Latest / Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast / SATP Ep.32 feat. Nick DeSouza

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SATP Ep.32 feat. Nick DeSouza · Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast

• 0:26
  Welcome to another edition of the Sports Ave.
• 0:28
  Twisted podcast. We have a guest in here today
• 0:31
  and we're here to talk about the Maple Leafs and the rest of the
• 0:34
  NHL. Nick D'souza, welcome aboard.
• 0:38
  It's an honor and privilege and just let the world what you do
• 0:41
  and everything else. Yeah, First off, thanks guys for
• 0:44
  having me. It's really fun time in the NHL
• 0:47
  year. We're about a week away from the
• 0:49
  playoffs, so it's a perfect time to to talk all things hockey and
• 0:53
  maybe a little wrestling later. I'm sure right.
• 0:55
  But so yeah, so I'm Nick D'souza.
• 0:59
  You can find me at the Everything Leafs podcast.
• 1:02
  I'm the Co host there. We try to record as much as we
• 1:05
  can, but. And then you'll find me at
• 1:07
  Twitter, on Twitter, at Nick D'souza under score.
• 1:13
  Yeah, man, thanks for joining us today.
• 1:15
  It's an honor to have you, like you said, a week away from the
• 1:18
  playoffs. So exciting things happening.
• 1:21
  Of course my team's not there, but I mean, I mean, first time
• 1:24
  in like 20 years, man, I'll live so.
• 1:28
  But you know, it's exciting time in Leafs Nation, no doubt about
• 1:32
  it. You know, you guys have a great
• 1:33
  team, you know, and hopefully you guys can can do well in the
• 1:38
  playoffs and and just thanks for joining us today.
• 1:41
  Appreciate it. Yeah, of course.
• 1:45
  Yeah, we'll get some wrestling in in the near the end of the
• 1:47
  episode, but. Absolutely.
• 1:48
  Sure, we will. We will.
• 1:50
  All right. The first question I want to ask
• 1:52
  you is about Brad Tree Living. He was hired, I believe last
• 1:56
  year, not this past year, but the year before.
• 1:59
  And we knew that Kyle Dubis was, you know, keeping the team
• 2:04
  standing with the core we have. And now we have Tree Living.
• 2:07
  And looking at this team, their first place in the Eastern,
• 2:11
  well, not in the Eastern Conference, but in the Atlantic
• 2:13
  Division. But what are your thoughts about
• 2:15
  Tree Living as AGM so far with the Maple Leafs?
• 2:19
  Yeah, I think it would. You know, obviously he's only
• 2:22
  been the GM for about a year and a half, about two years, just
• 2:26
  kind of ending his second regular season with the team.
• 2:30
  For the most part, I think he's been OK.
• 2:32
  I mean, there hasn't been too many moves that you look at and
• 2:35
  you say, oh, that's going to hurt them for years.
• 2:38
  I do think there's been quite a bit of continuity between what
• 2:41
  Dubis was was trying to do and what True Living has tried to
• 2:44
  do, especially in terms of keeping the core together.
• 2:48
  And, you know, even even the prospects that they have, like
• 2:51
  you look at Matthew Nyes, you look at Bobby McMahon, Robertson
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  Homburg, these are all guys that have been with the organization
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  for quite a while now. And Treliving has kept them
• 3:01
  together and has kind of pushed them up into prominent roles.
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  And Treliving is a little bit different in terms of when he
• 3:08
  goes into free agency, when he goes to trade deadline, rather
• 3:12
  than potentially trying to get as much value as possible.
• 3:15
  I think he's got a pretty good idea of what his team wants to
• 3:17
  look like and and he's not scared to kind of overpay a
• 3:22
  little bit in terms of term or even AAV to get the player that
• 3:26
  he thinks will fit properly with the team that he wants.
• 3:30
  I think good examples for that are Chris Tanev, just a player
• 3:34
  that is a right-handed defenseman.
• 3:36
  The Leafs really needed that. Yes, he is in his 30s and they
• 3:40
  did, you know, pay in terms of of giving him a lot of years on
• 3:43
  his contract. But you look at the way he's fit
• 3:46
  on the team and it's kind of a perfect puzzle fit there.
• 3:48
  So a little bit different. I mean, obviously the Leafs this
• 3:51
  year have won a ton of games. Are they out playing their
• 3:54
  opponents? Not so much, but they've been
• 3:57
  getting good goaltending and timely scoring.
• 3:59
  So we'll see how it it kind of what happens in the playoffs.
• 4:03
  But I think overall I would probably give them like AB or B
• 4:06
  minus not not to yeah, just haven't seen many, many ground
• 4:10
  breaking moves. But I, I don't really know if
• 4:13
  it's really been super necessary for for them to be making those
• 4:16
  moves at this point. Craig Berube was hired in the
• 4:21
  offseason. He was with the Blues, won a Cup
• 4:24
  with them again against my Bruins in 2019.
• 4:30
  But yeah, previously Sheldon Keefe was with the Leafs for the
• 4:33
  last few years before he got fired and and replaced by
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  Berube. But how do you think the job?
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  How would you rate the job he's done so far and and what he
• 4:44
  brings to the table going forward?
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  Yeah. Again, a coach that's I would
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  say quite different than Sheldon Keef.
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  Sheldon Keef was very, very kind of in the weeds in terms of
• 4:56
  matchups, kind of moving the lines around throughout the game
• 4:59
  to get kind of the best possible advantage for the Leafs.
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  Very, very heavy in terms of puck possession, whereas Burubi
• 5:07
  is a lot more of a NS coach. He talks about it all the time
• 5:12
  in terms of wanting the Leafs to play quick, trying to go kind of
• 5:16
  a vertical path up the ice, lot of dump and chase.
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  I think it's tough to be too critical of Ruby because
• 5:25
  obviously the Leafs have won a ton of games.
• 5:27
  They defend the net extremely well.
• 5:29
  They're good along the boards. Do they spend a bit too much
• 5:32
  time in their own end right now? They do and I know we'll we'll
• 5:35
  definitely talk about that. But it's tough to say whether
• 5:38
  that is, you know, some people say that that's kind of Ruby
• 5:42
  style. I definitely think in terms of
• 5:45
  north-south and some of the different systems we see are
• 5:47
  definitely the stamp of Ruby. But when you look at Saint
• 5:51
  Louis, the team that won the Cup, that team played a NS kind
• 5:55
  of way, but they can they were a lot better in terms of puck
• 5:58
  possession. So I think with Bruby, it's
• 6:01
  still a little early. We'll see how it goes in the
• 6:03
  playoffs. But again, he's very much more
• 6:08
  about kind of almost like squeezing all the juice out of
• 6:13
  each player. And we've seen some players like
• 6:16
  Nick Robertson and Bobby McMahon really flourish under Craig
• 6:20
  Bruby this year and kind of that north-south system there or that
• 6:24
  style, I should say. So I think that it's been good
• 6:28
  in some some aspects. And obviously you want to see
• 6:31
  them dominate a few more games. But you know, hopefully with
• 6:34
  Matthews, who who hasn't really looked 100% this year.
• 6:38
  So hopefully if he does get up to 100% and we see the Matthews
• 6:42
  we've seen in in the past, we start to see the Leafs
• 6:44
  dominating more games. So with Ruby, I think it's a
• 6:47
  little tough to say at this point.
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  Do you think the the assistant coaches they hired, like Lane
• 6:53
  Lambert used to be the coach for the Islanders before they fired
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  and Marc Savard, I mean, I mean he was with Calgary when Tree
• 7:00
  living with GM and then Mike Van Ryan also was a Ruby's assistant
• 7:06
  over there and then Curtis Anfield as well.
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  So do you think it's like a different outlook compared to
• 7:11
  when Sheldon Keefe was the coach?
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  Because if you look at the standings, you know a lot of
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  people had issues just with Sheldon Keefe being too passive,
• 7:22
  right, and too lenient. So what are your thoughts on
• 7:25
  that? I would definitely say it is
• 7:28
  tough with with Lambert. I mean he's mostly doing some of
• 7:31
  the penalty kill and the defense.
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  Defense is such a tough thing to kind of analyze because
• 7:37
  obviously the personnel matters a lot.
• 7:40
  Yes, there are like a lot of systems that are involved with
• 7:43
  that and goaltending kind of really plays a big role in that.
• 7:46
  When it comes to the power play though, definitely in the past
• 7:49
  couple months we've seen a change in terms of the five
• 7:53
  manpower play. So it's a 5 forward power play,
• 7:57
  Sorry, there's always A5 man power play, I guess every year.
• 7:59
  But with the five forward power play, I think it's just been
• 8:03
  very dangerous and we've seen the Leafs power play struggle in
• 8:07
  the past in the playoffs, especially when Riley's been at
• 8:10
  the point. So I'll give some points to or
• 8:14
  some brownie points to to Mark Savard, who's the power play
• 8:17
  coach, because the power play is looking pretty good and it's
• 8:20
  getting hot right before the playoffs, which is always a
• 8:22
  welcome sign. The next question I want to talk
• 8:27
  about since you brought about dependently kills is the
• 8:30
  defense. How do you look at this defense
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  now? Because the Leafs had a problem
• 8:35
  over the years and allowing too many goals and focusing a lot on
• 8:40
  offense, especially during the Kyle Dubis era.
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  They added Chris Tanf in the offseason, they signed OEO.
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  There was rumors that the Leafs were supposed to sign Nikita
• 8:49
  Zadorov, but that didn't happen. He ended up going to the Bruins.
• 8:51
  But overall, how would you look at this team?
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  Because guys like McCabe doesn't get talked about, which which
• 8:58
  he's been pretty consistent. And Morgan Riley, of course, has
• 9:02
  been a day one guy with this organization trading for Carl.
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  How do you look at this core of this defense moving forward?
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  I think from a kind of zoomed out view of the defense and the
• 9:14
  Leafs defense in general, especially when you look at the
• 9:17
  past like 2021-2022, 2023, the Leafs actually had a pretty good
• 9:22
  defense when we looked at the numbers.
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  They were just very good in terms of suppressing shots, very
• 9:28
  good at suppressing shot attempts, dangerous shot
• 9:30
  attempts, but they kind of always felt like they were were
• 9:34
  mistake away from allowing a goal.
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  Now, whether that was goaltending, whether that was
• 9:39
  just kind of that need to always be in possession of the puck, we
• 9:44
  saw like with the Sandeen turnover, the Dermot Spinnerama
• 9:48
  game six against Montreal, just so many examples of the Leafs
• 9:52
  being an important spots in the playoffs and kind of turning the
• 9:56
  puck over and making a defensive mistake and allowing a key goal.
• 10:00
  This year the the Leafs just on paper, in general, you look at
• 10:05
  from #1 to 5, the that depth that they have and the addition
• 10:10
  of Brandon Carlo was really big for us.
• 10:12
  So I think in general from 1:00 to 5:00, it's definitely the
• 10:17
  best kind of group that the Leafs have had in years.
• 10:21
  They're still trying to figure out that 6th defense and whether
• 10:23
  that's going to be Simone Benoit, whether that's going to
• 10:25
  be Felipe Myers come playoff time.
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  But overall, this defense this year, not as good as defending
• 10:34
  in transition. And that's why they've kind of,
• 10:37
  they spend a lot of time in their own zone.
• 10:38
  But in terms of protecting around the net, those kind of
• 10:43
  those dangerous chances, they've been very, very good this year.
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  And any shots that are coming from the outside, from the
• 10:50
  point, from along the boards, Stolars and Wool have been very,
• 10:53
  very good. So I think defensively they're
• 10:56
  looking probably like one of the best that they've looked like in
• 11:00
  years. So defensively that's one of
• 11:03
  their biggest strengths is is just defending around the net
• 11:06
  and making sure the other team isn't getting those breakaways
• 11:09
  or two odd man rushes. The trade deadline Brad tree
• 11:14
  living made some important moves he he traded for again Brandon
• 11:20
  Carlo from my Bruins. I I don't know if Rocky designed
• 11:24
  this episode, you know, knock me down to size or whatnot, but I
• 11:27
  mean, it's so far, so good, I guess.
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  But but yeah, Scott Lot and too from, you know, good, good depth
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  piece from from, from the Flyers.
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  But but I want to ask you about those moves and the depth that
• 11:44
  they have now compared to what they had before the trades were
• 11:47
  made going forward into the playoffs.
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  The Brandon Carlo move I I was a fan of.
• 11:54
  Obviously they paid the price. Frazier Minton, a really good
• 11:57
  young player, play center first round pick and then obviously
• 12:03
  they had to trade the first round pick on top of that.
• 12:05
  So they definitely paid the price for Carlo.
• 12:08
  But I think the the contract that he comes with the fact that
• 12:11
  you get him for multiple playoff series is extremely important,
• 12:14
  especially a player who's been through multiple playoff years,
• 12:19
  has been on a competitive team before and they kind of
• 12:23
  strengthen their strength in terms of getting Brandon Carlo.
• 12:26
  Is he a high end puck mover? No, but again, I, I, I'm
• 12:31
  continuing to harp on this, but Carlo very good at defending the
• 12:34
  front of the net and being good along the boards and strong
• 12:37
  along the boards, which has been the leaf strength this year.
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  So I, I like that they kind of strengthened that strength when
• 12:44
  they had the opportunity. I think the the jury is still
• 12:49
  out about the Scott Lawn trade. Of course, same idea.
• 12:52
  They treated quite a bit for it in terms of Nikita Gripenkin,
• 12:56
  probably one of the most exciting prospects the Leafs
• 12:58
  have had in the last year or so, other than Easton Cowan.
• 13:02
  But Gribanken, a player that's played professional hockey in
• 13:08
  Russia, has a very kind of grown up way to play and and plays
• 13:11
  with flair. So I could see him being a, you
• 13:15
  know, a a pretty valuable player in in Philadelphia.
• 13:18
  And then they obviously traded the first round pick 2.
• 13:20
  So they played the price for Lawton, a player that we were, I
• 13:24
  guess they were hoping that was gonna be a third line center.
• 13:28
  So far, mostly he's played wing. He's played a little bit of
• 13:32
  fourth line center the last couple games.
• 13:34
  But we'll see where he comes. I think it's just nice to have
• 13:38
  another center in the line up. Hopefully he gets a goal before
• 13:43
  the playoffs start. So he he kind of gained some
• 13:45
  confidence there. But a player you can trust in
• 13:48
  your own end. He's been taking a lot of
• 13:50
  defensive zone starts since starting with the Leafs, so
• 13:55
  we'll see. Not a huge play driver, but add
• 13:58
  some grit, add some kind of two way ability there and we've seen
• 14:04
  him have some success in terms of goal scoring in the NHL, so
• 14:08
  hopefully they can kind of recapture that this year.
• 14:12
  Was there anyone else that you felt like the Leafs should have
• 14:15
  targeted? I know there were rumors about
• 14:17
  Marshawn, but the Panthers were aggressive enough to go after
• 14:21
  him. So I mean, I mean they did end
• 14:23
  up getting Carlo, but and the Panthers getting Sedro that that
• 14:27
  central doing a bit ideal, but but the asking price was
• 14:30
  ridiculous and and Miko ranted in was rumoured to the Leafs as
• 14:35
  well. And what was your thoughts about
• 14:39
  that? Like when when all that
• 14:41
  transpired and they ended up doing what they had to do.
• 14:45
  I think this trade deadline was probably one of the most
• 14:49
  difficult to kind of follow. It just felt like there was a
• 14:51
  different rumor every day. And then especially in the last
• 14:55
  48 hours, it felt like there was a different rumor every couple
• 14:58
  hours. The Leafs being involved to
• 15:00
  Frantinen and they were checking in on Brock Nelson and then
• 15:03
  there was Lawton and and Carlo kind of just came up randomly at
• 15:08
  the. End out of nowhere.
• 15:10
  Right. Especially with with Boston kind
• 15:12
  of deciding they were going to sell.
• 15:13
  So I think I'm not sure if I had anyone that I said, OK, I really
• 15:21
  hope the Leafs get this person in particular.
• 15:24
  I think they there was a lot of rentals that were available like
• 15:28
  Brock Nelson rented and obviously an expiring contract
• 15:32
  this year. So the Leafs decided to go the
• 15:35
  route of multiple playoff series.
• 15:37
  Lawton 1.5 mil for this season as well as next season.
• 15:42
  Carlos locked up for the next couple seasons, they rather than
• 15:45
  trying to go for that kind of the higher end in terms of scale
• 15:50
  and and just value, they went for that kind of long term game
• 15:53
  where they can say, OK, yes, we didn't get like a Brock Nelson,
• 15:57
  but we have Scott lawn for this year and next year and we have
• 16:00
  Carlo for the next couple playoff runs.
• 16:02
  So definitely a a, a different approach.
• 16:06
  Would I have liked the price to be a little smaller in general?
• 16:09
  But yes. But I mean, the the, it was
• 16:12
  definitely a seller's market this year.
• 16:14
  So I think the Leafs are in a situation where they kind of had
• 16:17
  to go for it, especially when you look at the last two off
• 16:20
  seasons under Treliving, they kind of had to add to this team.
• 16:23
  And you look at how they played this year and where they are in
• 16:27
  the standings, and you look at the rest of the Eastern
• 16:29
  Conference, it's probably a pretty good year to try for it.
• 16:33
  Yeah, especially now with the, especially with Tampa being
• 16:36
  aggressive. Julia Brew, baseball is one of
• 16:37
  the most aggressive GMs in hockey, right?
• 16:41
  The last two offs, trade deadlines, making two big moves
• 16:45
  and giving up capital, which I don't know how he does it, but
• 16:50
  yeah, it's going to be fascinating to see how these
• 16:53
  players impact after like with the trade deadline players
• 16:57
  acquisitions. So the next question I want to
• 17:00
  ask you is about the younger guys who are with the least
• 17:04
  right now, which has been a factor like the Matthew Knights
• 17:07
  and the Nick Robertson's, right? And how much of a factor are
• 17:12
  they going to be moving forward? Because Matthew Knights is it's
• 17:15
  looking like the player as advertised and he's looking like
• 17:19
  a star in the Mickey. And the Leafs have always found
• 17:23
  those young players that become contributors during the season
• 17:27
  and potentially in the playoffs as well.
• 17:29
  Like how important those young players have to be, especially
• 17:34
  come playoff time. I think when you look at their
• 17:38
  emergence in general, they are incredibly important now for the
• 17:42
  Leafs. You know, I, I feel like I
• 17:46
  could, I could, I could spend an hour just talking about these
• 17:48
  four guys in terms of Matthew Nyes, Robertson, Homburg and
• 17:53
  McMahon, who not really a young player, but the way he came in,
• 17:58
  just through the ECHL, coming through the Marlies and now with
• 18:01
  the Leafs. But yeah, when it comes to Nyes,
• 18:04
  we'll we'll start with him, you know, a second round pick, 57th
• 18:09
  overall. And you watched him at Minnesota
• 18:13
  and he just, he was on a very stacked line on their first line
• 18:16
  there. A very good team, especially in
• 18:18
  that 2223 season and he just played like a grown up.
• 18:23
  He looked like a a man amongst boys and his transition into the
• 18:27
  the Leafs was very, very good. They trusted him to play on the
• 18:30
  top line. Last year I thought he had a
• 18:32
  good season. The points didn't really follow.
• 18:34
  And then you see this year he's a goal away from being a thirty
• 18:37
  goal scorer. He does the things that you kind
• 18:41
  of need to do to play with Matthews and Marner.
• 18:44
  He goes into the corners. He's very, very good and nifty
• 18:47
  around the wall. He can play in front of the net
• 18:50
  and he can finish plays and because seen that with his goal
• 18:52
  scoring record this year. So, you know, if they lose him,
• 18:57
  all of a sudden there's a huge hole in the first line left wing
• 19:01
  role. Same thing can be said about
• 19:03
  Bobby McMahon, a guy who went from kind of a nice thing to
• 19:08
  have in your line up. Now it feels like you kind of
• 19:10
  need him in your bottom 6 and he's a guy who can kind of jump
• 19:14
  in to play with Tavares and Kneelander if needed.
• 19:17
  I love his straight line game. He's a very no nonsense type of
• 19:21
  player, not the best passer, but I think just the fact that he
• 19:26
  can attack defenders, he can keep them on their heels and
• 19:29
  he's a very good 4 checker makes him such an important player for
• 19:31
  the playoffs. And you know, I think it's three
• 19:34
  straight, sorry, two straight seasons where he got injured
• 19:39
  right before the playoffs and the Leafs really missed him.
• 19:41
  So, you know, knock on wood, we we need him definitely to be
• 19:45
  healthy for this year. Robertson, we'll see where he
• 19:49
  kind of falls. I think he's really come on this
• 19:52
  year in terms of being a valuable and someone who can
• 19:56
  contribute and we know what he can do.
• 19:59
  I think defensively he's gone. He's taking a step and we always
• 20:02
  knew that he was a hard worker. But the Leafs will need some
• 20:05
  goal scoring in that bottom 6. So whether he gets in over
• 20:09
  Patcherretti, I'm not completely sure.
• 20:11
  We'll see if Patcherretti is healthy.
• 20:14
  But he's definitely a player who's going to play playoff
• 20:17
  games and kind of the same thing with Homburg.
• 20:21
  Reliable guy, he can he can penalty kill if needed, just a
• 20:24
  lot more of a player that helps in transition, helps you win
• 20:28
  pucks and draws a ton of penalties.
• 20:31
  So we'll see with Homburg. Also, I think he'll probably be
• 20:34
  scratched a few games and they'll probably rotate between
• 20:38
  Petroredi, Petroredi, Homburg and Robertson.
• 20:44
  Heading into the playoffs, we all know that goaltending is
• 20:48
  paramount in in any playoff series.
• 20:50
  Having good goaltending throughout the playoffs is
• 20:53
  really the staple of of of a good playoff run.
• 20:58
  So how do you feel about the tandem of of Stolars and Wall?
• 21:04
  Do you think that they're good enough to, to get you, you know,
• 21:08
  ultimately where you want to go this playoffs is win a
• 21:10
  championship and, and, and, and honestly, like, how do you feel?
• 21:15
  How do you think that that that tandem's going to work or under
• 21:19
  Baruba? Are they going to go with the,
• 21:21
  the hot hand? Are they going to rotate?
• 21:23
  Are they going to have like, like, how do you feel that's
• 21:25
  going to play out heading into the playoffs?
• 21:29
  I definitely think as a tandem they are good enough.
• 21:32
  They've been kind of one of the best tandems this season, even
• 21:36
  when you look at just five on five even strength, say
• 21:40
  percentage amongst teams, at least a third this year.
• 21:43
  They've split the games pretty decently evenly, I would say.
• 21:47
  But both Stolars and Wool have had fantastic seasons.
• 21:51
  Are they good enough to go all the way?
• 21:54
  I would definitely say so in terms of who would start, You
• 21:58
  know, to me, I'm a, I'm a big fan of Joseph Wool, but I think
• 22:01
  since January, to me anyways, it looks like Stolar should be the
• 22:06
  starter. I don't think anything's wavered
• 22:08
  since then. I think Stolar has just played
• 22:11
  better. He's kind of been dressed as
• 22:13
  the, the number one goalie when you look at important games over
• 22:16
  the past couple months. So to me, I, I, I, I don't think
• 22:20
  it's as big of a kind of controversy or, or debate as
• 22:25
  much as it's kind of made out to be.
• 22:26
  I I would be very surprised if Wol gets the game one start if
• 22:30
  both goalies are healthy. But you know, I, I've tread
• 22:36
  very, very lightly when I talk about goaltending.
• 22:38
  I've been crushed in the past in terms of believing in
• 22:42
  goaltending and then it just completely crashing.
• 22:45
  But this year the numbers have been so good.
• 22:48
  You feel very comfortable with both goalies and net.
• 22:52
  And this has been a year where the Leafs have kind of been out
• 22:55
  shot on many nights. And for for whatever reason,
• 23:00
  whether that's the defense, whether that is the goaltending,
• 23:03
  you kind of feel pretty comfortable when other teams are
• 23:07
  in the Leaf zone. You don't really feel as jumpy
• 23:10
  as you know as as as you did in past years.
• 23:13
  So I think a lot of credit goes to the goaltending in terms of
• 23:18
  their path of getting to the conference finals.
• 23:20
  In the finals, of course, you look at around the division,
• 23:24
  you've got Olmark, who's a very good goalie in Ottawa.
• 23:26
  You've got Vasilevsky, who's always good in the playoffs and
• 23:29
  just a great goalie in general in Tampa.
• 23:31
  And then obviously with Babrovsky in Florida.
• 23:35
  So yes, the Leafs have good goaltending, but they're gonna
• 23:38
  have to be very good just to be the best goalie in the each
• 23:41
  series that they play this year. Who are going to be the X
• 23:47
  factors for the Leafs this year? Because we always know that
• 23:51
  we're going to rely on the Big 4.
• 23:53
  You could say the Big 5 now. I mean, now adding Lawton in
• 23:58
  this team now, like obviously the Taveras, Neelander, Matt,
• 24:02
  Marnie, Matthews, those guys have to step up big.
• 24:04
  But who do you think should be the FA?
• 24:06
  And I'll mention a few names out there.
• 24:08
  You got the Max Doming's, you got the Simone Benoit, you got
• 24:11
  Scotland. You mentioned about Patch
• 24:12
  already, Nick Robertson, Bobby McMahon, like is there any other
• 24:17
  names that that I didn't mention?
• 24:19
  And you? And if if not you tell us what
• 24:22
  you think. Like who should be the X
• 24:24
  factors? Yeah, I'll say if we're looking
• 24:28
  at The X Factor in terms of if they have a poor series, then
• 24:32
  the Leafs are kind of not in trouble, but kind of that player
• 24:37
  that can kind of swing the series one way or the other.
• 24:42
  I would definitely say Max Domi. You know when you look at the
• 24:45
  season, they've had some trouble moving and trying to find Domi a
• 24:51
  place in the line up. We've seen him on the third line
• 24:54
  and the third line center. They obviously felt the need
• 24:56
  that they wanted to make a trade and trade kind of key assets to
• 25:01
  get Scotland. Then Domi's kind of been on.
• 25:07
  He's been on the top line, he's been on the second line.
• 25:10
  They've been moving him around trying to find that spot.
• 25:12
  He's a very polarizing player in terms of the way he plays.
• 25:15
  He kind of tries to go for that kind of perfect pass or that
• 25:20
  first assist pass, I call it quite often.
• 25:23
  And for example, tonight in versus Carolina, we saw it work.
• 25:27
  You know, he had two assists. He was all over the goal.
• 25:31
  The Leafs get two goals out of it and they win tonight.
• 25:33
  On some nights we see that not really work where the puck is
• 25:36
  going the other way. The Leafs are spending too much
• 25:38
  time in their own end and then they end up losing.
• 25:41
  So I would say Domi, if he does play in that bottom 6 is a, you
• 25:46
  know, how he does is, is pretty important to the team because we
• 25:50
  know kind of what to expect in terms of the top 6, like you
• 25:53
  said in the core 4. But those bottom 6 battles,
• 25:57
  particularly the third line battles, are going to be pretty
• 26:00
  important, especially when you're playing Florida and Tampa
• 26:02
  who have very good third lines. You touched on it earlier about
• 26:08
  the Leafs farm and some of the players that they have down
• 26:12
  there, you know, you got to use some count and and whatnot, you
• 26:15
  know, and, and can you tell us more about some of the players
• 26:19
  that you feel haven't been talked about some some prospects
• 26:23
  that you feel could make an impact in the future?
• 26:26
  Yeah. I think now, like when you when
• 26:30
  you look at the Marley's, it is a bit more of a kind of, I don't
• 26:34
  want to call them a veteran team, but they don't really have
• 26:37
  those types of players right now that you can say, OK, like this
• 26:42
  is a player that's going to play on the Leafs next year, maybe
• 26:45
  Alex Steves, but we're talking about a bottom 6 player in terms
• 26:50
  of just the actual farm team and prospects.
• 26:55
  Definitely Easton Cowan kind of is the the first player that
• 26:58
  kind of pops up, just a player that kind of does it all.
• 27:04
  He can penalty kill. He can he can be on the the
• 27:09
  power play. He's been a terrific scorer for
• 27:11
  London the last couple years. Definitely.
• 27:14
  He's probably the most exciting player, I would say in the
• 27:19
  system right now. They do have a few goalies in in
• 27:23
  Hildeby who's played a few games for the Leafs and and played
• 27:27
  mostly on the the Marley's as well.
• 27:30
  So he's someone to be excited for, not to be a downer.
• 27:34
  I was very, very excited about Gribanken, but obviously now
• 27:40
  he's been traded and obviously with Frazier Minton as well, but
• 27:44
  Danford also a player that they drafted last year, big
• 27:47
  defenseman Kent, not too much of an offensive touch, but does
• 27:53
  have a pretty good shot. So I would say this is
• 27:56
  definitely one of the more kind of quiet farm farms kind of
• 28:01
  teams that they've had in a while.
• 28:02
  And they don't have those two first round picks.
• 28:04
  So they're going to have to continue to draft well in those
• 28:07
  later rounds, which, you know, to their credit, they've done a
• 28:10
  pretty good job over the last, you know, 4-5 years of finding
• 28:13
  those Pontus Homebergs and Andreas Jansens and, you know,
• 28:19
  even I guess Matthew Knives if you count a, a second round
• 28:21
  pick. So they're going to have to
• 28:22
  continue to find those guys after the second, after the
• 28:25
  first round. What about a guy like Noah
• 28:29
  Chadwick? Because he's been rising through
• 28:31
  the system in it and he doesn't get taught.
• 28:33
  He's been getting talked about a little bit.
• 28:35
  And Toby Numa has been a name that didn't want to trade over
• 28:40
  the years. And So what do you think about
• 28:43
  the defensive part about it? And, and I believe there's two
• 28:46
  goalies, I can't say his name is Arthur.
• 28:49
  Arthur and Namo, whatever. Probably Arthur Dennis Hill
• 28:52
  even. I'm going to butcher the name
• 28:53
  too. What do you think about those
• 28:55
  guys moving forward with this organization?
• 28:59
  With goalies it is a little tough obviously, but you know,
• 29:04
  Hilda Bees looked good. I've liked his games with the
• 29:06
  Marley's, same with I. Can I always butcher his name as
• 29:10
  well? Akkayya Akkamayov.
• 29:12
  I can never say it, but I've heard it 100 times.
• 29:15
  It's hilarious, but tough to say with goalies, you know, we'll
• 29:19
  see as they transition from the Marlies and and when they do get
• 29:21
  their chance with the Leafs. But both young goalies, very,
• 29:25
  very big, tall and pretty common that especially Hildebe.
• 29:30
  In terms of Nimola, definitely a a favorite of mine back when
• 29:34
  they drafted him. Just a a very smart player
• 29:39
  around the ice. He moves very, very swiftly
• 29:42
  around the ice. Very excited when he came to the
• 29:46
  Marlies. But just since then, the big
• 29:49
  question with Nimola is what is his role going to be on a team
• 29:53
  that's competing? And I think that's been the
• 29:55
  toughest part for him where with the Marlies, we're we're trying
• 29:58
  to see, I guess we're I guess they've been trying to wait for
• 30:03
  him to kind of dominate at that level.
• 30:07
  And then when you bring him up to the Leafs, is he a penalty
• 30:09
  killer? Is he a guy that can run your
• 30:11
  power play? Well, you already have Riley
• 30:13
  there. So and now I guess the five four
• 30:16
  power play. So just in terms of bringing him
• 30:19
  up, it's tough to find a role for him.
• 30:22
  And I think that's what's really stunted his growth in terms of
• 30:26
  kind of moving up into as an NHL player.
• 30:28
  And when you get to that spot, then your trade value is not
• 30:32
  very good either when you're kind of in that same position in
• 30:36
  the AHL. So I think that's where they've,
• 30:39
  you know, kind of had trouble with Nimola and with Noah
• 30:42
  Chadwick. Definitely a player I need to
• 30:43
  watch a little bit more. But yeah, definitely has risen
• 30:47
  among the ranks and kind of has that build of a player that
• 30:51
  could potentially ease into an NHL role because of his size.
• 30:55
  And it's just he's he's a pretty good puck mover for his size as
• 30:58
  well. So but definitely a player I
• 30:59
  need to watch a bit more. I want to talk about Mitch
• 31:04
  Marner and John Tavares, who are said to become free ages.
• 31:08
  Those are the two big names that are that are coming off the
• 31:13
  books. How do you see this work out?
• 31:16
  Because I know that like I mentioned earlier about the
• 31:20
  Leafs telling Marner to waive his no trade clause in a deal
• 31:24
  for rent in that did not happen. He he's he's, he's a, he's a
• 31:29
  hometown guy. And Tavares always wanted to
• 31:31
  play for Toronto. So how how would you look at
• 31:34
  look at that situation and where things lie moving forward?
• 31:41
  We, I guess we'll get Tavares out of the way.
• 31:44
  He it, it looks, you know, everything's kind of pointing to
• 31:48
  him coming back to the Leafs. What that AAV looks like I think
• 31:51
  is the real question. I think some people are probably
• 31:54
  a little bit over optimistic or in terms of what that'll look
• 31:59
  like. You know, at the end of the day
• 32:01
  he's still a very, very good player in the NHL, close to
• 32:06
  being a forty goal scorer this year.
• 32:08
  At times he's been kind of their offensive kind of savior, I
• 32:12
  guess when when Matthews has been struggling and martyrs had
• 32:15
  kind of his ebbs and flows this year.
• 32:17
  But Tavares has kind of just continued to chug on this year.
• 32:21
  And considering it's year seven of his contract, if someone told
• 32:24
  me years ago that, you know, Tavares would have the year that
• 32:29
  he's had mostly defensive zone starts, probably the most
• 32:33
  defensive usage he's ever had in his whole career and still kind
• 32:38
  of being close to 40 goals, I think people would be pretty
• 32:40
  happy with that. So with him, I, I do expect him
• 32:44
  to be a Leaf next year, if I had to predict.
• 32:48
  So we'll just see what that number is with Martyr.
• 32:51
  I think it's anyone's guess, right?
• 32:52
  I think when you look at how the RFA negotiation went last time,
• 32:57
  there were a lot of things that happened that I don't think
• 33:01
  people expected. I'm not too surprised that he's
• 33:04
  going to to free agency and at least kind of dragging you out
• 33:07
  till then. But I think a lot of it is
• 33:12
  pending on how they do in the playoffs as well as what the
• 33:15
  outlook on the just around the league looks like in the
• 33:20
  offseason. Because obviously it's a huge
• 33:23
  contract and I think the Leafs would be silly to allow him to
• 33:27
  walk without having a Plan B and having a player that's at least
• 33:31
  going to fill in 50 to 60 to 70% of what Marner can do.
• 33:37
  Because letting him go and then trying to fill it in with, you
• 33:40
  know, 4 or $5,000,000 contracts, I think it's a little bit risky
• 33:45
  to try and get that type of value and, and kind of pennies
• 33:48
  for the dollar type thing. So we'll see with Marner.
• 33:51
  I think we're definitely going we're we're kind of in Chapter 2
• 33:53
  of a of a Chapter 10 book when it comes to when it comes to
• 33:57
  that this offseason. You talked about, you just
• 34:01
  talked about the two main guys that are in line to that are
• 34:06
  upcoming free agents that you need to ink long term or longer
• 34:12
  term. But who are some guys that are
• 34:16
  potential that that have the potential to sign an extension
• 34:20
  that you feel or that you feel that they'd be wise to sign an
• 34:25
  extension with it that you haven't mentioned yet?
• 34:29
  Yeah, when when you look at their Ufas in general, I mean,
• 34:34
  one of them match Max Patcher ready.
• 34:35
  I think probably the the patient game, which I'm sure Bradcher
• 34:40
  Living will take and he's a very patient GMI think he's gonna
• 34:44
  take that route with Max, Max Patcher ready, how he plays in
• 34:46
  the playoffs, how his health is going forward, other things.
• 34:51
  Stephen Lorenz, I think you can wait with him too.
• 34:56
  I think he's had an OK season. Again, we'll see how he plays in
• 35:00
  the playoffs, but definitely a player that I think is pretty
• 35:03
  replaceable. You could probably find someone
• 35:05
  that can do something similar. I don't think they've gotten too
• 35:08
  much surplus value from a, you know, kind of a league minimum
• 35:11
  type contract. Definitely when you look at the
• 35:14
  Rfas, it gets a lot more interesting.
• 35:16
  Matthew Nye's kind of top of the kind of the Rfas for the Leafs.
• 35:23
  Definitely a player that you want to lock up.
• 35:25
  They've had multiple kind of there's been multiple rumors
• 35:28
  over the years that they could have traded him or teams are
• 35:31
  interested in him and they decided each time to keep him
• 35:35
  and they've been rewarded for that.
• 35:37
  So definitely a player that you want to lock up for a contract
• 35:41
  and he's the type of player that you know, he's only 22.
• 35:45
  It's a second full season in the NHLI wouldn't be surprised if
• 35:49
  you saw AAV that is a little bit higher than expected just
• 35:54
  because he's looked fantastic. He's a Unicorn.
• 35:57
  He plays physical, he's got scale.
• 35:59
  He can put make guys miss in the neutral zone.
• 36:02
  He's now a goal scorer, a thirty goal scorer almost in the NHL
• 36:06
  and he's a guy that I I think is only going to get better when
• 36:08
  you look at his work ethic and just the way he plays.
• 36:11
  So I wouldn't be surprised if we got into, I don't want to throw
• 36:15
  numbers out, but with the rising cap, like even like 6, seven, $8
• 36:18
  million a year on a long term contract, I wouldn't be
• 36:21
  surprised. And then with Homburg and
• 36:24
  Robertson, I think you just try to get them on a, on a bridge
• 36:26
  contract. I think for both of them,
• 36:29
  especially Robertson, there's probably more value in keeping
• 36:32
  him over the next two years than trading him.
• 36:35
  I just don't know if there's too much trade value there.
• 36:37
  So hopefully they can get him on a on a kind of affordable
• 36:41
  contract there. So the playoffs are coming up
• 36:46
  and right now where the Leafs stand right now, they're in line
• 36:50
  to face the Ottawa Senator. It's first time I believe since
• 36:53
  2002, right. So it's been it's been a minute
• 36:55
  since they last phase Ottawa. However, this at the same time,
• 36:59
  nothing is set in stone and there's also a potential they
• 37:03
  could probably face the Tampa Bay Lightning or or the Florida
• 37:07
  Panthers or any other matchup. You could you could mention
• 37:10
  because I think Montreal is I think out of line after they won
• 37:13
  on Saturday. But how would you compare those
• 37:17
  matchups because they faced Tampa in consecutive years, they
• 37:23
  faced Florida in the past as well.
• 37:26
  So how would you look at the matchups between those three
• 37:29
  teams? It's almost as close to night
• 37:35
  and day, I think as you can get in terms of the playoffs.
• 37:38
  I'm probably a little bit more on the extreme in terms of
• 37:41
  comparing Ottawa and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
• 37:45
  But just when you look at the team on paper, Tampa looks very
• 37:49
  good, especially up front. We know they have Vasilevsky, We
• 37:53
  know that's going to be a top, a good series.
• 37:56
  They're top five teams in terms of shots.
• 38:00
  They've been very good at goaltending.
• 38:01
  They're very good in terms of penalty killing and power play.
• 38:05
  And then you look at Ottawa, I mean, a goal differential of
• 38:09
  eight and Tampa's goal differential is 72.
• 38:12
  It's it's a pretty big difference between these two
• 38:14
  teams. And I just think Ottawa in
• 38:16
  general is the perfect team for the Leafs to play, especially
• 38:20
  this version of the Leafs where they defend the net very well.
• 38:24
  Ottawa kind of a middle of the pack team in terms of generating
• 38:29
  shots and shots attempts, but almost like a bottom five team
• 38:33
  in terms of of generating high danger chances, which we know
• 38:36
  the Leafs are very good at suppressing.
• 38:39
  Ottawa not a very good team in terms of the power play and the
• 38:42
  penalty kill. I I think it's just a night and
• 38:45
  day comparison when you look at Tampa FL and is a pity.
• 38:48
  Pretty big drop off when you go to to Ottawa.
• 38:52
  So fingers crossed the Leafs just need to get, if my math is
• 38:56
  right, I think it's just two points over the next two games
• 39:02
  to clinch that top spot in the Atlantic to play Ottawa.
• 39:05
  But I would definitely not be resting any players 'cause I
• 39:10
  think getting those two points is, is so important 'cause if
• 39:13
  you can get Tampa versus Florida in the first round, beat Ottawa
• 39:17
  and then go on to play Tampa, FL, I, I think it's much more,
• 39:22
  much better than resting, you know, Matthews or Marner for,
• 39:26
  for one or two games and then having to play Tampa anyways.
• 39:28
  It's it's a massive difference. How do you look at the rest of
• 39:33
  the Eastern Conference? I'm looking at right now, it
• 39:36
  looks it's just, it's just such a stacked conference.
• 39:40
  I mean, you, you talked about the teams that that the Leafs
• 39:44
  would play in the first round, potentially with the Ottawa and
• 39:47
  potentially in the second round matchup, maybe Tampa, FL, you
• 39:50
  got Washington, Carolina and New Jersey.
• 39:53
  How do you see those teams faring when it comes to play?
• 39:56
  And then you got Montreal too. Who, who is poised?
• 40:01
  I mean, the season is still two games left, so Columbus isn't
• 40:04
  out of it yet, but they look poised.
• 40:07
  They're in a good spot to to make the playoffs, too.
• 40:09
  So how do you feel about the rest of the Eastern Conference
• 40:12
  going into the playoffs? I think this year, other than
• 40:16
  Tampa and Florida, who you know, they have their holes too, but I
• 40:20
  think other than Tampa and Florida, the teams, especially
• 40:24
  Washington Carolina jersey, obviously Montreal, they they
• 40:28
  all kind of have their their kind of negatives about them.
• 40:34
  Washington just feels like a team when you when you look at
• 40:38
  how they play drive looks like a team that could be.
• 40:42
  I think Montreal might give them a little bit of trouble.
• 40:44
  They're very hot right now. We know that they haven't been
• 40:49
  in the playoffs for a few years. They're playing really good
• 40:52
  hockey right now, Montreal. So I could see that being a a
• 40:54
  fun series to watch. Carolina, amazing example of
• 41:00
  kind of what their flaw is in the Leafs game just now.
• 41:04
  A team that completely drives, play extremely well.
• 41:07
  They dominate other teams, but they're always there to make a
• 41:12
  mistake and it just doesn't feel like Freddie Anderson makes that
• 41:15
  save when he needs to. The Leafs just got outplayed and
• 41:18
  they end up winning and and looking pretty good in the
• 41:20
  second-half of that game. So and then the devil's
• 41:23
  obviously a very good team, but just faced so many injuries over
• 41:27
  the second-half of the season. So, you know, if the Leafs can
• 41:31
  get auto in the first round, get through Tampa, a kind of a
• 41:34
  hopefully a depleted Tampa and or Florida in the second round,
• 41:38
  I like their chances with whoever comes in on that other
• 41:41
  side of the bracket to get to the Cup final.
• 41:44
  This is obviously the optimistic leaf in me, but I think this
• 41:48
  year I've been kind of highly critical of the Leafs.
• 41:52
  But when you look at the rest of their the Eastern Conference
• 41:54
  teams, none of them are really perfect other than, you know,
• 41:57
  obviously Florida's a fantastic team and Tampa looks as solid as
• 42:01
  ever. So other than those two teams, I
• 42:03
  mean, I think there's a lot of holes there.
• 42:07
  Let me ask you about the other conference.
• 42:09
  How would you look at the Western Conference and
• 42:13
  especially the moves they made at the trade deadline?
• 42:16
  It's one of the most competitive Western Conference I witnessed,
• 42:19
  I witnessed in such a long time. Like how do you how do you look
• 42:24
  into look into the the team matchups over there?
• 42:28
  Yeah, the West is going to be, it is stacked.
• 42:34
  You look at Winnipeg, who's just won the President's Trophy, I
• 42:37
  think for the first time, I think maybe in the first time
• 42:40
  ever, they look. Probably ever, yeah.
• 42:42
  Yeah, they look very good. Their offense, their defense,
• 42:45
  They have Halibach Colorado. We know what they're all about.
• 42:50
  Potentially getting Gabriel Landiscog back from LTIR for
• 42:53
  game one. The Stars, like you said, hit
• 42:56
  the trade deadline. Probably the most fun team in
• 42:58
  the NHL in terms of just offseason moves and just they're
• 43:02
  they're sorry, their front office moves.
• 43:05
  I love their front office. They draft extremely well.
• 43:07
  They seem to always find the diamonds in the rough and then
• 43:12
  they make big moves. And it helps that they're they
• 43:14
  obviously with the cap and whatnot and the taxes and
• 43:17
  whatnot, They're they're just such a fun team getting ranting
• 43:22
  in and they have Robertson, they have Harley, just such a stack
• 43:26
  team. And for them to play Colorado in
• 43:29
  the first round, that's a conference final type caliber
• 43:33
  match up in the first round. And then obviously when we keep
• 43:37
  going Vegas A-Team that's done it before, always very solid
• 43:41
  Kings and Oilers, Oilers, we've seen them do it before.
• 43:43
  McDavid is obviously the best player in the NHL.
• 43:46
  And the Kings just a a team that you know, has has been kind of
• 43:51
  that young team for a few years. That kind of feels like maybe
• 43:55
  they go over the hump in terms of beating Edmonton this year.
• 43:58
  But you know, you can't really bet against McDavid.
• 44:01
  And then obviously the Blues and the Wild, kind of the lower tier
• 44:06
  and teams in the in that Western Conference.
• 44:11
  But you know, not bad teams either.
• 44:14
  But I I think they're just dealing with really tough teams
• 44:17
  in in Vegas and Winnipeg. Yeah, that Dallas team, man,
• 44:23
  there's something I had the pleasure of watching Jason Rob.
• 44:27
  I live in Niagara, so I had the pleasure of watching.
• 44:30
  Yeah, David, Rob, Jason Robertson play half a season
• 44:35
  here 'cause we traded for him. And man, I knew that kid was
• 44:38
  going to be dynamic. Man, the fact he was taken in a
• 44:41
  second round was injustice. It was crazy.
• 44:46
  But which teams do you do you feel have been the most
• 44:50
  surprising this year and the most disappointing?
• 44:53
  And I won't take any offense when you name the Boston Bruins.
• 44:57
  You know what I think when it comes to Boston, it feels like
• 45:01
  they should have had this season like years ago and they just
• 45:05
  keep turning it on every single year.
• 45:07
  So I I don't even know if the words disappointing, but you
• 45:12
  know, Father Time gets. Us all.
• 45:15
  It's a good way to put it, man. Yeah.
• 45:18
  And and you know what in in the Bruins defense, the way that
• 45:21
  they have tanked has been elite like they.
• 45:25
  They haven't. They have done that.
• 45:26
  Well, yeah, good for that. And they're doing that even at a
• 45:29
  elite level. So I wouldn't be surprised if
• 45:31
  they're back up in in a couple years.
• 45:33
  I wouldn't be surprised at all. But I would say probably the
• 45:38
  surprising team, I guess is just Montreal.
• 45:41
  Definitely if someone told you even in November that they would
• 45:44
  be in a playoff spot and a pretty, pretty securely in a
• 45:47
  playoff spot right now, I think they only need a point or two to
• 45:50
  clinch. I think people would be pretty
• 45:52
  surprised. So definitely a very nice
• 45:54
  second-half to that season for them in the West.
• 45:58
  In terms of surprising, maybe Winnipeg, I mean, they've
• 46:02
  they've been a good team on paper.
• 46:05
  But yeah, I mean, just the way that they've been kind of from
• 46:08
  start to finish, one of the most elite teams in the league and
• 46:11
  it's kind of a, a well deserved President's Trophy.
• 46:14
  I don't know if people were I, I definitely wasn't, you know,
• 46:18
  kind of plugging them in as a President's Trophy candidate or
• 46:22
  even I wouldn't have put money on that.
• 46:25
  But so I guess they would be in the West, but just a stacked
• 46:29
  West in general. Disappointing.
• 46:32
  Disappointing is always tough because this year feels like
• 46:36
  especially in the West, the teams that are at the top should
• 46:38
  be at the top. I guess disappointing.
• 46:42
  I'll stick to the East. I guess maybe the Rangers team
• 46:47
  that just seems like they kind of are always in the top three
• 46:51
  in the Metropolitan for so long. So I guess I'll use them, but
• 46:55
  not too strong about that one. What, what about Nashville?
• 46:59
  Because they went and got Steve's damn codes and they
• 47:01
  spent all that money and Barry Trotz being the GM after David
• 47:06
  Poley being there as as a day one GM for the Nashville
• 47:10
  Predators and it looks to be there more of a discipline.
• 47:14
  What do you think about that? That's 100% the correct answer
• 47:18
  for a disappointing team. They were so disappointing.
• 47:20
  I forgot about them. So.
• 47:24
  So, yeah, I mean, O'Reilly had a chance to stay in Toronto, it
• 47:28
  sounds like and and chose Nashville and obviously with the
• 47:31
  Stamco situation. So yeah, I mean, 29 wins, it's
• 47:36
  at this point after 80 games is no good.
• 47:40
  Yeah, yeah, I could. Another team that kind of
• 47:43
  surprised me a little bit of Saint Louis, St.
• 47:45
  Louis, like getting Montgomery, they were like fielding to see
• 47:49
  what's going on. They went on on a tear, on a 13
• 47:52
  game-winning streak and. Don't remind me.
• 47:57
  Nobody expected that to happen, yes.
• 47:59
  So they've. Got a sneaky fun team too with
• 48:02
  Thomas, Cairo, Bukes, Nevich, now Holloway.
• 48:05
  Perreco bean back, yeah. Yes.
• 48:08
  So kind of fun to see them obviously with the whole offer
• 48:12
  sheet situation. I would love to see more offer
• 48:15
  sheets, not to Matthew nice, but just for other people.
• 48:18
  But yeah, yeah. So the fact that a Holloway
• 48:21
  situation happened, it's pretty cool to see them kind of playing
• 48:25
  well. Which team or teams need to
• 48:31
  prove it in the playoffs besides the Edmonton Oilers and the
• 48:35
  Toronto Maple Leafs? Because those two have been the
• 48:37
  playoffs every year and I know they got the best players in the
• 48:40
  world and they've been trying to get over the home for years.
• 48:43
  But besides those two, who who needs to prove it in the
• 48:47
  playoffs this year? I would say kind of high up on
• 48:52
  the list. And if they had, I mean, this is
• 48:55
  no disrespect to Carolina fans, but I I think if they were a
• 48:58
  bigger market in general, they would kind of get more, more
• 49:03
  people would be, you know, I guess there'd be more memes
• 49:06
  about them, I guess. But yeah, definitely the
• 49:08
  Carolina Hurricanes, just a a perennial team that's dominated
• 49:12
  the league for years and they just can't seem to kind of get
• 49:16
  all the way over this hump with this group.
• 49:18
  It feels like they play the right way, feels like the front
• 49:21
  office does the right thing, feels like the coach coaches
• 49:24
  them extremely well. But for whatever reason, they
• 49:27
  just cannot seem to get over the hump in the playoffs to kind of
• 49:31
  make it all the way. But it feels like they're right
• 49:33
  there. And I wouldn't be surprised if
• 49:36
  they're the team that's standing at the end of in the conference
• 49:40
  finals to play whoever the whoever gets there in the
• 49:43
  Atlantic. So I would say Carolina is
• 49:45
  pretty clear answer for me. Would you would you consider the
• 49:51
  Dallas Stars, especially, you know, going all in and.
• 49:54
  Think of Dallas, too, yeah. Yeah, giving up, giving up a lot
• 49:57
  of extent COVID yeah, for to get ranted, giving an extension and
• 50:02
  and the LA Kings, they've been trying to get to the playoffs
• 50:04
  every well, they've been getting their playoffs, but they can't
• 50:07
  they can't go past the first round like the Leafs kind of
• 50:09
  right. So what do you what do you think
• 50:10
  about those two teams? I feel like with Dallas, you
• 50:13
  know, obviously the Leafs are the kings of this.
• 50:16
  They're the they're top of the top Edmonton probably a little
• 50:20
  less, but they probably have a little bit less stress on
• 50:22
  themselves after last year at least making it to the finals.
• 50:27
  I would say with Dallas, I mean, they're still they feel like a a
• 50:30
  relatively new team still. They don't have that stale kind
• 50:34
  of factor to them that maybe the Leafs do right now, especially
• 50:38
  in the playoffs after all these years in a very similar ish
• 50:41
  team. But at least with Dallas, I
• 50:43
  mean, it's their first year with ranting in Wyatt Johnston and
• 50:46
  Robertson are still young, you know, Thomas Harley very, very
• 50:51
  young. So I would say for them, I don't
• 50:54
  know if they have necessarily anything to prove as much as
• 50:57
  some of those other teams we talked about, but especially in
• 51:01
  a in a W that's just so good. Like if they lost to Colorado, I
• 51:04
  don't think anyone would look at them any differently.
• 51:06
  I think they would still be ranked pretty highly and in
• 51:09
  power rankings next year or predictions.
• 51:13
  So I think there's still like a relatively a new field to
• 51:15
  Dallas. And then with the Kings, I think
• 51:19
  they're a few years away from kind of that pressure mounting.
• 51:26
  You have any final thoughts on on the way the Leaf season's
• 51:29
  gone and heading into the playoffs and just wanted to to
• 51:33
  touch on some of the other like like what do you figure the
• 51:36
  outcome or what do you think could potentially happen this
• 51:40
  playoffs? I know what you're hoping will
• 51:42
  happen, but what do you think will potentially happen?
• 51:46
  I think one big thing that I didn't touch upon today was
• 51:50
  definitely just Matthews and the when you look at historically
• 51:55
  the way that he tilts the ice over the past couple years, he's
• 51:59
  been very elite at it. When the Leafs are, when
• 52:02
  Matthews is on the ice, the Leafs are out shooting their
• 52:04
  opponents, they're out scoring their opponents, and he's been
• 52:07
  one of the best five on five players in the past couple
• 52:09
  years. I think it's pretty clear that
• 52:12
  yes, he is still out. The Leafs are still out playing
• 52:15
  their opponents when Matthews is on the ice, just not to the
• 52:18
  extent that we've seen in the past couple of years.
• 52:21
  I think it's clear that he's not 100%.
• 52:25
  And we'll see, I think, how well they do in the playoffs.
• 52:29
  I mean, this is the most obvious thing that's ever been said, but
• 52:33
  rides a lot on kind of what Matthews looks like.
• 52:38
  And I'm not even really talking about like a golden assist type
• 52:41
  of situation, but when he is on the ice, how much is he going to
• 52:47
  dominate the play? Because that just has a huge
• 52:50
  role, especially in the playoffs in terms of the shift after.
• 52:54
  Are they going to start in the offensive zone, defensive zone?
• 52:56
  Those types of things really matter.
• 52:57
  So I think the Matthews that we see is going to really drive how
• 53:02
  this team, how this team does. But other than that, in terms of
• 53:06
  how I feel this is going to go, let's say that they play Ottawa,
• 53:10
  I do think they'll beat them. It, it's kind of famous last
• 53:16
  words for a Leafs fan. But the other thing is, you
• 53:20
  know, I was, I was young when the kind of what made me love
• 53:25
  hockey in the 1st place with those early series between the
• 53:28
  Leafs and the Sands in 2000 and 2001, 2002, and then we saw
• 53:32
  another one, 2004. It's kind of like the peak of
• 53:36
  playoff Leafs hockey. So one thing I know about the
• 53:39
  Leafs is they step up when they play the Sands.
• 53:41
  Hopefully we can say the same thing about this core as we did
• 53:44
  with the Sundeans and Mcgillneys of the world of of that team.
• 53:49
  So I do think that they're going to win.
• 53:50
  I think stylistically it's a perfect match up for this
• 53:53
  version of the Leafs. I think Stolars is extremely
• 53:58
  going to be very, very good in this series and I think it's a
• 54:02
  great series for them in general.
• 54:04
  So I'll say they win and then we'll see what happens in
• 54:07
  Florida and Tampa series because that's going to be a tough
• 54:10
  series if the Leafs have to play one of them.
• 54:13
  As promised, we're going to get some wrestling in and we want to
• 54:17
  talk. We want to talk about a little
• 54:19
  bit about WrestleMania. I know that we're about a week
• 54:22
  away from from the WrestleMania weekend.
• 54:27
  What are you looking forward to WrestleMania next weekend?
• 54:30
  I'm going to have the easy answer here.
• 54:32
  I mean, I, I don't know about you guys.
• 54:35
  I was I was pretty shocked with the Cena turn.
• 54:40
  I did not see that coming at all.
• 54:42
  And I think till he made the face to the rock.
• 54:45
  I did not expect that. So I think just the main event
• 54:49
  John Cena, Cody Rhodes with Cena heel is is pretty cool. close
• 54:54
  runner up. I'll I'll take one that's not as
• 54:56
  not as easy. I would say that the breaker
• 55:02
  match. I think it's it's Penta, Dominic
• 55:05
  and Finn, right? Yeah.
• 55:07
  Yeah, yeah. I would say, I would say that's
• 55:09
  going to be a fun match. I think that's on Night 2 as
• 55:11
  well. I love Penton, man.
• 55:13
  I'm a big fan of Penton I I like what he does.
• 55:16
  It's. A great entrance.
• 55:18
  Yeah, man, it's going to be fun. What?
• 55:20
  What do you think about the whole Randy Orton, Kevin Owens
• 55:25
  kind of storyline with Kevin Owens now missing WrestleMania,
• 55:28
  which is going to be really tough on him, I'm sure.
• 55:32
  I know I I'm not sure you know, I'm I've always been a big Kevin
• 55:35
  Owens fan. Like just such a we talked about
• 55:38
  unicorns in terms of Matthew Nyes.
• 55:40
  Like I think Kevin Owens is such a Unicorn in wrestling, like
• 55:43
  amazing on the mic. He's a big guy.
• 55:45
  He moves the way he does. So hopefully he's back.
• 55:48
  I don't know what they're doing with I actually missed this past
• 55:51
  episode. I didn't, I didn't.
• 55:54
  What are they doing with Orton? Is it just open right now or?
• 55:58
  I believe he had RK OD all this so I mean yeah, OK.
• 56:02
  All this, yeah. Does all this get an opportunity
• 56:06
  to wrestle? I mean, Randy Orton's been with
• 56:08
  this industry, you know, like forever and and he deserves an
• 56:14
  opportunity for to compete at WrestleMania.
• 56:16
  I don't know how that's going to work out, but it's just
• 56:19
  unfortunate with Kevin Owens being out and he might not even
• 56:22
  be ready for next year's WrestleMania.
• 56:24
  Would tell me that those neck injuries are very severe.
• 56:26
  Like you saw what happened to Daniel Bryan, right?
• 56:30
  And Edge, right? Those guys took years to
• 56:32
  recover. And Paige, right?
• 56:34
  Surya, right. So yeah.
• 56:36
  So you know that you can't play around with those next injury.
• 56:38
  I thought we were just thinking like, oh, this is party
• 56:41
  storyline, but it's all real, man.
• 56:42
  And this is what wrestling was, right?
• 56:44
  So of. Course, last night Red Yorkton
• 56:48
  came out and was like pretty much begging all this, you know,
• 56:53
  like I want my match, I need my match at WrestleMania.
• 56:58
  And solo Sokol comes out and, you know, talks a little bit of
• 57:02
  shit and then, you know, and tells him to stop whining and
• 57:06
  this and that. And then then LA Knight comes
• 57:09
  out and, you know, but I think they attacked Randy Orton in the
• 57:14
  in the ring. And then LA Knight comes out to
• 57:16
  his defense, beats the hell out of out of those two, Tamatonga
• 57:20
  and and Sokoa, and he leaves the ring.
• 57:23
  And then they fight later on that night as A tag team, LA
• 57:26
  Knight. And I think, I think Knights
• 57:29
  fighting Sokoa or fighting Jacob Fatu at WrestleMania, right?
• 57:34
  Yes, I think that. Yeah.
• 57:36
  So right, and and then Jacob Fatu comes out at the end of the
• 57:41
  match and, you know, has his way with, you know, attacks LA
• 57:46
  night. So yeah, I don't know what
• 57:47
  they're going to do with with with Orton when it comes to his
• 57:51
  match. But like Rocky said, having Nick
• 57:53
  all this have that wrestle media moment would be would be
• 57:56
  something something pretty cool. Yeah, I, I didn't think of that.
• 57:59
  That, yeah, that would be interesting.
• 58:02
  I don't know. It's there's so many pretty like
• 58:04
  it's actually a pretty good card this year.
• 58:06
  I would say. So like, I don't know if it
• 58:09
  ranks up up there, but definitely it'd be nice for him.
• 58:13
  It's just unique this this two day event.
• 58:17
  And you know, you got to give credit to Nick Con and and
• 58:21
  Triple H and the rock for orchestra and Paul Heyman.
• 58:24
  Of course, Paul Heyman's one of the best in the business, right?
• 58:27
  So with Paul Heyman, like what do you think is going to happen
• 58:31
  in that that triple threat? Because I had a prediction.
• 58:36
  I was talking to a friend of ours and you know, we're all
• 58:39
  avid wrestling fans and this is WrestleMania season and we are
• 58:43
  predicting that Paul Heyman might end up turning their back
• 58:47
  on turning his back on CM Punk and ends up aligning with Seth
• 58:53
  Rollins. Which which is intriguing to me
• 58:56
  because I feel like these guys, they're going to probably fight
• 58:59
  in night one and then the winner of that faces Cody Rhodes
• 59:02
  probably in another match Night 2.
• 59:05
  There's so many open doors to this.
• 59:07
  Like I'm just fascinated to what happens.
• 59:10
  You know, it's so funny as a fan, I think from 2013 till
• 59:16
  probably around 2018, I was one of those wrestling fans where I
• 59:21
  was reading everything trying to predict what's gonna happen.
• 59:24
  Is it a good move? Is it a bad move?
• 59:27
  Kind of in that Daniel Bryan era, like WrestleMania 3030 type
• 59:31
  of thing. And I would say in the last four
• 59:33
  years, I've tried my best. I don't do any like reading or
• 59:37
  anything, just like highlights watching the show.
• 59:40
  So this is actually the first time I've actually thought about
• 59:42
  what's gonna happen for this match.
• 59:47
  That would be interesting with Seth.
• 59:48
  I don't know if they've they've laid too many Easter eggs.
• 59:50
  Maybe I've just met missed it. Like of of why he would align
• 59:54
  with Seth. I think it'd be, oh, I don't
• 59:58
  know what Heyman would do in that situation because he's been
• 1:00:02
  kind of back and forth with with Punk and Roman the past couple
• 1:00:06
  weeks. I haven't really paid attention
• 1:00:08
  how he's been with Seth, but that would be cool.
• 1:00:13
  You know, we, we always have these WrestleMania moments.
• 1:00:16
  Let me let me ask you this. What's your favorite
• 1:00:18
  WrestleMania of all time? 17.
• 1:00:22
  Oh yeah, yeah, that's. Probably the easy answer, but.
• 1:00:26
  That's a rockin rockin. Stone Cold had been turning his
• 1:00:30
  back. Yeah, I I really liked obviously
• 1:00:33
  the the TLC match obviously in one of my, I think probably in
• 1:00:36
  my top five all time is, is that one.
• 1:00:39
  I, I awesome for me, for me. I mean, I, I've watched
• 1:00:43
  WrestleMania all my life. Like I've like, I'm a little bit
• 1:00:46
  older than than people, you know, but at the same time, like
• 1:00:48
  I, I've watched so many WrestleMania events.
• 1:00:52
  I mean, some people think WrestleMania 3, like I, I mean,
• 1:00:55
  I was really too, way too young. I was a baby, right?
• 1:00:57
  But like, but some people think that might be the best wrestle
• 1:01:00
  Mania because of Hogan suplexing Andre the giant.
• 1:01:04
  I mean, I mean with that dead amount of weight, man, I
• 1:01:09
  remember the iron match in WrestleMania I believe is 12
• 1:01:13
  with the Shawn Michaels and Brett the Hitman hard If you
• 1:01:16
  watch those classic matches, that's still one of the best
• 1:01:20
  Wrestlemanias out there, not mentioning Hogan, Rock or
• 1:01:23
  Austin, right? So or even the Undertaker,
• 1:01:25
  right? So, but yeah, I mean, there's so
• 1:01:28
  many moments in wrestling like like it's incredible, like you
• 1:01:33
  just, you just look at the the history of it and I'm just glad
• 1:01:38
  they're starting to bring a little bit of that nostalgia
• 1:01:40
  back. Let me ask you.
• 1:01:43
  Oh, sorry, I was just to say I got I haven't watched wrestling
• 1:01:47
  in years till the last couple years.
• 1:01:49
  So I I got a credit Rocky and a friend of ours, William, for
• 1:01:52
  getting me back into wrestling. Man, it's I don't know what I
• 1:01:55
  was missing all these years. Man, It's well you.
• 1:01:58
  Yeah, you know what? I've, I've kind of been like
• 1:02:00
  that too. I, I was, I watched it as a kid
• 1:02:03
  when like the early 2000s until like 2007.
• 1:02:08
  Then I stopped until 2013, got really into it in terms of the
• 1:02:13
  predictions and reading blogs about it and every podcast you
• 1:02:16
  can think of till probably around like 20, probably till,
• 1:02:20
  till COVID and then stop for a year.
• 1:02:22
  And then that obviously the bloodline storyline got me back
• 1:02:27
  in around 2021. And I got to say, you know,
• 1:02:30
  obviously the attitude era was, was awesome, but what they're
• 1:02:33
  doing right now, I, I don't think I've actually been so kind
• 1:02:38
  of hooked onto the storylines. I don't know if I've ever been
• 1:02:42
  that this hooked even when it was attitude error because
• 1:02:45
  there's so many Easter eggs. It's so complex now.
• 1:02:47
  So it's it's pretty awesome. I try and tell my friends.
• 1:02:50
  A lot of my friends don't really watch.
• 1:02:51
  I'm kind of the the lone wolf here.
• 1:02:54
  So that's why I said when I saw you guys were wrestling fans, I
• 1:02:56
  I got to take my got to take advantage here.
• 1:02:59
  Absolutely, man. We're always down to talk.
• 1:03:02
  We we could always do a wrestling episode.
• 1:03:04
  We were thinking about doing a couple, maybe even after
• 1:03:06
  WrestleMania, because because the post WrestleMania is
• 1:03:10
  everything right to wrestling. And of course it's awesome.
• 1:03:13
  It's awesome to believe that, you know, this is the Super Bowl
• 1:03:17
  of wrestling's, right? No matter which company it is,
• 1:03:20
  whether it's AW or TNA or Ring of Honor.
• 1:03:24
  But WrestleMania is the the number one pay-per-view of all
• 1:03:28
  time, hands down. And let me ask you one more
• 1:03:31
  question here. Do you think Stone Cold will
• 1:03:36
  make an appearance in WrestleMania this year?
• 1:03:42
  I thought he was going to last year, that's for sure.
• 1:03:45
  I I thought it should have been him instead of Undertaker, which
• 1:03:48
  that match was fantastic. The.
• 1:03:49
  The rings Cody match. Obviously very cool.
• 1:03:53
  I, I, I know I'm switching subjects here.
• 1:03:56
  I was a little bit not disappointed that it was
• 1:03:59
  Undertaker because I, you know, but I thought it should have
• 1:04:03
  been Stone Cold, but apparently it was.
• 1:04:04
  And then something happened. I don't know, but I will.
• 1:04:08
  I'll say yes because I do think The Rock is going to be involved
• 1:04:12
  in some way just from that whole kind of his involvement with the
• 1:04:18
  C note, heel turn and whatnot. So I'll say yes.
• 1:04:23
  Yeah, OK. Yeah, I think so too, because
• 1:04:25
  he's from Vegas. He's from Vegas, right?
• 1:04:28
  A lot of people forget it, I think.
• 1:04:30
  I think the geography, the situation he's going to be in
• 1:04:34
  that WrestleMania weekend, right?
• 1:04:35
  I believe they invented in the Convention Center over there in
• 1:04:38
  Vegas, right? So all that lean towards I think
• 1:04:42
  there's going to be surprises too.
• 1:04:44
  I I could see Undertaker making appearance like he does in every
• 1:04:48
  WrestleMania, like in some sort of situation, right?
• 1:04:51
  Oh. Yeah, maybe against Orton, who
• 1:04:54
  knows. Oh yeah, yeah.
• 1:04:56
  Maybe against Orton, Yeah, it'd be cool.
• 1:04:59
  I think they were at 21 right? They could be wrong, 21 or 22.
• 1:05:03
  Yeah, it sounds about right. Yeah.
• 1:05:05
  I think it's like, yeah, yeah, I was thinking, it's 05, right?
• 1:05:07
  So yeah, I'm always excited for WrestleMania season and I'm I'm,
• 1:05:13
  I'm always glued to it, right. So yeah, I mean, hopefully we
• 1:05:18
  could get you back. We could talk wrestling too the
• 1:05:22
  next time you come around, man. So.
• 1:05:24
  That would be a first for me. It would be a first for me so.
• 1:05:27
  Well, I just, I just want to say we thank you for being a guest
• 1:05:31
  talking about the Leafs and to playoffs and, and, and a little
• 1:05:36
  bit of wrestling, right. That was, that was a little bit
• 1:05:38
  of a fun conversation. But Nick, just let let everyone
• 1:05:43
  know where you can find you in social media and everywhere
• 1:05:46
  else. Yeah, of course.
• 1:05:47
  First off, thanks guys for having me.
• 1:05:49
  If this has been, it's been a lot of fun.
• 1:05:51
  And I cannot say I've talked wrestling on a podcast before.
• 1:05:54
  So that was this has been a memorable one for me personally.
• 1:05:57
  But yeah, you can find me on the Everything Leafs podcast.
• 1:06:00
  I'm sure that we are going to record this week as a playoff
• 1:06:05
  preview. And then you can find me on
• 1:06:06
  Twitter at Nick D'souza under score.
• 1:06:10
  And we'll we'll get ready for the playoffs here, which is
• 1:06:12
  going to start soon. Thanks for joining us again,
• 1:06:15
  man. Yeah, like, like you said, this
• 1:06:17
  was fun. This is, you know, got talk
• 1:06:20
  hockey, a little bit of wrestling mixed in there.
• 1:06:22
  So it was real fun and hope the playoffs go well for you guys.
• 1:06:27
  You know, truly is as a Bruins fan, man, we've had our success
• 1:06:31
  over the years. So, you know, and living, like I
• 1:06:34
  said, living in leaves country, you know, watching you guys have
• 1:06:37
  a parade, it wouldn't be the worst thing.
• 1:06:40
  It wouldn't. Yeah, I I got to see 3 Boston
• 1:06:42
  parades in my life, so I've seen one Toronto.
• 1:06:45
  So we got to do some catching up.
• 1:06:50
  I feel for you. That's that's a rough process,
• 1:06:55
  right? Yeah.
• 1:06:57
  But we'll place the description below where you can find Nick
• 1:07:02
  D'souza. But till next time, take care,
• 1:07:05
  be kind to each other. Signing off the Sports Ave.
• 1:07:09
  Twisted podcast on Sunday, April 13th at 9:21 PM Eastern.
• 1:07:48
  Music.