. But obviously I want to see the cup come back home to Canada.
[00:27:42] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:27:42] Speaker C: And obviously I feel like I'd like
[00:27:44] Speaker B: to see McDavid host the cup after
[00:27:45] Speaker A: the last two years not being able to.
[00:27:47] Speaker C: But the Pittsburgh Penguins Philadelphia series is going to be tough. It's going to go the distance and it's going to be entertaining. Everyone keep an eye on that series. But I think what's important to highlight is the tenacity of a youth, pesky Philadelphia team that's hungry, that wants to show that they did not just fluke themselves into a third place seating. Then you got a Pittsburgh team who's at their last dance, let's call it. Because who knows what's going to happen now with Crosby. But when it comes to Malkin and Latang beyond the season, sticking with the Eastern Conference, Carolina and Ottawa, I want to dive into this series just a little bit because the Ottawa Senators are one of the hottest teams, if not the hottest team in the National Hockey League before getting into the playoffs. And the Carolina Hurricanes, okay. Have had some playoff trouble, notably after the first round though. Okay. And if you're an Ottawa Senators fan, I think you should be loving that you're wildcard 2 seed. The reason why is because you don't have to go the Atlantic Division way to get to the next round or the following round until, or well, the
[00:28:47] Speaker B: following round you would play the winner
[00:28:48] Speaker C: of the Atlantic side. But you don't have to get there
[00:28:51] Speaker B: to the, to that to the conference
[00:28:53] Speaker C: final by beating and winning the first two Atlantic series. So honestly, Ottawa Senators are set up pretty good if they can remain to be hot when it comes to the Atlantic Division in the Metropolitan. I take the Atlantic all day and Ottawa plays the Atlantic a whole bunch and they were not successful that successful in the season. They were more successful in the Metropolitan Division. Carolina, though, well built, first in the division, but again weaker division. I am really torn about this series and my prediction might surprise you that you have to wait to hear in just a number of minutes. But what's going to be decided in is a couple things. Carolina being able to live up to the pressure and that pressure is finally getting to the Stanley cup final. Never mind the first round, second round. They know that this team is built enough to be a Stanley cup finalist and they've been waiting for years to be a Stanley cup finalist and to try to bring the cup back to sent to Carolina. But this pesky Sens team ain't going to be an easy matchup. And I know I mentioned surprise, I mentioned surprise because of how the way
[00:29:56] Speaker B: I've been talking about this whole series.
[00:29:58] Speaker C: But the Ottawa centers have a potential chance here. If they beat the Carolina Hurricanes. I think they can beat Pittsburgh or Philadelphia and you could see Ottawa getting to the final four.
[00:30:08] Speaker A: Think about that again.
[00:30:10] Speaker C: If the keys for this series is the pressure for Carolina, as I mentioned and then for Ottawa to maintain what they've been doing. Don't, don't, don't. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Let's go with that. What they've been doing the past 20 plus games since the Olympic break in particular. That's what the Ottawa centers need to continue to do and have that mindset. And you know what? Maybe painful to admit to a lot of Canadian fans, but Brady Tkachuk is a good leader to have on that bench to help bring the best out of your players. Goaltending, you know you got all mark there, you got capable goaltending that's been suspect throughout the season. But you have a team that's been able to rise up to the challenge, really get really bear down for the last 20 games of the season, make that playoff push and get into the playoffs when it didn't even seem that they were going to make it to the playoffs. Tough matchup against Carolina. But for Carolina, I wouldn't want to play the Ottawa Senators. I would want Pittsburgh. I would want Philadelphia or heck, I would even want Boston over the Ottawa Senators.
[00:31:06] Speaker A: And yes, that's coming from a Leaf fan.
[00:31:08] Speaker C: Ottawa Senators. Carolina series is going to be quite the battle too. Western Conference, Dallas, Minnesota. That's all I gotta say. That is gonna be the series. It is a high chance that the winner of that series could not only be the one that gets to the cup final, but that wins the Stanley Cup. Minnesota, ever since they got Quinn Hughes, you got Faber Boldy Go a very exciting and good team that Bill Garon has built there. Very expensive tag on a few players like Kirill Ku Pre sov. But that is by far the most exciting first round series. In my opinion, next to the Tampa Bay Lightning, Montreal series, and obviously I didn't dive into Tampa, Montreal. I'm going to go back there in just a moment. Dallas and Minnesota is going to be a battle of defense. And I got to give a lot of credit to, to what Bill Garon has done with Minnesota. I got to give credit to what Dallas has built there. But Dallas is another team that's almost like the Carolina Hurricanes. They've been a favorite, they've been higher seeds, they have a team that can do it, but they haven't been able to get to that side step that is to the third round, let alone the Stanley Cup Final. So the key takeaways in this series is this. What defensive side is going to have a kink in their armor? Who's going to be able to break the. Break the armor of the defense and what team defensively is not going to be able to step up offensively? Those are the two points. Who's going to be able to capitalize and drive the net and score those dirty goals, but then on the power play be able to utilize their defense in an effective way. And you got to arguably say the Minnesota Wild may have a leg up on that because of who they have on defense. Particular one person. But Dallas, from an offensive perspective, you could. People don't really agree with this point, but I like Dallas's depth. It's a little bit more. I think Minnesota and I said this when it came to the trade deadline, I think they were a player still away and that player was a top six centerman. Okay. That's what I thought the Minnesota Wild could use into that lineup a little bit more. But they still have Capri South. You still got Boldy.
[00:33:13] Speaker B: You got a very well put together team.
[00:33:15] Speaker C: You know what I like about Minnesota? Talking veterans?
[00:33:18] Speaker B: Succurello.
[00:33:19] Speaker C: Right. You brought in Foligno. This, this is a. This is a team that has over four players over 36 years old or 35 years old looking for their first Stanley Cup. And that is the story that everybody wants to see. Everyone wants to see the veterans win. Everyone wants to see it get done. And wouldn't that be something? The defensive, the defense on each team is what's going to determine this series. And the second piece, will the Jake Ottinger show up that could play in playoff hockey? Or are we going to see the Jake Olinger?
[00:33:52] Speaker A: Is he someone who won't be able to live up to that pressure?
[00:33:55] Speaker C: Will the young goaltender Jesper Walstead be able to withstand the pressure, defense, goaltending key takeaways. I'm going to go back now to Tampa Bay, Montreal.
Look here, ladies and gentlemen and all, everyone of all ages. This is going to be neck to neck with Dallas and Minnesota for the best first round matchup. And if you want a spoiler, I think the third best matchup is Pittsburgh Philly.
[00:34:19] Speaker A: The fourth best matchup is Carolina, Ottawa.
[00:34:21] Speaker C: So there's my top four, if you would say for most exciting matchups. Sorry to the other teams but Tampa Bay, Montreal, you know there's going to be fights. The Bell center is going to be electric. Tampa Bay, they're an except they. They get into it those fan that fan base. I've seen it as you know, as a Charlie Mapley fan in a couple rounds of the playoffs, won the Toronto loss and won the Toronto one. Tampa Bay has a very well put
[00:34:43] Speaker A: together team and they're very well coached and they play for each other.
[00:34:47] Speaker C: They're a team. They. They find ways. You got one of the best goaltenders in the world. Haggle Sorelli. Right. And this is a team that honestly people thought overachieved this year. I don't think so. Kucherov is on another level and he's making those around him better. The Montreal Canadiens need to find a
[00:35:07] Speaker B: way for two ways to.
[00:35:09] Speaker C: For takeaways for Montreal to have a chance. Traffic in front of Vasilevsky can tell you that he is not good on deflections. He is not great in traffic. Get the puck to the net. The second thing is you got to shut down Nikita Kucherov, which is easier said than done. But you got some young guys on that Montreal Canadiens team that will have no problem getting in there. Nick Suzuki, I mean Kucherov will have his hands full with that matchup. If it's Suzuki or if he's going against Sofkoski or whoever he's going against, it's going to have his hands full. And capitalizing on home ice advantage of what the two teams got to be a key takeaway here. And I got to give the advantage to Montreal for that. Being at the Bell center is going to be absolutely fire.
That Barn needs to have playoff hockey at all times. You know, there's going to be passion. You're not going to hear yourself think out there when you're Tampa, if you're Montreal, you got to steal one at least in Tampa to go back to the Bell center and you have a high chance of winning two games there at the Bell Center. These teams are more evenly matched than people may think. Despite the experience side or not. Cole Caufield, 50 goals. Savkowski really stepping up. Look at what he did in the Olympics.
[00:36:15] Speaker B: Look really good there.
[00:36:17] Speaker C: The question mark for me is the in net for the Montreal Canadiens. But they have options that they can use and I wouldn't be shy to use. I feel that when it comes to do a young individual's occasion, this might be able to really see what this young man can take in a high pressure situation. Playoff hockey Donning the crest of the Montreal Canadiens, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Montreal Canadiens the team that's going to capitalize on home ice advantage takeaways from Montreal is shutting down Kucherov and getting traffic on Vasilevsky. If you're the Tampa Bay Lightning, it is capitalizing on the goaltending challenges in Montreal that could be a kink in their armor as well as trying to get under the skin of the younger players in Montreal and try to get
[00:36:57] Speaker A: them to play undisciplined hockey.
[00:36:58] Speaker C: And that's what a team like Tampa Bay will do. And they're also not afraid to drop the gloves. Tampa. So if the, if they're getting into the dirty areas of the ice, Tampa Bay is going to be in there with you and they're not going to be afraid to do that. So Montreal is going to have to
[00:37:10] Speaker A: definitely get their hands dirty and Tampa
[00:37:12] Speaker C: Bay is going to also have to
[00:37:13] Speaker A: watch the disciplinary side of the game as well.
[00:37:16] Speaker C: So there's some series I wanted to dive into, notably. So let me dive now into the predictions. I'm going to give you the first round predictions, then I'm going to tell you my Cup Finals and then the
[00:37:26] Speaker A: prediction for the Stanley cup winner. Much like how I did for the
[00:37:30] Speaker C: NBA playoffs earlier the show I wanted, I've been. I've been a key component of saying when Toronto's made it. I predicted the Leafs would win the cup four times, not total four times. I predicted when the playoffs happened that they would win four out of the six times. Last six times I predicted trying to think that if I predicted being optimistic and then I thought the approach of not predicting for them and then when I didn't predict for them, the team that I thought was going to win
[00:37:54] Speaker A: one anyways, Florida Panthers.
[00:37:56] Speaker B: So I am going to go with
[00:37:58] Speaker C: not who I want to win the cup, but who I truly think, which is the right thing to do as a host, as everyone would say, bare minimum. So while I say that, and the reason why I say that is because this was hard for me to pick
[00:38:12] Speaker A: because of who I want to win.
[00:38:13] Speaker C: If you want to know who I want to win, fans may shake your head at me because then if he wins, he may not ever come to Toronto.
[00:38:19] Speaker B: But I think I would like to
[00:38:20] Speaker C: see the Edmonton Oilers win.
[00:38:22] Speaker A: I would love to see Connor McDavid get there for a third time and win. That's who I would love to win this year.
[00:38:28] Speaker C: That I'll say at that. I'll leave it at that.
[00:38:31] Speaker A: Let's go to our predictions here for
[00:38:33] Speaker C: the game Sports Podcast, Dave McCaig's predictions and the Western Conference starting Colorado will defeat the Los Angeles Kings. Minnesota Wild will defeat the Dallas Stars. Vegas will beat Utah.
[00:38:45] Speaker A: And the Edmonton Oilers will beat the Anaheim Ducks.
[00:38:49] Speaker C: The Eastern Conference, the Buffalo Sabres will beat the Boston Bruins. Sorry, Montreal fans. The Tampa Bay Lightning will beat the Montreal Canadiens in this first round. Sorry, Ottawa Senators fans. The Carolina Hurricanes will beat the Ottawa
[00:39:03] Speaker A: Senators in the first round. And the Pittsburgh Penguins will defeat the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round.
[00:39:10] Speaker C: So that leaves a final, I guess an elite eight. Sorry, but we would like to call it is Colorado, Minnesota, Vegas, Edmonton, Buffalo, Tampa, Carolina, Pittsburgh. But not getting to those.
[00:39:23] Speaker B: We're going to wait till the next week or so before we dive into
[00:39:27] Speaker C: actual predictions, but to predict my Stanley cup final as of today, which is different than what I picked earlier this year.
The Stanley cup final this year will be the Colorado Avalanche and hold on to your seats, folks.
[00:39:42] Speaker A: The Buffalo Sabers.
[00:39:43] Speaker C: The Buffalo Sabres will make the cup finals this year. And I got the Colorado Avalanche defeating
[00:39:50] Speaker A: the Buffalo Sabers in the Stanley cup
[00:39:53] Speaker C: finals for a bonus for cons mite winner. It's between two people, but it's going
[00:39:58] Speaker B: to be the Nate dog getting the
[00:39:59] Speaker A: Conn Smythe Trophy to win this year.
[00:40:03] Speaker C: Now, we've talked about the Stanley cup playoffs. I've talked about a couple series. Let me know who you think.
[00:40:07] Speaker B: Below will be the brackets.
[00:40:09] Speaker A: Everyone's going to have your opinion and I can't wait to either get roasted. Agreed on on the first round predictions
[00:40:14] Speaker C: and the cup prediction.
[00:40:15] Speaker A: Everyone's entitled to their opinion.
[00:40:16] Speaker C: Share yours below. Let's dive into the news site of
[00:40:20] Speaker B: the National Hockey League.
[00:40:21] Speaker C: I got my notes here.
[00:40:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:22] Speaker C: Instead of going for bid, I got to make sure I stay on point, Right? Key takeaways when it comes to the news. Nate Dogg. Nathan McKinnon gets the Maurice Richard. Connor McDavid gets the Art Ross 38 points. He's hungry this year.
[00:40:33] Speaker A: Very hungry.
[00:40:34] Speaker C: Declan Celebrini, breaking Jumbo Joe's record. 19 years old, ladies and gentlemen. This guy is getting 115 points at 19 years old. I'm not gonna lie, when he was shot the first overall and watched him at the World Juniors, I didn't think he would evolve this quickly. But he is. And if you listen to our show a couple weeks back, Brandon McCarthy says that he would build a team around
[00:40:54] Speaker A: Nathan McKinnon before Connor McDavid.
Hot take Connor McDavid. Still, I got to make sure to
[00:40:59] Speaker C: remind people that bonus is going back to the Columbus Blue Jackets. That big quote that he said is if he comes back, he's going to change the culture. Look, Columbus has a lot of key pieces.
Johnson, Fantilli, this is a very. I like this team the way that it's building, who they've drafted, but it hasn't worked. It hasn't gotten to where they need to get to.
I think a key component is a net. I think that's a challenge that Columbus is going to have to look at. And there's some goalies that are out there that are available that could be
[00:41:24] Speaker A: interesting pieces for Columbus.
[00:41:25] Speaker C: Bono has one available. Columbus. Just saying dollars would be an okay pick there for you.
[00:41:30] Speaker A: Just.
[00:41:30] Speaker C: Just saying. But the Columbus Blue Jackets are an example of if you draft, you still might not be able to get to that place that you want to get to. And their captain's a free agent. Makes you wonder where he's going to go. You're looking at culture change. Columbus is going to be doing a retool, but a retool that they hope they don't go back another five years in the past and that they can go back ahead where this team that in the bubble defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs to move on and was looking like they were starting to catch their wind and going to be that team. Everyone thought they were going to be Sunny Mita. Well, if everyone saw their TikTok channel, I had a prediction. Well, no, not a prediction. I did not say prediction. Who I wanted as the GM for Toronto was Sonny Mita. Obviously, Sonny Mita is going to the New Jersey Devils. That was announced earlier this week. And that is what's going to be happening. Unfortunately, if you're a Leaf fan, you know, this is someone that you thought would really fit the bill when it came to Toronto. However, that's not going to be the case. But New Jersey is getting a good GM here. I know a lot of people are like, oh, this guy's like a poker player. He's this, he's that. Look, Sonny Mita have executives around the National Hockey League that I've reached out to and they have told me that Sonny Mita is. Is a piece of the brains with Bill Zito. A lot of that analytics piece being a big part of some contracts that they brought in, they're drafting and how they have built that team in Florida. Sonny is a key component to that. He's motivated, yes, he's analytical, but it's. It's not. Is it like A Kyle Dubas 2.0? Maybe. But let me tell you this. Kyle Dubas 2.0, he's looking damn good in Pittsburgh, everybody, is he not? This is a prime example of how and why Dubas left Toronto. Dubas left Toronto because he didn't get any of the reins to run that team. He was being puppeteered by Brandon Shannon and by Mlse and now he goes to Pittsburgh. Yeah, he had a year where you're like, oh, what's he doing here? But guess what? He's in the Stanley cup playoffs right now. And a team that didn't even look like they were going to be able to swim in this league. And I thought they'd be in the Gavin McKenna conversation warping back to 2004 and 5 where they had the high picks. And you're gonna have Crosby molding Gavin McKenna, but that's not going to be happening during the playoffs. Smithson's a brilliant hockey mind and yeah, he's from the soup. So I'm going to give him a little extra credit because an electric bias on that, I guess you could say. But bias aside, what he did in
[00:43:46] Speaker B: Pittsburgh shows when given the opportunity, you could be successful.
[00:43:51] Speaker C: He was the boy wonder.
But look who did some of the drafting there. Lou Lamorello, Shanahan playing the puppeteer. Dubas had very minimal to what a GM should have had. Sonny Mita is not a Dubas 2.0. Sonny Mita is Sonny Mita. They have a lot of similarities. He is going to be successful in New Jersey, mark my words. It won't be next year. Maybe within the next couple years you'll see the fingerprints of Sonny and how his anal approach and how his approach to taking and building a team around certain players is going to pan out.
[00:44:22] Speaker B: Good move by New Jersey.
[00:44:23] Speaker C: Good on you, unfortunately, capitalizing this opportunity. But there's still other people out there, Toronto, that you could be make it very interesting to bring in to be the GM in Toronto. Now let's go to that Toronto Maple Leaf team. Okay, everybody, let's do that. I'm going to try to keep this very straightforward. The Toronto Maple Leafs have Ended this atrocious season where I'm not going to lie as a fan of Toronto sports, I've been heartbroken a lot the last calendar year. Last year in the second round when they played Florida, I was so invested, so invested in this team. They played Ottawa, a very pesky sends team won that series. They go against Florida. Hot start to that, that pivotal Game three was a D was the turning point of that series. Game 5 was the one of the worst games that I've ever watched as a Toronto Maple leaf fan. Game 6 was a battle back. That's how you come back from a very bad performance. And to go into Game 7 on home ice and lose that momentum the way that they did was typical Leaf
[00:45:26] Speaker B: and I was heartbroken after that.
[00:45:28] Speaker C: So much investment. The last Never mind since 2016 when you start bringing in these guys, you know you drafted Willie, you drafted Marner, you drafted Matthews. This team that was promised to be signing John Tavares, right? Just the team that we thought Stolars goes down. It's not on wall that we lost that series. Everyone thinks that you're, you're, you've lost it, you've lost it. The team as a collective was not the team that that Game 7 performance was last year would have been the year that Toronto would have won and you could have take that chirp below, do whatever you want with that. But the pain started there that game seven loss. Then you watch Florida win again. You watch them win again let alone against someone who I really enjoy watching right now. My one of my favorite players right now, Connor McDavid and team that Toronto lost to again a team that makes a cup finals a Toronto lost to. The summertime goes on. Hockey season restarts, Leafs up and down and The Jays lose Nov. 1 in Game 7 to Los Angeles Dodgers. Now the Toronto pain point. The Olympics come around, Canada loses to United States. And I'll be honest, this past year as a podcast host obviously I watch. I'm die, I'm a die hard Leaf fan. Die hard Jays fan. Love watching the Raptors and Steelers. I heard fans of those teams but watching sports has left the sour taste in my mouth. Just for the past build up for the past few years but the last year has just been pain and I can imagine if you're an Oiler fan I got a close friend and a casual host on here as well Dane Hanchro. He's an Oilers fan. I can imagine how he feels watches if the Leafs haven't even made it past the third round since I'VE been born. They made it to the third round a couple times, lost to Buffalo and lost to Carolina, but I've never seen my team make the cup finals three times like he has. I could just imagine how that feels because the taste of when the Blue Jays lost the Dodgers is still in my mouth. Fresh. And we're in April and it's a new ball season. Sports is such an investment and everyone looks at the Toronto Maple Leafs and says oh, that fan base is hard. You know what? Damn right they're hard. A lot of it unrealistic, a lot of them dramatic. Heck, I'm being dramatic right now. But I promise I separate myself because as much as I've been delusional feeling that they're maybe going to win, I'm not that delusional because they did have the team on paper. But the team on paper doesn't perform on the ice and it took them a long time to almost realize until this summer. And I say almost because we're not in the summer. We haven't seen a new GM come in yet to reset this team. We're still had the same ingredient on this team but it's taken until April of 2026 to realize this is not the ingredient that's working when it should have been realized when Toronto lost to the Montreal Canadiens back in the COVID year despite what they would have done against Florida last year if they would have won and won the cup, we'd be having a different conversation right now, guarantee. But they didn't win. And they didn't win at all. Toronto Maple Leaf fans have a right to be frustrated. They have a right to be anxious when one goal goes in at the Library Center. I mean, just kidding. The Scotiabank Arena. They don't have a right to throw a jersey on the ice. Don't get me wrong. But they have a right to express their feelings. They're paying for the tickets, they're paying for the jerseys. Do what you want with them as long as you're not being unsafe to those around you. You can express your opinion. But every Leaf fan will come back no matter what. It's a toxic relationship and hearing the Toronto Maple Leafs locker clean out my next book Answers I want to believe Matthews that he wants to stay here, but let's get real. This team goes down to the studs if Chris Pronger is their GM go and stay here long. Nor is Willie. And Willie's voiced that despite what has happened the last 10 years we've been able to enjoy playoff hockey. But not to the fullest. It's unfortunate you see 10 years, near
[00:49:16] Speaker A: 10 years, near 10 years, nine years
[00:49:18] Speaker C: of playoff hockey and you don't have one positive memory. Except when John Tavares got the winner in that first round and then the time when they beat Ottawa last year to get to the second round. It's unfortunate they have minimal memories in all those years. And if you could rewind me back to 2016 when they played Washington, all that excitement. That was the team that we said, oh, they're hitting, they're scoring. Oh, this is it. We're finally seeing a Leaf team that's gonna do it eventually. And they didn't. Everyone points at Toronto Maple Leaf fans saying that they do this, they do that. They have a right. They have a right to be frustrated. They pay for the tickets, they pay for the jerseys. They're not seeing results. They're seeing a team that doesn't show any heart on the ice. I'm saying that as a host of a podcast and as a fan. They lose out on Sonny Mita, big loss. But there's other names out there. This is a team that I don't see as a full rebuild. I see as a retool because the team that was first in the division last year, Boston and Buffalo, are first round, one of the first round matchups right now. These were teams not even in the thought of the playoff picture last year. And Buffalo is a similar team. They made some changes, but similar team. Boston again, similar team.
[00:50:25] Speaker B: Gotta tell you right now that the
[00:50:28] Speaker A: Leafs have an interesting, very interesting off season ahead.
[00:50:32] Speaker B: You lose out on Sonny Mita, there's
[00:50:34] Speaker A: names still out there available.
[00:50:35] Speaker C: Jason Spencer was one that's now coming up.
[00:50:37] Speaker A: Chris Pronger's been out there a little bit.
[00:50:39] Speaker B: Mike Gillis has been another one.
[00:50:41] Speaker C: And I'm going to tell you, like I said on my clip, Mike Gillis should not be a gm.
[00:50:44] Speaker B: He needs to be in a VP type role.
[00:50:47] Speaker A: Use the mind instead. Matt Sundin was interviewed.
[00:50:51] Speaker C: Now that's what I'm talking about. Let's bring some of the character guys back that were loyal to this team. Yeah, Sundin left on a sour taste. He didn't give us assets. He just didn't want because he wanted to be here.
[00:51:01] Speaker A: Mitch Marner feels a little bit different.
[00:51:03] Speaker C: Maybe the same, but different. Sundine was here for his entire career
[00:51:07] Speaker A: since he was traded from Quebec.
[00:51:08] Speaker C: Bringing Sundin in, great idea. Why not looking in to bring Doug Gilmore, Wendell Clark in another advisor role? Why not look at Jason Spencer?
[00:51:16] Speaker A: Imagine Sundin and Spencer in the same
[00:51:17] Speaker C: room, guys that were battle had rivalries between the Ottawa Senators and the trauma. But he's unbelievable. Chris Pronger, you heard him on interviews
[00:51:24] Speaker A: what he thinks we should do and
[00:51:25] Speaker C: if that's the case, holy fans, we got a few tough years coming, okay? Because there's a GM that thinks this team should go down to the studs. There might be a GM that goes down for a retool. And these rumors surfacing that Keith Pelly is using Chat GPT look, that is just a cherry on top of a awful season that I was not invested in. And as I go back to the point where I feel pain, it was hard to watch this year and I'm thankful that this year is done. It's been hard as a Toronto fan the last little bit and as a sports fan because I've not seen the moments that I want to see.
[00:51:54] Speaker A: And knowing more disappointment.
[00:51:56] Speaker C: And the Leafs brought a lot of disappointment to my feelings this year and to a lot of fans begging just for something to be memorable. And now it's going to be an interesting offseason because you have names that we don't know. And honestly, I can sit here and predict now. I thought Sonny was going to be the guy I could predict. Spencer, I've said Jumbo Joe Thornton would
[00:52:13] Speaker A: be a great idea.
[00:52:15] Speaker C: I've said that, you know, maybe looking at somebody whose name is not even there as a thought, someone just to move up, look at. Maybe give print him a chance. Maybe bring in Wickenheiser as a cool thing with print, I don't know. But you have to try something different. And the ownership crew in Keith Pelly and his Chat GPT bull, I'll say it, it's Chat GPT.
He needs to get rid of it and stay out of the way. If they're going to still own this team, so be a part of this team. Give them the money, give them what they need as resources and stay the hell out of the way. Bring in people that are going to
[00:52:48] Speaker B: care and let them do what they
[00:52:50] Speaker C: want and stop thinking with your wallets and think about the fans that have went through all the BS for the past 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years
[00:52:58] Speaker A: of not seeing a championship brought back to the city.
[00:53:01] Speaker C: Bring in a GM that's going to retool this team that pivots it to go down to the studs, but is a quick retool changing the culture in the way that Brad Tree living said he wanted to, but he didn't do
[00:53:12] Speaker A: it the right way.
[00:53:13] Speaker C: Bring in someone that is going to
[00:53:15] Speaker A: do that to this team with the
[00:53:17] Speaker C: proper advisor, the proper advisors around him or her. Bring in somebody that's going to have a collaborative effort to look at a lot of the minds and not be controlled but be a part of a culture that's going to change this team from being just a money grab pinnacle of hockey where yeah, you're the hockey center of the world but you're not able to bring happiness to your fans.
[00:53:40] Speaker A: You just bring disappointment.
[00:53:41] Speaker B: Make fans want to go to those
[00:53:43] Speaker A: games and be passionate.
[00:53:44] Speaker C: Change the Library center to the true
[00:53:46] Speaker A: name that it is, the Scotiabank Arena.
[00:53:48] Speaker C: Bring pride to the team that is part of the original six. Is one of the most popular teams
[00:53:53] Speaker A: in the world in hockey. Richest teams in the world in hockey.
[00:53:57] Speaker C: But these rumors surfacing about who they're looking for. I don't want it to be Kevin Adams. It better not be Mark Bergen. I honestly don't want Doug Armstrong. I don't want those guys. I want some fresh minds on that
[00:54:07] Speaker A: team and people that have been a part of this organization that are going
[00:54:11] Speaker C: to care about winning and the people that are around this team that are both the money and using chat GPT to look for trades.
[00:54:19] Speaker B: Get out of the way. Get out of the way.
[00:54:21] Speaker C: There is my host perspective but also
[00:54:23] Speaker A: my fan passion for you. A little extra ingredient for you about the Toronto Maple Leafs.
[00:54:28] Speaker C: Who do you think the next GM
[00:54:29] Speaker A: is going to be for Toronto?
[00:54:30] Speaker C: Now that Sonny's off the board there's
[00:54:32] Speaker A: a lot of options out there to pick. Dark horse pick for me. Joe Thornton, Jason Spencer.
[00:54:37] Speaker C: Why not Matt Sundin being part of the team?
[00:54:40] Speaker B: Let's do it.
[00:54:41] Speaker C: If you're a Toronto fan, let's be open to some of these legacy players
[00:54:44] Speaker A: coming back into this team surrounding the
[00:54:47] Speaker C: next GM with these legacy players that know this culture that have had some success and have almost seen success that being the Cup Finals Sunday and almost did see the cup finals a couple times bringing in players that are going
[00:55:01] Speaker A: to help get this team to where it should have been five, six years ago.
[00:55:05] Speaker C: What do you think about the playoffs?
[00:55:06] Speaker B: What do you think about the news going around?
[00:55:08] Speaker A: Who do you think is going to be the next Leafs GM? There's a lot that's been crammed in this for LA.
[00:55:11] Speaker C: This 40 minutes of top shelf so definitely gets into eats into our time
[00:55:17] Speaker A: when it comes to the major junior side of things and mlb.
[00:55:20] Speaker C: So I am going to talk very briefly about those topics.
[00:55:23] Speaker A: Just under 10 minutes, probably even closer
[00:55:25] Speaker C: to 7 minutes before I wrap up today's show and to get into.
[00:55:29] Speaker A: To get into the Ontario Hockey League.
[00:55:32] Speaker C: The Suse Marie Greyhounds are and have
[00:55:35] Speaker A: been eliminated by the Kitchener Rangers in round two and in the second round
[00:55:39] Speaker C: of the OHL playoffs.
[00:55:41] Speaker A: Barry and Ottawa is the only team
[00:55:43] Speaker C: remain to decide their series.
[00:55:44] Speaker A: But definitely seems like Barry is going to be the team team.
[00:55:47] Speaker C: Now I'm going to tell you something
[00:55:48] Speaker A: about Kitchener in the Sioux. I had somebody ask me upstairs at the John Rhodes arena here in the
[00:55:52] Speaker C: Sioux before one of our last games
[00:55:54] Speaker A: in the Mayor's cup which is a men's league tournament here in Sault Ste. Marie and a very good tournament. A lot of good players that play hockey here in Sault Ste.
[00:56:00] Speaker B: Marie.
[00:56:01] Speaker A: A lot of good talents been through through here in the Sioux.
[00:56:03] Speaker C: Very proud.
[00:56:04] Speaker A: Hockey nation or Hockey Nation? Hockey city, sorry, nation. Hockey city, if you will. I thought Kitchener would win this series in six. I said that upstairs at the John Rhodes at Icebreakers somewhere where we used to record briefly fun fact and Kitchener. Kitchener is such a very good hockey team. There was only about 10 or 20 minutes of that series where I felt Kitchener was out of it in a game. The two Greyhounds very well put together.
[00:56:31] Speaker C: This team was exciting to watch.
[00:56:33] Speaker A: They gave the city something to cheer for having, you know, Brady Martin might have his last game as a Susei Marie greyhound. Carter George looking tremendous. I feel that the. The Hounds brass did what they can to make this season worth it.
[00:56:48] Speaker C: Now there's rumors about maybe Raft is not coming back.
[00:56:51] Speaker A: There's rumors about. About Dean, if he's coming back or not. It's going to be very interesting about who returns, who not. Who does not return. And I think the Greyhounds might have to start thinking what that next is going to bring.
[00:57:04] Speaker C: They have a lot of young guys
[00:57:05] Speaker A: that are coming back.
I don't think you need to bring it down to the studs, but they've had some good talent around this team this year. And it was a very good season for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. Brought a lot of excitement. Windsor looking very good. The team.
This is a tough bracket this year. Very tough team that they had to play. And you can just go off on the names that the Kitchener Rangers have. The Hounds have names too, but there was a lot in that series.
Special Teams pounds 2 for 15 have it here. The Fruitioner Rangers 4 for 14. Not too big of a spread, but those are two goals difference. Those are pivotal. Christopher Brown, big goaltender.
[00:57:43] Speaker B: Carter George looked just all good.
[00:57:45] Speaker A: There were some youthful mistakes and that's taken it from what Dean said. But he said a quote experience could be advantage at times. But I thought we dressed a team good enough to win the series. Definitely. I think the series should have at least been six or seven. But Kitchener was able to take that next step in the games. The experience really came into a factor. The Hounds gave one heck of a series for Susei Marie and for the oa. Windsor took care of Flint and Flint took care of Owen. Sound I'm just saying Windsor. I'm going to go back to that in a second. Hanford absolutely just undefeated. This playoffs they're looking really good. If you look at North Bay they had a pretty decent battle against Peterborough. But Branford four straight wins Sweep Perry Ottawa. Look, you're going to play Branford next. It ain't going to be a good ending. Whoever goes on in that series name of Ottawa battles back.
[00:58:33] Speaker B: So let me give you this because
[00:58:35] Speaker A: we don't know the official final four in the OHL yet. Might know. Obviously by the time you listen to the show you might know but I'm just going to give you who I think is going to be the final two and who's going to win. All right. I think this is going to be a hot take. Windsor will be Kitchener in seven. Effort will be one of barrier Ottawa doesn't matter and they're going to beat them in five. Bradford might only lose one game. Sir will be Branford in seven in a very entertaining finals in the Ontario Hockey League.
[00:59:09] Speaker C: I know I was going to talk
[00:59:10] Speaker A: about more major junior but I'm going to leave it at the OHL right now I want to give a little extra love to the Susei Marie Greyhounds, the home base here for the game Sports podcast and in the unexpected absence of Jordan Trudeau wanted to get into some of this content now. We will have a season review and reaction with Trudeau on our next show. It might be a little bit dated but we'll make sure we have that for Sault Ste Marie fans and by then we'll probably know that. Well we're going to know the final four but even by our next show we might even know what the finals is potentially by then because we are going to be taking another week off but I'll get to that a little bit later as well.
Very special team. So was Kitchener and I will say right now doesn't matter if it's Kitchener, Windsor, whoever goes to the final, the winner of that series is who's winning the OHL championship. I know the city of Brantford ain't
[00:59:55] Speaker C: gonna like Hearing that now, let's spend these last couple minutes doing a real
[00:59:59] Speaker A: reaction about the MLB. No excuses, but when you're missing over 12 guys of your lineup, that could be pivotal parts of this team. Bieber is Savage, Kirk, Barger, Varshal just went down there and I against Arizona at this time, I don't. At the time of recording, I don't know how long the extent of that injury is.
You obviously have Barrios who hasn't been
[01:00:21] Speaker B: back, but this is still a guy
[01:00:22] Speaker A: like you're paying $18 million for that you would feel would be a pivotal part of this team. Santander, despite that he didn't play all of last season. Okay. Paying a lot of money to him. Imagine if he was actually healthy and able to do what he could do. It would be a switch. Switch any bat in your lineup that maybe he would have hit 15, 20 homers this year if you would have bounced back. But doubtful. And I'm not mean to highlight Brios and Santan there because they weren't big pieces obviously of that playoff run.
[01:00:47] Speaker B: But if you look at Barger, you
[01:00:48] Speaker A: look at you, Savage, you look at Bieber. Can you look at Kirk? The Blue Jays are hurting right now and of course George Springer has been out as well. This is not a healthy baseball team right now and to be 7 and 12 is as expected. But in this division, you need to stay put. You need to do your best to stay within this division through these challenging times. And I'd rather see this now instead of later in the season. Last year they were 26 and 28. Then the Canada Day grand slam is what changed the whole Blue Jays season. Okay? Lots of things can happen.
[01:01:18] Speaker C: People panicking already. Don't get me wrong, I don't like
[01:01:21] Speaker A: to see it as a Blue Jays fan, But there's only 19 games in and of 162 game season, folks. It's a marathon here. If we were at 120 games and if your team, if it's a Blue Jays or not, we're under 500120 games in and looking 15 games out of a playoff spot, then you can start panicking, okay? Anything can happen between game 100 to 162, let alone game 0 to 100. Okay? So if you're a Blue Jay fan, don't panic. Lots of baseball to be played.
[01:01:49] Speaker C: Touch touching storylines that I'm loving right
[01:01:52] Speaker A: now is the Pittsburgh Pirates. And how cool was their City Connect jersey? So cool.
[01:01:56] Speaker C: The team that it's been absolute dog
[01:01:58] Speaker A: for the longest time. Look at what they're doing now. How impressive is that?
[01:02:03] Speaker C: They're gonna bounce back. You got a lot of young pizzas
[01:02:05] Speaker A: there, Skiings, Connor, Griffin, o', Neill, Cruz, you got some good pieces there In Pittsburgh, they're building something special. Building something special. And of course the Dodgers just being the Dodgers. But the one thing that I really love seeing right now is New York Mets struggles. Pretty much the identical record right, of the Jays believe it actually is nine straight losses at the time of this recording today. I'll just leave it at that. I will just leave it at that. Yeah, I got a little bit of, little bit of, what do you call it, frustration towards Boba Shet.
[01:02:34] Speaker C: But if you're going back to Toronto
[01:02:36] Speaker A: and if any, even if your team is struggling right now, then they had high expectations. Take a breath. There's so much time to go, but
[01:02:42] Speaker C: I'm going to leave it at that.
[01:02:43] Speaker A: Speaking of the next show, my reminder here, we will not have a show this week, but what I can tell you is that we have some special editions being planned to be recorded this week. Joe or No1's Nick Laporte and Devin Dittomite three recordings that we're looking at having recorded in the next couple weeks will be posted within the next three to four weeks, hopefully on our platforms. But when it comes to a news show, we will not have a new show this upcoming week with us recording on this Saturday here on April 18th. We're going to be taking one more week off. We had a week off last week which is the week of the 6th of April and I guess we're not off this week of the 13th, we're just not doing our usual Tuesday upload Wednesday type format. But for the week of the 20th we are going to be off again because of some schedule conflicts. We will be back recording on April 20th. Okay. With the upload of the show on the 29th. So make sure that you know after this upload we're going to be off for another 11 days. So make sure you're getting up to date with this content, making sure you're in the and following our platforms for any unexpected news that comes up that we have clips for. Because obviously there was a lot to get on to the show and I had to talk solo for the past hour and some change. So we hope that you're able to enjoy it and you listen to the entire show. But ultimately make sure you keep it locked for the 29th because there's going to be another action packed show. Then after that we should be able to get back to our regular routine. Okay. Until the end of May, beginning of June, until the Stanley cup playoffs are done, which is actually, I guess more later into June rather. So by when the Stanley cup playoffs are finished, then the NHL entry just finished. That's when the Game Sports Podcast takes its usual summer break where we do bi weekly shows and then we take a month off essentially in August. Okay.
[01:04:27] Speaker C: So there's only probably about a handful
[01:04:29] Speaker A: of shows to go for sure. Under 10 shows depending news to go before we take our summer break. Okay. So just keep it locked here and we appreciate all the support we're getting to the time of the season where it's still busy with NBA playoffs and with the NHL playoffs lot going on. So there's still a lot to talk about. So make sure if you have any topics you want us to touch on, just reach out and let us know. The Game Sports Podcast is on all social media platforms. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, all HeGamesports podcast. You can also tune in on Spotify, Apple, wherever you're tuned in from YouTube, on 91N or through Spaces. We appreciate your interaction and until we are back, which as I said will be on April 29, will be our next upload. I'm here to remind you to keep your stick on the ice. Swing your bats, catch your touchdowns, join your threes and shoot your shots.
[01:05:18] Speaker B: Booyah.
