Commie gives his honest thoughts on John Tortorella... CTC #74

On today's episode of Clearing the Crease, the boys covers everything from John Tortorella as the new Bench Boss in Vegas, Troy Terry's INSANE hits record, Commie's run in with Bryan Murray in Ottawa, and more!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I'm like, why are we not working on D zone coverage? And Brian was like, hey, well, you know, it's late in the season. We don't, I don't want injuries. I'm like, Brian, I'm not saying we go out here and we're just trying to pulverize each other into the boards. Like a little bit of structure. And so I opened it up with that. And then I waltzed into like, hey, that's supposed to be where I'm good. What I'm an unrestricted, I just straight up told him. I'm like, Brian, I'm like, why did you trade for me? I go, this has been a catastrophe so far. Like, give me a shot. Like, give me some minutes and let me see if I can do a little something. So, anyways, and Brian did, and then I led their team in playoff score.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Hey, we are back, everybody. It's the Clear and the Crease podcast, powered by Ozun.net, the Calder Trophy winner, the Razor, Andrew Raycroft, the cup winner. Everybody's favorite. Mommy, Mike Commodore, and I'm Sabalski, the one number three, the bronze medalist. At least I'm still on the podium, guys. Uh, Razor, let's dive in, man. We are down to the frozen four as we record this. You gave a big shout out on national television to Kami. Everybody, everything's happening right now for the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 1:25

Yeah, we're all over the place. Yeah, it was uh it was a blast to watch Kami's North Dakota Sioux just put the beat down on the East Coast teams out in Sioux Falls, eight-nothing combined in two games. They're a wagon. So it was perfect timing to give the the Stanley Cup winning Kami a little love. Uh frozen 4 will be great a couple weeks, and and these teams are stacked, so it'll be great.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

And and commie, you got the show. You you saw the shout out.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

I did see it. Yes, yes, I did. I was texting, I was putting some, I was jokingly putting some heat on Razor. You know, there was a name change in North Dakota a while ago. You know, I I prefer the old one along with most of the alumni. I was trying to get, I'm like, come on, Razor. We went back and forth. Like, obviously, I was kidding, but he's like, hey, I can't. I gotta say fighting hawks. I'm like, hey, well, what about it? So Razor actually said, you know what, if they get up five nothing, I'll say it. Well, sure enough, it was five nothing. And then I so I messaged Razor, I'm like, five nothing. He's like, man. So I knew he wasn't going to. I was joking around, but I was sitting at the bar watching it, and then you know, there was they had the basketball game on the sound, so I couldn't hear anything, but then in the cloth in the captioning at the bottom, I saw my name pop up, and I was with a couple of guys, so we were laughing. So, and I got a couple text messages too about it. So, thank you, Razor. And yeah, my uh my fighting stew had a pretty big weekend. It was good for my O Zoom account, I'll tell you that. When you outscore your opposition by when it's eight-nothing total and you're taking puck lines, that that math works out pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Raycroft, you must get nervous. You're on set and you're getting live texts from Commodore, like nothing, nothing good comes out of that. No, it's the best, it's the best.

SPEAKER_03 3:10

But yeah, I was uh I was trying to think of a way I could pull it off, but it just um the the producers were not gonna let me give any rope to that one. But anyways.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

And I think your employment on a national broadcast probably wasn't gonna lie. No, Razor, your western broad your western bias starting to show out here with as a former Canuck and former Av and former Star. Look at this, man. You you took North Dakota, and as you mentioned, they look like they are on fire.

SPEAKER_03 3:41

Yeah, between them and the Oilers, I'm really uh I'm going west, folks. I'm going west.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

There you go. Euler great, Andrew Raycroft. You heard it here first. Hey, don't forget, everybody, if you are enjoying the show and having a good time with us, so we love having you joining us here. Um, make sure you leave uh make sure you hit the like and subscribe button on YouTube if you're following along. Uh leave us a five-star review if you're listening on Apple or on Spotify. Make sure you're following along for additional social content, whether it's on YouTube, Instagram, X, TikTok, or wherever you're tuning in from, because the Clearing the Craze podcast is powered by Ozun.net. The road to the Stanley Cup wide open. The clearest route to winning big is to play on Ozun.net. It's got you covered. Ozun's got you covered for all the props, game lines, futures from right now until the Stanley Cup final and way beyond. Hey, baseball's happening again now. So you can make your power play and score big with Ozun. Your turn is now. Okay, boys, let's dive into um, I guess let's get right to our Saturday night special. There's only a few of these left in the season. We've been right there, right there. We've had a couple of big wins over the last two weeks. We've also had been right there. So let's get back on the winning track this week. Saturday night special. Let me start things off. Give me the Kraken in the heat of the battle right now of the Western Conference. Give me Seattle on Saturday at home to take down Chicago.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

I got the Ducks. I got the Ducks taking on the Calgary Flames. Obviously, the Flames are long gone. They want to get those high, nice top picks. And the Ducks are going to be in a battle for first place in the Pacific. You're going to want to get that and dodge the other teams. So I'm taking the Duckaroos.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

To finish off the Saturday night special, I got a big weekend coming. You know, maybe this isn't the smartest game to pick, but I'm going to be in Dallas for the Dallas Stars alumni weekend. Before anybody looks it up, no, I did not play for the Dallas Stars. Not even close. But I'm an honorary alumni member because I'm buddies with the owner. I've been invited lots of times. I've kept saying no because I'm like, man, I feel like it. But I'm going to I did play five games for the Texas Stars. So that's how I'm going to play it up when I get there. Anyways, long story short, I'm going to be at the game in Dallas at 2 o'clock afternoon start. Dallas taking on the Colorado Avalanche. I can't I can't be sitting there, you know, being a fake alumni and cheer for the Avalanche. So go, Stars. I'm taking the stars to beat the Aves on Saturday afternoon.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

More Western bias. Look at what we're repping this weekend. It's all about the West because it's the best. So there's your three winners this week, courtesy and the Clear in the Crease podcast, powered by Ozo.net. Okay. The big news this week. I mean, kind of making notes the other day, okay, what are we going to talk about this week? What are we kind of dealing with and dealing with playoffs? And all of a sudden, we had just talked about this a week prior with our guest Rick Rowley. And boy, would the Oilers ever consider firing their coach this late to the season? Well, Las Vegas. The Vegas Golden Knights basically come to the rescue and say, Hold my beer, and let me show you how it's done with less than 10 games to go. Bruce Cassidy, my old next-door neighbor, way back in the west end of Ottawa, out in Vegas, replaced by John Tortorella. Torrents is back again. How do we feel about this one, Kami?

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Well, I would, you know what? I kind of like it. I know a lot of guys hate John Tortorella. Um, I don't know him. Uh, I do like listening to him. His clips are great. I think anybody that's in media loves the fact that he's back because it's basically a guarantee he's gonna give you something. Uh, I don't mind the move at all either. Uh, I know it is late, but Vegas hasn't been very good since uh since the Olympics, like at all. Thank I mean they're in the Pacific division, so it's probably gonna be fine, but still they haven't played well at all. I would assume maybe if it was me sitting there in Vegas and I'm watching my team and it's not looking very good. And I know the Columbus Blue Jackets have cooled off a little bit, but they did the old, usually there's a little bump, you get a few wins, you know, you're playing for a new coach. Usually you play a little harder. You don't know, you know, you want to get off first impressions mean something. So I would assume they're probably looking for that little bump. You get it, I mean a three, four game bump, and they're gonna win the division there or come very close to it. So I like the move, it makes sense to me. Uh, and I'm interested to see how it's gonna work out.

SPEAKER_03 8:19

Race to Vegas, right? Leave it to Vegas to be crazy, and and they just continually go outside of the rules of the NHL and and do whatever it takes to win at any cost. And and this cost is Bruce Cassidy's job, and obviously something was wrong there. Comeie just said the record was since January 17th was 8, 16, and 3. Um, just ugly. And that team has way too much talent to be looking at those kind of numbers, and something needed to be done. They do it now, and now uh, as I thought, Edmonton was just gonna roll through everybody in the Pacific division. Edmonton Vegas could be very, very interesting now. Because I think to Kami's point, Torts is gonna he's gonna bring the heat. It's gonna be a different voice. They're both hard coaches, but Torts does it in a bit of a different way than Bruce Cassidy does. I think that'll be refreshing for the guys. And and he's gonna have them playing hard. He's gonna have Jack Eichel blocking shots, he's gonna have Mitch Marner blocking shots, he's gonna get those guys going. And and he commands respect right out of the gates. He he really does. He's won a cup, he's had success, and I think it I it wouldn't probably have been a good idea for most other teams, but for Vegas at this time, John Tortorella, it seems to me that it's going to work well and can put them back on back on path, back on the tracks.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

You know, there was a great social media post from Eric Johnson who posted the other day right after this all went down, kind of kind of pointed it out like, look, he really liked torts for the fact that I think a lot of star players have benefited from playing under torts, where you know, he obviously has his high expectations, but the one thing that Eric Johnson talked about was like, look, you know where you're gonna stand. Oh, yeah, like you know where you stand with that guy one way or another. So obviously, you know, if if you're working hard and you're producing, it can't be it, it can't be all bad, right?

SPEAKER_03 10:13

Well, that and the fact it's only eight games, right? It's it's not like you're gonna have to deal with Torretz's skate at the start of training. He can't do a training camp skate this week, he can't do some of the stuff that he does, and and he can't go through the healthy scratch book like he does as well. Real like he's gonna get somebody this week, no question about it, just to set the tone, but he can't do it on a consistent basis. So for those reasons as well, you you change the voice, but you put a guy in who knows how to win the playoffs.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Come on, it's it's funny, like the one thing that is and Razor, I guess we'll go to blame the goalie here again, but um you know, it's I I think back there were two brief instances when Mark Crawford and Paul Maurice worked for TSN as you know, they became analysts while they were looking for a gig.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

And obviously, keep their name out there, yep.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Keep their name, yeah, stay invisible as Torrents was doing it was doing recently, right? He was doing the same thing, yeah. Yeah, just kind of in the waiting room, right? I think talking made a good, you know, worked out for him pretty well for a few years for TNT. But I remember both of them saying at different times, uh you know, I think Mark Crawford once said, you know, show me a good coach and I'll show you a good goalie. And I remember Paul Maurice kind of echoing that at his time, saying, Every great coach's speech lives and dies on the goalie, uh, on the goal line, if you will. And you know, I think uh look, Torres can yell all he wants, but I I just Vegas isn't getting any saves. Like that's a that's a real problem right now. It just seems like for a for what seemed to be a position of strength for so many years for Vegas, I mean, they just won a cup a few years ago. It hasn't been the case this year.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Well, yeah, I mean, no, it's a very good point. I mean, if you're not getting any saves, now I don't like to just pin everything on the goalie either.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

Well, but we like to blame the goalie here, Razor, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Yeah, we do. Yeah, we do. I mean, the the team defense does, you know, the D-man can help out the forwards coming back. I mean, at the end of the day, defense is a is a team thing. But yes, I mean, when it boils around down to it, if you're not getting any saves, it's pretty tough to win hockey games. But um I do like the move, like I said, like and I agree with you guys on like some of the start. Like, there are some guys that love torts too. Like, I wasn't just torting them, but like I said, I don't know. I I keep seeing his he comes up in my feed all the time with like his animal rescue. He loves dogs, so he can't be that bad of a guy. So I'm cheering for torts.

SPEAKER_03 12:36

Well, and and that goalie angle, like Bruce Cassidy can be hard on the goal. Like, he's not shy to come in after a game and say, Yeah, we need a save there. Yeah, we needed a save there. We we, you know, he does that, and I think that can for Aiden Hill, he's won a Stanley Cup. This is his team. John Tortarella can go in, give him a big hug, say, we're gonna support you, we're gonna block shots, our guys are gonna track back, you just need to make that first save. Everything else is good. I think that change in that respect, just having as a goaltender, having a guy that's different behind the bench can be effective for a player just as much as a goalie.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

Well, I mean, what? Tampa, the Rangers, Philly, Columbus, Vancouver, I mean, now Vegas. I mean, this is he's basically covered a fifth of the league now. Um, I will say that the experience here when he was in Vancouver was uh I would think he'll be way more motivated to where he was living in Point Roberts, which, you know, with traffic, it was almost an hour drive from the rink. And oftentimes he skipped morning skates. He had a beautiful place for all the dogs to roam around here. He had acres for days out here, but you know, all right, we we shared the same barber, and it was like, man, this you could clearly see that when he got to Vancouver, it was like quickly recognized, you know what, this core does not have it anymore. Not my circus, not my monkeys, and just kind of checked out. But um, look, I I I think I think to your point, commie, here for a good time, not a long time, in in Vegas. And I think, look, you've got this core you're committed to. You know, let's see what you can squeeze out because clearly the message was gone with with Bruce Cassidy.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Well, it's a it's a great opportunity for him, too, right? Well, I mean, you're coming in here with eight games left in the season with a team that has players that, you know, they have one, like we just talked about, you know, obviously health and goaltending and stuff like that, but you're sitting there, you got, I got eight games in a playoff run. You're in the Pacific Division. This could work out very, very well for me. Like with very little, right? I don't have to do training camp. I don't have to do the whole season. I don't I don't have to do all that stuff. I'm just rolling in here right before the playoffs. So it's a great opportunity for him, too.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Well, and and a nice tease for a segment coming up later in the show. Don't puck it up, Torrents.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

There you go. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Um, but there's but there they'll there's Vegas, like doing it again. The unconventional, and they continue to get results. So let's see if this move pays off. Uh, okay, so let me throw this one at you, Razor. Bruce Cassidy, Pete De Boer, two very high-profile coaches now available, guys with tons of experience, one you know, championship. Uh, they've been to the finals uh multiple times between the two of them. Who would be the better hire in the future, do you think?

SPEAKER_03 15:19

Ooh, that's a I I think I think Debore is a little higher on that list, would be my guess. Uh, it certainly depends on the team and the situation. There's no question there's two NHL coaches that are have a job right now that are getting fired at the end of the year for probably both of these guys. Bruce Cassidy and Debor are gonna coach in the NHL next year. I think you look at two different teams, you know, you look at an LA Kings team, they're gonna need a coach. Um, I would expect Debor would be perfect there. Um okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Let me let me localize this then for you here.

SPEAKER_03 15:53

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Toronto makes a move on Arube. Oh boy, Deborah or Cassidy. One of the you gotta pick one of them.

SPEAKER_03 16:01

I'll say it's so for that one. I I think Debor there too. If they made that move.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

Okay, so you're going to Boer. Okay, Kami, Edmonton. They move on from Knoblock in the event that they falter this year. Debor or Cassidy in oil country.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Hmm. As much as I would like to like not say the exact same thing Razor just did, and I don't know if I've heard a lot of great things about Cassidy. I don't know him though. Uh, and that I have met that Debore and heard a lot about him. I'll go with Debore. Like, I think he's a pretty good, I mean, he's he hasn't, you know, he hasn't won a cup, he hasn't gone the whole way, but he's his teams are always very competitive. He gets the conference finals, etc., very regularly. Uh, and he seems like a good dude.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

So I will go with Debor as let's say, in the event that Adam Foote doesn't survive the full year uh beyond a year in Vancouver, Razert, the former Canuck Great, future Ring of Honor, potential goaltender here. Uh, Cassidy or Debore in the event that they would dare want to be involved with a rebuild, which I finally say I don't think either one of them are signing up for that one.

SPEAKER_03 17:07

Um, but yeah, I don't I just I don't see that even happening. I wouldn't even throw either of those names out. I think you're going with the young guy there. Cassidy's the guy. Cassidy's more the reason why I didn't pick him for either Edmonton or Toronto is because of the big stars. I I don't think they need that. I think there could be a younger team um out there that would need Cassidy just like I don't think Utah's gonna do it, but that that idea, like that, you know, Utah, that kind of a team that's right on the edge that's getting there, Cassidy puts them over the top.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Last one, Kami, from the Canadian standpoint. Your boy Scott R. Neal. They decide to make a change. God, they're still sniffing around to those Jets.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

They are still kind of there. Yeah, they're lingering. Hey, I look at there's a few things I look at every day. One is I look at Detroit because I want them to make the playoffs. They're the one team. The second thing I look at are where are the Jets sitting? And they are not going away.

SPEAKER_03 18:06

They're not gone yet.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

No, they're three points out. There's two, I mean, they just beat the Avalanche. I was pissed off on Saturday night. I think that's when those games were, and every game worked out in their favor. Anyways, nothing against Winnipeg, but um God. I I mean, I hope this comes to fruition and Arneal gets gassed, but uh I don't know if the but uh would either one of them take that job too? I don't know.

unknown 18:34

Hello.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

They had to. I know. I mean, you have good goaltending, you have some, I don't know. He can Cassidy can have that. You know what? If that opened up, the three of us should why don't we put our names in? We'll go in there and be the staff. Why not? We've got a great goaltender. Yeah, people in Winnipeg will love us.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

All right, figure out the iPad and I'll be your video coach. Let's make it happen.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

Perfect. Okay. Uh, Razor, another topic uh over the last few days that uh got some interest uh across the country. Lena Salmark, who really has bounced back through all the rumors, all the dumpster fire and the disaster that this season the Sins are hanging on. Tough loss, though, on the weekend uh to Tampa, they blow a two-goal lead uh and let it get away against the Lightning. But you know, Travis Green was asked, like, how did you go with James Reimer instead of Allmark? And Green basically saying, look, um Linus Allmark needed a day off. It was unavailable for us. Uh they didn't have another game until Tuesday. So I'd be curious, is that fair or foul? Like, what are your thoughts on a goalie saying, I need a day at a time like this where everything matters?

SPEAKER_03 19:37

Oh, it's a story. It's a story. I've had it a little bit on the read, like NHL everywhere today. So um the thing with Linus is, and this is kind of the best way to describe it, I think, is um, he's a Ferrari. Everything has to be perfectly in tune. Mind, body, spirit, everything has to feel good for him to think that he can go out and win a hockey game. There's a lot of guys that are Dodge Rams, they just go, they're just going and they're gonna figure it out and they'll go. Dominic Hasek was a Ferrari, right? Remember his time in Ottawa. He just didn't play a whole series. It was like he's healthy, he's making every save and practice, but he can't play a game. He was a Ferrari. I put Linus in that spot as well, where for whatever reason, in his brain, there's days where he's tired or whatever, he can't go, and and it's pointless to put him in in that situation. Uh, and that's kind of what you're dealing with. So it's gotta be nightmarish stuff for the coach to do poor Green. He just like he's the Green, he's a Dodge Ram, right? He's played a Dodge Ram. He is a like that's what he is. So him dealing with this is kind of comical to me. Uh, but but that's really what it is. He he for whatever reason Linus doesn't feel like he can play, he's not gonna play, and he's not gonna, he feels like he was doing the best thing for the team. And and uh it's a it's it's okay if he wins the next three games, right? If he's an Ottawa and he wins the Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday this week, all of that goes away. But if he goes and lays an egg tomorrow night, he's put a big bullseye on his back for the explanation of well, you should have just played last week, too. So um that's being in the Canadian market, Linus has to deal with these things, and I'll be interested to see how it plays out this week. But have you ever done that?

SPEAKER_00 21:25

Have you ever done that?

SPEAKER_03 21:26

No, I mean I never had really the opportunity. I mean, I played 72 games one year. I wasn't taking I like I'd want to play every single game. I never did I, even when I was hurt and my growing was in half, would I ever say no? I because I in your head it's like one of those teammate things, but not everyone's built the same way.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

You know, Kami, ever yeah, did you ever see anything like that?

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Uh no. Or play one guy like that? I mean, I I'm gonna say no. I don't remember it, but I also don't know if I would have really heard about it. There were some players like that too, that like Kami. No, I I agree. Like one that came to mind, and I never played with the guy, but he's in Carolina now. I've heard the exact same thing about that Anderson. Where if he doesn't, if if things aren't perfect, he's out. Like he ain't playing. The exact same description, which I think at times in Carolina has gotten a little bit tiresome where it's like, hey man, like we need you.

SPEAKER_03 22:20

Like, let's let's give a goal up all week in practice. How are you not like, how are you not? And but you know, there's a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, if the guy doesn't think he can win the yeah, I mean it's I will say it could lead. Well, you just it it'll be very he better play good this week. Or here we go in Ottawa again.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

I mean, I think I I yeah, in one breath, you appreciate the honesty to say or the transparency to say, hey, look, I I just don't think I have it today, but at this at the time, it's like, man, like like this is what we like, this is what we're playing, we're paying you for, this is what we're playing for. So um, you know, Jacob Markstrom's one that I find that when he gets overworked, kind of, you know, I don't think he's ever pulled himself out, but there's a guy that a goalie that when you play too many minutes, you play too many innings, you see a fatigue just based on what I've seen over the last decade or so. Yeah. Um, but that was a wild one. And I think to your point, both of you guys, like if Linus Olmark poops the bed this week, um boy, it's gonna be a lot of questions on on a season that's already been a difficult one for a guy who was a former Vesna trophy winner. Uh Kami, finish this sentence. Hearing that Troy Terry is the first player in NHL history to play 50 plus games in a season without recording a single hit is what?

SPEAKER_01 23:39

Well, so you sent me this earlier, thank God. Because if you would have just busted that on me. So my first inclination was to say soft as baby shit. That was the first one. Then I looked, I read it again, your text, and I'm like, that can't be true. So I went and clicked, and sure enough, he's got zero hits on the year. So then I started thinking about it more. I'm like, but you know, he's a point of game player. He's playing 18 minutes a night, three of which are on the power play. So 15 minutes, he's out there even strength, you know, about maybe. And I'm thinking like, that's actually kind of remarkable, borderline. Like to go through over 50 games, you're putting up a point a game. So you're like, you're in the mix. It's not like you're playing 30 seconds, you're 18, you know, take the power play time away. You know, you're probably not gonna be throwing body checks then, but 15 minutes a night, let's call it, for 50 plus games, and not one point, you like, even if you accidentally run into somebody, or like, you know what I mean? Like hard to do. That's hard to do. Like, how do you not like, hey, I'm angling this guy off towards the boards? Uh, you know, I know I'm not saying you got he's gonna obviously he's not the type of player that's gonna take somebody's head off, but like, oh, you know, I mean, I'll just get in his way and rub him out here a little bit, and you know, it'll help me get back before him and give a little space for my D. This guy's not touching anybody. Which so I'll take my uh uh soft as baby shit was my first inclination right away. I'm like, no hits, but the more I think about it, I'm actually kind of impressed.

unknown 25:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

Does that make sense? Yeah, I couldn't believe it. I thought you were I thought you were lying. I'd never heard anything about this before. So I'm like, wow. I don't know if I'd want to have my name on that record personally. I mean, I mean you would lose your uh I think you you would lose your birthright from Sask, uh from Sasky, I think, if you were uh if you were I wouldn't have made it if I started and started, let's say I started game one and then with the the with my skill set and I got to game three with zero hits. I think by game four I'd be back playing for the Albany River Rats.

SPEAKER_03 25:47

The only thing the coach and GMs the only thing the coaches and GMs did was look at your time on ice and your hits. That's it as soon as the box score was done. What did Kami do tonight? That's right.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

So let me throw this to you guys because maybe our friends at Ozun can set a line when the postseason starts. Over under one, Troy Terry gets a hit in the postseason.

SPEAKER_03 26:12

Oh, good. It would be great.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

Game gets more physical, like six hits in the first period. Oh, yeah. What if he well, you know, we're recording right now and they got the ducks. I was gonna send a little tweet out. You know, Toronto's in Anaheim, we got the little grudge game there with Matthews. What if he comes out tonight and just starts throwing his body around? He'll go from zero to twelve tonight. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

I'll show you guys like Bizarro Land or the introduction of the opposites from that old you can't do that on television show for anybody born in the 80s watching that. Uh okay, uh Bobby McMahon. Uh, what a pickup for Seattle. And um 11 points in eight games. For both you guys who've obviously had different stops in your careers, uh what like what can a change of scenery do? Because obviously you can see it can go sideways and it can go downhill for some guys, but talk about the impact. Razor, maybe you can start with this one in terms of the impact of what a move can do for someone.

SPEAKER_03 27:16

Well, it just it can if they're in a situation where they're not completely utilized or they get to a situation where now you go from third line to second line, it's just new eyes. The same reason why you hire a new coach, Twartz is now there. It just gives a different voice, a different, a different motivation. But the real motivation for McCann at this point now, probably thought maybe I'll sign in Toronto, maybe I'll resign. Now he goes to Seattle and knows he's a free agent. Now he's going wherever he wants. Now he is motivated by Moolah because he could end up being, if he finds a way to get Seattle into the playoffs here, becomes a big part of this, keeps that pace going, he's gonna get paid a whole lot more than what he would have if he had stayed in that Toronto market. So I think he's motivated by being a free agent. But again, it's just like a new coach that change of scenery. If your headspace is in one place and you get somewhere and you you're all of a sudden you're on the power play, you're obviously set all of a sudden you're getting two more minutes, your confidence can explode. And it seems like that's where Bobby Boy is right now.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

Fresh starts and first impressions. So, you know, he's it's it's a brand new, fresh. You want to, like I said, you your first impression with new teammates and uh new coaches, probably maybe just as importantly for sure. So if you get the opportunity to take advantage of it, that can it can definitely be awesome, which that seems like it's working out well for him now. I will say from my own personal experience, basically being in the exact same spot he was in when I got moved to Ottawa. Now that went the other way for me. I went from playing 22, 23 minutes in Carolina. I'm a pending unrestricted free agent because I knew Carolina wasn't going to sign me. And then I go to Ottawa and all of a sudden I'm sitting in the six-hole and I'm playing like 12 minutes and we're getting spanked every game. Now I had to go to Brian Murray after like nine games and basically come on glued on him and be like, What did you trade for me for? Like, why am I here? And you know, Brian and I had it, and I like Brian Murray, don't get me wrong. I do. What was that like, that conversation? No, he was good about it. Like, I opened it up with like, I didn't go right to my minutes, but I'm like, you know, he he took over. He was now the head coach. We got rid of John Paddock, which I got nothing against John either. My dad worked for John at in Regina for a long time. But, you know, I don't know what the hell was to this day. I've never spoken to Paddock. But, anyways, you know, he's gone, Brian takes over. We're getting spanked left and right, and our our practices, we were we were doing practices that like I could put it on. It would be a practice I would do at the University of North Dakota uh summer hockey school for kids. We're doing like we're doing horseshoes and we're doing a cross-ice pass, two and oh down the ice. Meanwhile, we walk into Buffalo and we get our blows doors blown off, six-nothing. Five of the goals are tapping from in front of the net. So I go to Brian, I'm like, hey, like, what are we doing? And he's like, Well, what are you talking about? I go, Brian, I've been here for 10 games, let's call it. I'm like, we are getting smoked. Nobody is in front of the net. I I asked where I'm supposed to be in the D zone. I got either no answer, like asking other players, or I got three different ones. I'm like, why are we not working on D zone coverage? And Brian was like, hey, well, you know, it's late in the season. We don't, I don't want injuries. I'm like, Brian, I'm not saying we go out here and we're just trying to pulverize each other into the boards, like a little bit of structure. And so I opened it up with that, and then I waltzed into like, hey, that's supposed to be where I'm good. What I'm an unrestricted, I just straight up told him. I'm like, Brian, I'm like, why did you trade for me? I go, this has been a catastrophe so far. Like, give me a shot. Like, give me some minutes and let me see if I can do a little something. So, anyways, and Brian did, and then I led their team in playoff scoring. Figure it out. I I'm waiting for that.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

Waiting for that. Yeah, what a story. Awesome. I've never heard you tell that before.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Yeah, and we were, well, obviously, I think I've said this before, but yeah, led the team in playoff scoring. And I think we were uh I was back home before the Masters even started. It was the quickest four-game sweep ever.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

But still, Senator's playoff scoring leader in that particular year. So remember that, everybody. Yep. Uh, okay, fan question of the week, everybody. Uh, this one coming from Buggy Boo. Canadian teams are commonly on no trade lists. What can be done to attract and keep top Canadian uh top players in Canadian markets? Who doesn't want to live in a beach community of palm trees where you do your local shopping by a golf cart and pay zero state taxes? Uh, do you ever think that Canadian teams outside of Montreal will ever be able to compete?

SPEAKER_03 31:58

Well, they will. They'll always be able to compete. There's always the NHL. It's look at Winnipeg. Look at all those guys signing nine-year deals there to stay there. That like that's of all the places, like that's that's a tough one for most places, but they love it there. They stay there. And you, as a Canadian market, might have to work a little harder. You might have to um keep everybody a little happier off the street. You gotta win, though, right? You'd gotta win. That was gonna be my final thing. The ending at the end, if Vancouver, when Vancouver's winning, no one's worried about living there or not living there. If Quinn Hughes was going to the if he was leading the division right now, he wouldn't have asked for a trade or wanted to get out. It it's it's all about winning. And you need players to win, so you have the you know, the the chicken or the egg there. But the reality is Toronto is always gonna be a market that people want to go to, their original six. You got Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisidel, but the reality of the question is, yeah, it's it's hard. It's gotten harder. It's pe guys want to play in Florida on the beaches, they want, they don't want to pay taxes, so you have to make up for it in different ways. And the best way to do it is is winning and having good groups, good nucleus, draft well, and and keep guys there.

SPEAKER_01 33:11

Yeah, my my my short answer, I mean, there's some different ways you could go with this for sure, but um, my short answer to his question is yes, I do think so. And when you look, I know it's been 30 plus years since the Canadian team has won. But in those 30 years as well, like, and you know, Calgary's been to the finals once we came close. Ottawa was in the finals, Montreal's been in the finals, Edmonton's been in the finals three times, including the last two years. Vancouver's in the finals. Vancouver has been in the finals twice in that stretch. So it's like it's basically a third, you know, call it like 10 out of the 30 years. There's been a Canadian team in the finals. So it's not like they're definitely sniffing around. There's some bad luck. Um, so my answer to that question is yes. I would say, like, I think if you were to get honest answers from guys on why, with I don't think the wet, like, sure, maybe for some guys the weather, I don't think that's the end all be all. Like, hey, like Canada's cold, Minnesota's cold, Boston is cold, Buffalo's cold, like, whatever. I don't think that's a big deal. I will say, when you're to do the winning thing, when you're winning in Canada, man, there's no place better to play. Now, when you're losing in Canada, it's a little tougher. The two biggest complaints I would say, I would think, if you asked guys and they gave you an honest answer, would be the media end of it, where when things aren't going good, you know, things can get a little negative. And then I think in general, I mean, I we don't have to go down this road at all, but I don't think it would hurt if maybe the the taxes got lowered a little bit in Canada and we had a little less government in general. So, like the taxes is obviously, I mean, that is a factor for sure. As much as they say it isn't, like, guys are gonna look at that too as well. I mean, everybody loves money.

SPEAKER_03 34:52

Yeah, when you're signing a deal, you're asking what the bottom line is. You don't the the what the number is is irrelevant. It's it's uh how much is going into my bank account every two weeks. It's not what the actual number is.

SPEAKER_00 35:04

Yeah, no, that's that that's that I think that those are I they're all real, they're all real answers. And I think they're all that's the that's the reality. I think you can I think Toronto's shown over the last few years where as a team that was competitive, like look how many players wanted to play in Toronto the last few years. Joe Thornton, who was constantly playing in Northern California, all of a sudden wanted to finish up with the Leafs, you know, Patrick Marlowe came up there, uh, you know, John Tavares left the Islanders to go play in uh to play in Toronto. And I I remember talking to John a long time ago, and he was like, I would never want to play in Toronto, and here he is um, you know, playing in Toronto after all these years. So I I think if you're good, commie, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

To touch on your point, hey, imagine how awesome it would be if you're on the team that breaks this streak in Canada. Oh, exactly. You're the man, and honestly, I mean, yeah, sure, if it's Toronto that, but honestly, I don't I don't care what city it is. You're the man, you're on the team that snapped the streak, and there's a lot of Canadians that won't forget that, which I think that's cool.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

I I think the way that we as Canadians look at Kawhi Leonard for his one and done year with the Toronto Raptors going back seven years ago, right? He came, he saw, he conquered, they rolled out a red carpet. There was like a huge watch for this guy, and he said, I'm out, I'm going to LA. But you know what? Honestly, Kawhi Leonard ever steps foot on Canada's soil. Like, I think any basketball fan I thank you for bringing us a title on this. And I think exactly that point, like whoever ends the streak, whether it's in Winnipeg, in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, they will be remembered as a team. Maybe not quite like the 72s team Canada squad, but I think they will certainly be revered. Yeah. Not just in that market, but I think across the country will be like way to go. Thank you for finally doing that and shutting everybody up. Uh, okay, winding things down. Don't puck it up. I tell you what, here's what I got from my don't puck it up this week. And this is for every team getting ready to load up and lock in for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Don't overdo it with pregame ceremonies. And I say this after watching the Blue Jays opening day ceremony the other day. That took forever. Imagine if they actually won. All right, less is more. Okay. I turned I celebrated three birthdays in that time of that Blue Jays pregame ceremony. Nobody wants to sit and watch a four-hour event. All right, wrap that stuff up. Playoffs are looming. Keep it tight, eyes on the prize. Don't puck it up.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

Well, okay, okay, I'll go. The razor, I will sorry, C ball. If you do want to see an excellent pregame ceremony before our Sens took the playoffs in 2008, go Google that one. You will get a good laugh out of that. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. They went with like, what was that movie? 3,000. I somebody Sens fans sent it to me once in a while. You know, 3,000 where the kids are or 300. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, all the guys are ripped and they're basically in their underwear while the senators did that and sent some dude out in tights and like a shield, and he walked by us, and I there's a pic, he's walked right through us, and I'm the guys are like, hey, like watching, and I'm looking at this, and I'm like, I was this close to like burst out laughing or like leaving. I'm like, what are we doing? And then I we didn't see it because we were still in the room, but apparently he was out there and he had his like speech or whatever on the inside of his shield, and he kept messing it up, and it was a catastrophe. And then we got smoked, so it was anyway. Um, less is more less is more, you're right. We should have just gone out there and just take the beating in the normal way.

SPEAKER_00 38:55

Um your conversation with Brian Murray went, right? Somebody coming running out in a diaper and a and a snow. What's going on here?

SPEAKER_01 39:05

For my don't puck it up. I know which way Stu wants to go, but I don't think the timing is right there for the least. We'll see how the next little bit goes. But um, yeah, you know what? I don't want to harp on it, and I don't want it to be two weeks in a row, but I am gonna do it. You you mentioned it last week to Detroit Red Wings. Get in the playoffs. Please don't puck this up. It's been a really good season, by and large. Don't puck this up. Let's find a way to get in. I know it ain't looking great right now, but let's win some games.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Drew, real quick on that. Do you think Stevie Y is in trouble if they miss?

SPEAKER_03 39:42

No. No. He's got he's got he's got a Stevie Y. He's Stevie Y. He's he's fine. Yeah, he's fine. Um the guy who isn't fine right now, and we have to touch on it. Tiger Woods, don't puck it up. Get a driver. This guy, he cannot get out of his own way. What a story to come out on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. Just fantastic news story. Uh right as the Masters is coming up, right when I was excited to watch him walk around Augusta National. Don't puck it up, Tiger Woods. Get a driver.

SPEAKER_01 40:22

I like action. That was sad, yeah, for sure. And you know, you don't want to like jump to conclusions, but he wasn't drinking, so that's awesome, right? He blew a zero, but that wouldn't take, you know, so you can maybe leap that you know he's had some of the because of his back and body and neck and everything, surgeries, maybe you know, pills, but who knows? I'll take this opportunity. You know what? I uh can I where do I put my tiger woods? If you're watching, I will happily be your driver. Whatever. I will I will pack my shit here in Arizona and I will drive right across the country to Florida. I will move in to Jupiter and I will be your full-time driver. I will be available whenever you want me. Million bucks a year seems reasonable. No, for Tiger.

SPEAKER_03 41:06

100%. And you'll be a blocked vault. Like no stories, whatever you want.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

I had an excellent Uber rating when I was driving for them. I know what I'm doing. You've got experience, yes. You got a good resume. He can do whatever he wants. I ain't said telling anybody anything. I mean, unless I think it's gonna be a huge hit on the podcast, then maybe I'll drop it out there. But I'm kidding. Anyways, good call, Razor. That was a tough one to see.

SPEAKER_00 41:33

Yeah, yeah, just disappointing. Disappointing more than anything, right? Like just what the hell are you doing at this stage in your life? And everybody honestly, and then the other thing is that everybody was excited to see this guy play again, as you said at Augusta, and uh and here we are now, and it's like, well, that's not happening. No, so all right. Well, on that note, uh don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube for more clear in the crease uh content powered by Ozun.net, at least until Kami gets hired as a driver somewhere in Florida.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

I'm serious, I'll move to Florida.

SPEAKER_00 42:08

Well, we can always continue the show for Florida.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:10

Be sure to follow along on Apple, Spotify, X, Instagram, TikTok, because the road to the Stanley Cup is wide open and the clearest route to winning big is to play on Ozun.net. Ozun's got you covered for all props, game lines, futures from now until the cup final and beyond. Make your power play. Score big with Ozun. It is your turn now. Fun episode, as always. He's Razor, he's Kami, I'm Stavolski. We'll see you next time right here on the Clear and the Crease podcast, powered by Ozun.net. See ya.