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Episode 19: Farewell to a Broadcasting Legend, NHL Playoff Sweeps, & CFL Changes!
26 Plays21 days ago
Leo is back from the IR! This week, Leo and Lando pay tribute to the legendary John Garrett before diving deep into a chaotic NHL postseason. We break down the Canmore Eagles’ historic AJHL title, the Ottawa Senators’ collapse (and the Brady Tkachuk drama), and the Avalanche’s dominant sweep of the Kings. Plus, we talk Kopitar’s retirement, the "embellishment" epidemic in the playoffs, the CFL’s bizarre new schedule, and the sudden downfall of LIV Golf.
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Transcript
Leo Returns to the Show
00:00:20
Leo Ernewein
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome, welcome back to the Leo and Lando show. I'm Leo Ornall, and yes, I'm back off the injured reserve. I was off for an episode due to personal reasons, but happy to be back. You know, as always, filler in co-host who stepped up well. Shout out Kyle Bacni there for that filling in, right?
00:00:38
Leo Ernewein
Good job on him, Lando. I'll get to your pointers there. But as always, beside me here
00:00:45
Lando
Landon Lando Semenok. Welcome back, man.
00:00:48
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, thanks, brother. How are you doing?
00:00:50
Lando
Yeah, good. Good, good. Yeah, finally summer outside, so...
00:00:55
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, we got the summer weather out here in the city too, which is nice. Hope you're doing well once again. And, you know, as always, big shout out to you and Kyle for picking up the slack over that last couple weeks here, which has been great, you know, and not having to worry about it.
00:01:01
Lando
You too, man?
00:01:08
Lando
Yeah, and...
00:01:10
Leo Ernewein
So that's been nice, man. Things been well for you. You guys did a good job.
00:01:14
Lando
Thanks, man. Yeah, no, a big shout out to Kyle. Thank you. I really appreciate him taking the time for the two hours that he did and to fill in for us. So, yeah, it was fun to do, but we missed you, man.
00:01:28
Leo Ernewein
No, it didn't really sound like it on them. No, I'm just kidding. No, you guys are great.
00:01:33
Leo Ernewein
You guys are great. Appreciate that though. It's yeah, it's been a busy few weeks as always in the sports world. And, you know, we're be diving into anything we can get our teeth into, right? Sort of.
00:01:44
Leo Ernewein
uh, and anything we can get our hands on and anything that will come out
Remembering John Garrett
00:01:47
Leo Ernewein
of our mouths, if you will. But, you know, we had some sad news coming out of the broadcasting world these last couple of days. John Garrett, also known as Cheech, passed away.
00:01:54
Leo Ernewein
The passing was all of a sudden, too. He came, he called game three of Utah as the Mammoth hosted the Golden Knights in their first ever playoff home game. And, uh,
00:02:05
Leo Ernewein
first ever playoff home win as well. He was the main commentator for Canucks games and as well he filled in on Flames games for Sportsnet and he even kind of started with Sportsnet in the late early 90s to late 90s and then left to Vancouver in the 2000s but he was a big part of hockey for many many years and was on Hockey Night in Canada as well for many years and You get a great obsession with catch up that always find him fond of. Right. It was pretty cool. And Landon, such sad news that were you a fan of his and did you, you know, what do you think of the passing there?
00:02:47
Lando
I was a fan of his, yes. I think of all the commentators that we've had in Canada, one thing that I always appreciated him of was the fact that he was very straightforward. He called it as it is. He didn't care what people thought of him. He called it, like I said, as he saw it. He also...
00:03:11
Lando
You know, I remember some of the broadcast that he did and he talked about, know, the referees. And one time I just remember, I think it was just recently, he was talking about referee and he said, I am not really sure what that referee was calling or looking at or what he was seeing, but I don't know how that's not a penalty. And then made another comment on another broadcast. He said, you know, I don't know.
00:03:38
Lando
how that is a penalty. And was just, it was really neat to listen to him, but it's just so sad to hear that he passed away. And I'm thinking about his family and, you know, all his co-workers and former co-workers. And it was just that, I'll be honest with you, when I found out,
00:03:55
Lando
that he passed away. was actually not from my phone. I was going to talk to my boss and he said, hey, Leonard, did you hear about John Garrett? said, no, what's going on?
00:04:06
Lando
And he said, well, he passed away and my mouth immediately dropped. I'm like, no, really? And so, yeah, just shocking. Very, very shocking. But yes, I was a fan of his. I liked listening to him on the Canuck games and stuff like that. So, yeah, it was so sad, like I said.
00:04:24
Lando
How about you, man? How did you hear about it? And were you a fan of his?
00:04:30
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, I think I heard about it. I was off the past couple days, but I think I was, what was I doing? I can't remember if I saw it on Facebook or if, if it came through like the athletic or something like that. But, remember just seeing it.
00:04:45
Leo Ernewein
I think it was maybe even broadcast dialogue, which is like a news outlet for broadcasters being like, who got hired, where, where's the jobs, yada, yada, yada. And,
00:04:57
Leo Ernewein
And saw that and yeah, it was, it pretty confused. Cause I, I knew was older, but like I knew he was just still calling games. So I was like, Oh no, what, what happened?
00:05:12
Leo Ernewein
I was instantly going to, to find out. And yeah, it was, it's pretty heartbreaking, but you know,
00:05:22
Leo Ernewein
It's, it's a tough pill to swallow and it'll be tough for everybody involved as well as you mentioned, like family, friends, coworkers, people who were in his life daily.
00:05:35
Leo Ernewein
He'll be surely missed. That's for sure.
00:05:37
Lando
Yes. And, you know, I just, you know, I was listening to Chris Cuthbert who did the Montreal Tampa game and just hearing his stories that he had about him. And yeah, it just, and Ron McLean kind of touched some of the things that, you know, John, what John did for him. And, you know, it was really neat to listen to Kevin Bieksa because of all the,
00:06:06
Lando
the people in the media today, Kevin got to deal with John Garrett a lot in Vancouver because obviously he was a Vancouver Canuck and was just neat hear some of the stories. And it sounds like, you know, one, I can't remember the whole story, but it sounds like the, after, after every game, John, John Garrett and John Shorthouse, who's the commentator for the,
00:06:28
Lando
vancouver canucks and the uh dan murphy who's the uh reporter and he was saying that they were all sitting in the plane and uh they i guess they had this big glass of red wine or something like that and i guess uh john was sitting there and kevin came by and just started chirping him and immediately john garrett apparently had a quick response for Kevin and I bet I, apparently they just laughed at each other because they're just the, the, the, the battering that they did or the friendly battering that they did. And so it was just neat to see, hear some of the stories about these people. And then was just neat to hear like people off of, you know, not on, on the network that, uh, he works for, TSN, all the guys talked about him. And so it was, yeah, just so sad. It, it hit the, it hit the, uh,
00:07:19
Lando
It hit the hockey world pretty hard. You can really tell.
00:07:22
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, that, it is tough, right? And it's nice to hear all the, the fond memories of colleagues in both, uh, businesses too, or not businesses, but in both TSN and Sportsnet, right? Rivals, that they both spoke so highly of him because, you know, I,
00:07:47
Leo Ernewein
he earned it for sure. And, and that's, I think that's what people liked about him on the mic where you, you mentioned that he was so quick witted. he was able to banter with just about anybody. It kind of felt like he was doing that with you,
00:08:01
Leo Ernewein
Well, he was calling a game, right?
00:08:03
Lando
I
00:08:03
Leo Ernewein
don't want to say they teach it out of you in school, but they want you to be so safe nowadays that they don't want you to be like, oh, that was a penalty in my eyes or this referee, like you were talking about earlier, this referee missed that. I don't know what play he was watching or whatever kind of thing.
00:08:19
Leo Ernewein
It just feels like that's not happening as much in the broadcasting world.
00:08:25
Lando
agree.
00:08:25
Leo Ernewein
where you get like a firsthand account from the broadcaster. And sometimes it feels like bias, but I think he did a great line. He walked a great line, sorry, of calling it how he sees it because, you know, went both ways to it. It wasn't always for the home team.
00:08:42
Leo Ernewein
Right. So,
00:08:43
Lando
Well, and the one thing that I liked about him too was he basically talked on the broadcast like how you and I, Leo, would be thinking when we're watching it, right? Like that's...
00:08:54
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:08:54
Lando
Right. That's that that's the part that I I always appreciated him. He basically said, like I said, they basically said what or he said what we're thinking. And that's what I always liked about him. So my goodness, it'll be it'll be hard not listening. He'll be sorely missed because that's that's the stuff that I miss about broadcasting. And you're 100 percent right about that.
00:09:19
Leo Ernewein
exactly the broadcasting the hockey world in general and just everybody involved for sure. We'll be thinking about him for sure for the, for the time being here and, and for a long time gone, but not forgotten rest in peace.
00:09:34
Lando
Mm-hmm.
00:09:36
Leo Ernewein
But we did have a chance to talk about some other stuff here, a bit more local news in the bow Valley, the, in the AGHL very much on our own podcast, uh, Coming out of Canmore, the Canmore Eagles of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
00:09:51
Leo Ernewein
First time in franchise history winning the title, beating out the White Court Wolverines
Canmore Eagles AJHL Victory
00:09:56
Leo Ernewein
in four out of five games. Lando, what's your reaction to the Eagles winning the title there, bud?
00:10:03
Leo Ernewein
Surely deserve long time coming, right?
00:10:05
Lando
Absolutely. Well, actually couldn't believe that they actually did it. mean, they've been around since 1995. And I was just scrolling through in They've been so darn close the 31 years that they've been in Canmore, and they just could never get over the hump. And, you know, they've also missed the playoffs a few times. And, yeah, and then they've also had in years past, they've almost went bankrupt a few times. They've had the town to ask the town to waive some of the ice time costs and things like that. So,
00:10:46
Lando
It just, it was ugly there for, they've had some ugly times, but just recently, I think just after the pandemic, I think with them starting to win, the barn has just absolutely been rocking. Like I didn't get a chance go see them this year all, but I did get to see them a few times last year and both when they do their two Banff games, the Banff games were just packed.
00:11:09
Lando
You go to Cam or for a couple playoff games and a regular scene game, the arena was as full as I remember it when I was a kid. And so it's just neat to see how the organization has really transformed from being almost bankrupt to now being you know, a contender in the AJHL. And it's not taking away anything from what they've done and winning. But, you know, I think a little bit of reality, too, for those who don't know is that I don't think they probably would have won this title if it wasn't for
00:11:45
Lando
the moving of the Brooks Bandits, the Okotoks Oilers, Blackfolds Bulldogs, that's the name, and the Spruce Grove Saints and the Sherwood Park Crusaders, those five teams, they were not...
00:12:03
Lando
If they were still in the AJHL, I don't think Canmore would be, you know, I think they'd be maybe close, but I don't think they'd be winning it. But anyways, not to take away from what they've done as an organization, it's great for the community. I'm happy that they won. I'm happy for Andrew Millen.
00:12:21
Lando
and Daryl Lockwood, who's the president of the Canberra Eagles, is just really neat to see them win. And then also, you know, how the community embraced them. Apparently, the community came out and greeted them when they came home the day after. And apparently, if anybody knows how, where the road is to get to the rec center by the high school,
00:12:46
Lando
They drove in and apparently on both sides of the street that there was people greeting them. So really neat to see. So what was your reaction there, Leo, when you heard the Eagles won?
00:12:59
Leo Ernewein
I mean, thought it was a long time coming. I remember going to watch Eagles games as a kid and thinking, you know, it was part of the reason why I fell in love with hockey or, you know, watching Leafs games with my dad and then, you know, playing minor league hockey and stuff like that and going to see the Eagles.
00:13:19
Leo Ernewein
It was all kind of part of the process, if you will. And I really liked it. it was a great time. You know, we, me and my sister were always the kids screaming for pizzas. That was always a big part of it too. So we loved that.
00:13:34
Leo Ernewein
But the growing narrative was the Eagles. Like I remember watching Mark Bomber's back and Dan Blackburn, Eagles and stuff like that.
00:13:40
Lando
yeah.
00:13:40
Lando
Yeah.
00:13:43
Leo Ernewein
And all those guys. And they, I don't, I don't know if I was young enough to remember if they were winning the AGHL at that time, but after them, it kind of became those dark days that you were talking about where they couldn't really get over the hump and the growing narrative was that they just, if they made the playoffs, they weren't going win or something like that.
00:14:06
Leo Ernewein
So, schematics aside, Spruce Grove and those other teams are out of the picture now that I don't think it takes away from their title because they would still have to play them and
00:14:11
Lando
Mm-hmm.
00:14:17
Leo Ernewein
You know, you still to play the game and they were a pretty good team. They went the distance this year. So but it certainly does help for sure. I'm not I'm not going to ignore that.
00:14:27
Leo Ernewein
But I think credits do where credits do. And shout out to the people that were, you know, with the organization for a long time that. that are building up a competitive organization. I think that's important too. When I was a kid, they were still competitive. It's not like they were just mailing it in and stuff like that. They wanted you have fun at their events stuff that. And now it's just, it seems like it's tenfold. The arena has gotten development, you know, seating is different. We're not, we're not sitting on bleachers anymore. Well, some of it is still bleachers, right? But yeah,
00:15:04
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, I guess I shouldn't say that. It's been a long time since I've been to that arena.
00:15:07
Lando
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:15:09
Leo Ernewein
But it's nice to see the investment pay off in Product on the Ice. So that's good.
00:15:19
Leo Ernewein
And people that have been with the organization through those dark times, I bet you are pretty happy right now to see it all come to fruition. And I want to shout out Haruki Morikawa.
00:15:28
Leo Ernewein
He's a defenseman born in Banff.
00:15:29
Lando
Mm-hmm.
00:15:31
Leo Ernewein
He's an alternate captain. My buddy, Ben, his dad is Takashi. He's an electrician for Waco Electric. And my friend Ben worked for Waco for a long time because his dad owns it.
00:15:43
Leo Ernewein
And he really liked Takashi. He said he was the hardest worker he ever knew and would always talk about his son and stuff like that. And, you know, so he's got to be beaming with Proud too. So that's my shout out for this episode.
00:15:55
Leo Ernewein
Landon's will come later in the episode, but I just wanted to shout him out for the time being here because it kind of fits with the Eagles.
00:15:57
Lando
Hehe.
00:16:03
Leo Ernewein
Jumping over here to the NHL, Landon.
Senators' Playoff Sweep and Kachuk Rumors
00:16:05
Leo Ernewein
First Canadian domino in the Stanley Cups has fallen, that being the Ottawa Senators getting swept by the Carolina Hurricanes in four games.
00:16:13
Leo Ernewein
I don't think the Senators led as a whole throughout the series, right? They weren't really the full time.
00:16:17
Lando
No, they did not.
00:16:19
Leo Ernewein
And the scoring duo for them between Tchuchuk and Timmy Stutzel dried up pretty big time. Tchuchuk was zero points. Landon, what do you think? Obviously, he could have done better, but do you think Kachuk's out the door? What's your reaction to that whole Carolina sweep in Ottawa situation there?
00:16:38
Lando
Well, the nice thing about... the Ottawa Senators playing the Carolina Hurricanes, is the fact that they didn't get blown out of the water. That was the good thing, that they were very, very close. But they just...
00:16:54
Lando
First of all, their goaltending was awesome, so you can't fault Allmark for that. But their defense was just... So banged up. They were missing Nick Jensen, who was out for the year. Jake Sanderson was 100%.
00:17:07
Lando
Finding out Thomas Chabot had a broken arm, and he was playing with a broken arm. So he absolutely was 100%. Artem Zub was in and out of the lineup. So their defense...
00:17:18
Leo Ernewein
That's four guys out your top six right there.
00:17:20
Leo Ernewein
Exactly.
00:17:21
Lando
And so that hurt them. And then when you don't have Kachuk and Stutzla and Bathurston scoring along with Giroux and Ridley Gregg and like it just it hurt them.
00:17:37
Lando
And so Their whole identity throughout the whole year was that they were able to score. They just couldn't keep the puck of the net. Well, it was completely reversed in the playoffs this year that they couldn't score, but they could keep the puck out of the net. So I know you're going to ask me the question about Kachuk, so I'll let you ask the question about Kachuk.
00:17:58
Leo Ernewein
Real quick, before we get to that, would you rather have won one or two games and got blown out and a few others as opposed to not leading the entire time? Like you mentioned that they didn't get blown out. And I'm like, yeah, they didn't, but they didn't have a lead for four out of four games.
00:18:18
Lando
That's true. Yeah.
00:18:19
Leo Ernewein
That's still kind of... I don't know what I'd rather take as going forward. I'd probably rather take, you know, what we got blown up, but we won a few games. We know it's like to win in the playoffs with, I mean, that young core has, I think they've won a few games in the playoffs, but not many, right?
00:18:35
Lando
Yeah, they did last year. Yeah.
00:18:36
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. You know, I think the expectation this year is to go to the second round. And when you don't win any games, that's a bit of a disappointment, right? So,
00:18:48
Lando
I agree. Yeah, I'd rather win some games than being very close and not getting blown out. Like, I'd rather, yeah, or get, sorry, let me re-say that.
00:19:00
Lando
I'd rather lose and get blown out and then win some games than being so close and then also having a goose egg next to the win column. That's what I meant to say.
00:19:10
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, trailing for the whole series is pretty tough.
00:19:14
Lando
Yeah.
00:19:14
Leo Ernewein
Even if you're just holding a lead, that's still a bit better, right?
00:19:14
Lando
Yeah.
00:19:17
Leo Ernewein
But I will get to the Kachuk here stuff because I'm seeing a lot of trade rumors with him lately.
00:19:20
Lando
Yeah.
00:19:24
Leo Ernewein
Do you think he's out of the nation's capital now?
00:19:27
Lando
Well, thing that I don't get with Ottawa is the fact that, you know, and it's along with all the Canadian teams, period, is that Canada just seems to want to run the Canadian markets and fans just seem to want to run stars out of the cities because they're not performing. And now, granted, this has been...
00:19:49
Lando
I think with Matthew or Brady Kachuk, I think this has been bubble has been kind of somewhat almost bursting for, you know, the past two years, three years, because know I've mentioned this a few times on our podcast when we've talked about Ottawa throughout the hockey season that I really question his leadership. And I think part of the problem with Ottawa, too, is is him on the team. I think he's a distraction.
00:20:16
Lando
He says I'm not. He says I'm trying to not be a distraction. And he says, know, it's getting really frustrating to hear this outside noise when I have so much, when I want to put all the heart and soul into this city and I want to win. But yet your mouth on your podcast says otherwise. And then also, you know, how he's talked about, you know,
00:20:39
Lando
Canada as a whole for hockey and how, you know, on his podcast and his actions, you know, from the four nations from last year that I, I just think he's just been such a distraction. And then I just, I don't think he's the leader that Ottawa needs it. You know, I think if they can keep them, it'd be great, but I think they need to get the captaincy off of that.
00:21:01
Lando
That's just my opinion. I think that's, what's holding them back big time. trying to move forward is, is him. And now if they want to keep them and get the captaincy off of them, if not, then yeah, you need to trade them.
00:21:14
Lando
That's just my opinion.
00:21:20
Leo Ernewein
The fans and also think the Canadian media, us a part of this too, because we're putting this out there to the world, that we have a problem of driving out stars. You nailed it on the head there.
00:21:31
Leo Ernewein
Where it's like we're dissatisfied with their play and we critique them in the media, whereas if they go down to Florida and they have a bad game or they go down to Nashville or Nashville ain't in the playoffs, but in LA got swept.
00:21:45
Lando
I know what you mean. Yeah, I know you mean.
00:21:47
Leo Ernewein
Exactly. You go down to a bigger market in the States and you get a smaller piece of the media share and honestly way less scrutiny. Sometimes that weighs on you for sure.
00:21:58
Leo Ernewein
Also, don't know if taking the C off him is going to help because I think that also stirs the pot more.
00:22:07
Leo Ernewein
I just think you need to to deal them before he wants to be dealt. You know what I mean? Cause if he asks for a dream and then that gets out there, that plummets his value as far as assets in return.
00:22:15
Lando
I see what you mean. Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:21
Leo Ernewein
So if I'm Ottawa, I'm pulling the trigger, but then again, I don't like to Chuck. I think he's a good player.
00:22:28
Lando
Mm-hmm.
00:22:29
Leo Ernewein
I just don't like his personality. I like Matthews. I don't know why don't like Brady. I'm,
00:22:36
Leo Ernewein
it's gotta be, again, probably I'm influenced by other people who would just post like Goonies memes and stuff like that, you know? Do you know what I'm talking about?
00:22:46
Leo Ernewein
The Goonies or whatever?
00:22:46
Lando
I do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, I'm with you.
00:22:51
Lando
Like, I talked to, I mean, Kyle, who was my co-host and obviously a guest on our show. And I've talked to Dave Fullerton, who's my chiropractor.
00:22:57
Leo Ernewein
Mm-hmm.
00:23:01
Lando
And they all say the same thing. That they all, just like you, they don't like him. They don't like him. And I'm kind of the same way, too. I'm not really a fan of his either. I don't like his attitude sometimes. I don't.
00:23:15
Lando
I don't like how he plays sometimes. He plays, I mean, he plays tough, but he also plays so goony that he just, like, he goes and runs people, and then he runs and hides like a little four-year-old and hides kind of like, you know, how a four-year-old will hide behind their mommy when somebody, yeah.
00:23:32
Leo Ernewein
Right, like a guy of that size should be...
00:23:34
Lando
Yeah.
00:23:35
Leo Ernewein
It's worse. It's a worse-looking op deck. And also, like, don't know why I liked Matt Tuchuk, but I didn't like Matt Tuchuk when he was younger.
00:23:38
Lando
Yeah.
00:23:45
Leo Ernewein
And so that part of me thinks that maybe I'll like Brady as he gets older and matures and sort of turns into, like, a Brad Marchand light kind of thing, right?
00:23:56
Lando
Yeah.
00:23:57
Leo Ernewein
But... Because that's the way I view Tuchuk a little bit. It's like a Marshawn light. But he plays a different position.
00:24:06
Leo Ernewein
No, I think he plays the same position. Yeah, he does. A little bit different.
00:24:09
Lando
He does. Yeah, yeah.
00:24:10
Leo Ernewein
A little bit different playing styles, but they sort of fill... They can fill the same role on a team if you need. And... Yeah, part of me is holding out for Brady to be like that. I just don't think it's going to be in Ottawa.
00:24:27
Leo Ernewein
And so I think whether the team realizes it or Brady realizes it, somebody's going to realize it first.
00:24:27
Lando
I agree with you. Yeah.
00:24:35
Leo Ernewein
So pull the trigger, get some assets before Brady realizes it. What would you do if you were Steve Stales? Would you move on? He's the GM of Ottawa.
00:24:50
Lando
Well, I would, if there's a market and a trade option for Brady, I would trade him. And I think,
00:24:57
Leo Ernewein
Say the Islanders offer you Matt Barzell. Would you take it?
00:25:01
Lando
yes, I would. Oh, would you?
00:25:04
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, but do you think the Islanders would offer you Matt Barzell?
00:25:07
Lando
no, I don't think they would. That, that.
00:25:10
Leo Ernewein
And Matt, he's good. He's good.
00:25:13
Lando
Matt Barzell is good, but yeah, I know what you mean. But I think if you can trade Brady Kachuk and there's a good enough trade for you to get him that won't hurt your roster, maybe get some assets and maybe get roster player that's just as good as him, that'd be a win for them.
00:25:31
Lando
For sure, yeah.
00:25:32
Leo Ernewein
You obviously want to get somebody a bit younger though, right? Cause like, well, I mean, he's still young too.
00:25:37
Leo Ernewein
What is Brady like
00:25:39
Lando
Yeah, I think he is. Let me look that up real quick. But yeah, I think he's... Yeah, I think he's 26. Yeah.
00:25:48
Lando
So he's quite young. So if you can get somebody younger or around the same age, perfect. So the other thing...
00:25:54
Leo Ernewein
But you don't want to go too long because then it doesn't fit Ottawa's window, right?
00:25:58
Lando
That's correct. Yeah. So they're in a sticky situation. But like I said, I think if you can find somebody that is a trading partner that can give you the same caliber of player, if not better or younger. just thought of this just right off the top of my head as we're talking about this.
00:26:15
Lando
What would happen? Because he is from St. Louis. If Ottawa traded, went to St. Louis, the St. Louis Blues and said, I'm going to, or this, I'm talking about Steve Stale. So I'm going to, to Doug Armstrong and, and Alex Dean of the St. Louis Blues and say, Hey, I, I, what do you guys think about Brady Kachuk? If we give you an offer, what would you offer?
00:26:39
Lando
And they said, well, you know, we'll kind of think about it, but what are you thinking? And I would say, well, what about Robert Thomas?
00:26:47
Lando
And we'll throw in.
00:26:47
Leo Ernewein
I'd love to see a T'Chuck in St. Louis again. I'm not going to lie.
00:26:51
Lando
Yeah, for sure.
00:26:51
Leo Ernewein
That would make me like so much more just having him on in the Blues uniform.
00:26:56
Leo Ernewein
I don't know why. Well, obviously to do with his dad, right? But yeah, to have a T'Chuck back in St. Louis, that's a great shout there, Landon.
00:27:05
Lando
Yes. So if he got traded to the St. Louis Blues for Robert Thomas, you know, I think if I was St. Louis, you want to try to shake things up a little bit.
00:27:17
Lando
That would be a pretty darn good trade, I think, player for player, right? So it'd be interesting. again, we're not trying to come on here and create trade rumors and things like that.
00:27:27
Lando
But that's what I would say.
00:27:28
Leo Ernewein
Are we? Maybe. You don't know.
00:27:29
Lando
Maybe.
00:27:31
Leo Ernewein
might be.
00:27:33
Leo Ernewein
I'm just kidding.
00:27:34
Lando
know. So am One other thing.
00:27:36
Leo Ernewein
You think the Hurricanes would trade for him in the offseason after they scored zero points against him in a playoff series?
00:27:43
Lando
No, I don't. I think they like their team the way they have it. I mean, obviously, they would like to improve if they can. But, like, right now, I don't think Carolina should touch anything the way they've been playing this year.
00:27:52
Leo Ernewein
Right, but like say Carolina gets out muscled or something like that, but it's not going to happen by like Tampa Bay.
00:27:53
Lando
So...
00:27:55
Lando
Okay,
00:27:58
Leo Ernewein
Maybe it could. I don't know. We'll get into the format later too because I've got a bone to pick.
00:28:00
Lando
Maybe. Maybe if they're going to...
00:28:05
Leo Ernewein
Anyways, jumping over to the next part here, the Colorado Avalanche President's Trophy winners just swept the LA Kings in four straight games as well. They await the winner of the Minnesota Dallas series, which I think Minnesota can clinch this evening at the end of April the 30th.
00:28:21
Leo Ernewein
Minnesota Cup 3-2.
00:28:21
Lando
Yes.
00:28:23
Leo Ernewein
Anzi Kopitar now officially retired from the National Hockey League as a member of the LA Kings. Played his entire career with the LA Kings, which I think is really cool.
00:28:35
Leo Ernewein
And again, you don't see that from superstars nowadays. What do you think about that, Landon?
00:28:42
Lando
I think that is very cool. Not too many players in the NHL do that, like you just said. And he was one of my favorite players. I really liked him. I didn't like him at the start, though. Why I didn't like him is because that's when that dark visor just started it.
00:28:59
Leo Ernewein
get the visor. I loved him for that. I thought was sick.
00:29:02
Lando
I hated it. I hated at the start.
00:29:04
Leo Ernewein
Didn't Gabaric have a visor too?
00:29:06
Leo Ernewein
Marion Gabaric didn't he get the for a little bit? Yeah.
00:29:06
Lando
Yeah, yeah.
00:29:08
Lando
Yeah, so, yeah, he did.
00:29:09
Leo Ernewein
I thought it was awesome. bet you as a ref you're like see this every day that you suck get out of here.
00:29:13
Lando
What?
00:29:17
Lando
No, no, no, no. I just thought it just looked really stupid. But, you know, when you look, yeah, yeah, draw your attention to yourself like you're a new kid on the block and you're trying to draw attention to yourself.
00:29:21
Leo Ernewein
Trying to show off like draw attention to yourself kind of thing. Yeah.
00:29:28
Leo Ernewein
got the Jersey tuck too, right?
00:29:30
Lando
Yeah.
00:29:30
Leo Ernewein
The Wayne Gretzky tuck, yeah.
00:29:30
Lando
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So anyways, I just, I didn't like, I didn't like him at the start because of all that stuff. But as he grew, as he became regular NHL-er, and then obviously I became pretty big Kings fan.
00:29:47
Lando
I mean, I've always been a Kings fan since Gretzky, right? But they sucked after that, after him leaving. But when he came on board and yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:29:56
Leo Ernewein
when they did the rebrand, like the black and silver and white and those runs the early.
00:30:00
Lando
They,
00:30:01
Leo Ernewein
And yeah.
00:30:01
Lando
Yeah, they did all the rebrand and then, you know, they got Dowdy and then Mike Richards, Jeff Carter.
00:30:06
Leo Ernewein
Mike Richards, even though he's not a great guy.
00:30:10
Lando
Yeah, all those guys that came on in the first Stanley Cup.
00:30:12
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:30:13
Lando
I was, and obviously Jonathan Quick became star. So I became an LA Kings fan a little bit again and rooted for them.
00:30:21
Lando
Both Stanley Cups, actually. But yeah.
00:30:25
Leo Ernewein
I always wondered how they did it because I never thought that they had like a star offensive threat. I always felt like Kopitar maybe wasn't enough, but they did a great job, such a great job of building a team around them that it didn't matter.
00:30:39
Lando
They did. Yeah, they did. But he played with some pretty good players, though. When you really think about the guys that he did play with back then, I mean, he played with Dustin.
00:30:47
Leo Ernewein
But I feel like he elevated them to become better players and then they continued to play better elsewhere.
00:30:49
Lando
Yeah.
00:30:54
Lando
Yeah, that's true. Yeah.
00:30:55
Leo Ernewein
He was a great mentor to play with too.
00:30:57
Lando
Yeah. Well, mean, you think about Justin Williams that he played with.
00:31:00
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, he was clutch in the playoffs, Justin Williams.
00:31:03
Lando
Oh, 100%.
00:31:04
Lando
And then he also played with Dustin Brown. And unfortunately, did.
00:31:04
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:31:09
Leo Ernewein
Justin Brown was the captain for the long time, right?
00:31:12
Lando
And he passed torch on to Anze Kopitar eventually. So...
00:31:16
Leo Ernewein
I mean,
00:31:17
Lando
So, yeah, my reaction to Anze is, you know, first of all, congratulations, man. I mean, you were one of my favorite players. It was so much fun to watch. You were a great centerman, a great leader. think he helped bring the LA Kings back on the map in LA because, I mean, you watch Kings games on TV.
00:31:35
Lando
They're selling out all the time. They are. And it's great see.
00:31:38
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:31:39
Lando
I remember before he came there, and even at the start of his career, that barn was not full. It was really not full.
00:31:46
Lando
Now, Grant,
00:31:47
Leo Ernewein
They were like in LA struggling to sell tickets and competing the Lakers.
00:31:49
Lando
yes, they were. suck.
00:31:51
Leo Ernewein
And now it's like, sure, the Lakers are doing, well, I don't even know how the Lakers are doing, but...
00:31:57
Lando
They suck.
00:31:58
Leo Ernewein
They continue to sell tickets. And so does LA. It's like LA, the Kings have proved there's enough room for them in LA because there's plenty of room, obviously.
00:32:19
Leo Ernewein
remember seeing lot plays from Kings games.
00:32:25
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:32:25
Lando
Apparently, Tom Hanks and his son and his granddaughter were at the game four where they lost. He was there.
00:32:40
Lando
They've had a lot of stars that go there and watch. So, yeah, it's not...
00:32:43
Leo Ernewein
I bet Justin Bieber's been to more Kings games than he's been to Leafs games. And he's probably been to a few, quite a few Leafs games.
00:32:47
Lando
I think so. Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:51
Leo Ernewein
It's probably just so much easier for him to pop in and out of LA out of the, I think they don't play at the Staples Center anymore. Right. It's not even called that. Is crypto arena? Do they even play there?
00:33:01
Lando
Crypto. It's the same build. It's the same building.
00:33:03
Lando
It's called crypto.com.
00:33:03
Leo Ernewein
It's the same building.
00:33:04
Leo Ernewein
Okay. So they still play crypto.
00:33:04
Lando
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:33:06
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:33:07
Leo Ernewein
Still forever to call it Staples Center because it's just.
00:33:11
Leo Ernewein
But it's probably, yeah, just so much easier for him to do that. And it becomes like, you know, a blip of news as opposed to him going to see a Leafs game in Toronto.
00:33:22
Leo Ernewein
And it's like front page for some reason, you know, almost front page stuff. They're like Bieber in town supporting the Leafs after they choke a five, three loss. You're just like, what, what does that have to do with him?
00:33:35
Leo Ernewein
It's this is a sports page.
00:33:36
Lando
Yeah.
00:33:37
Leo Ernewein
What? Yeah.
00:33:40
Lando
You know what, Kyle?
00:33:41
Lando
You know what, man? was just thinking this, how we got so off course. I just started chuckling a little bit. uh caught my our our my friend and coast and guest on their show kyle back and he would would start laughing right now he's he would be at us both of us how did we go from onze coppador to the kingston now to justin bieber to talking about the leafs how did we get that way everybody talks
00:34:06
Leo Ernewein
That's always back to the maple loaves, man.
00:34:10
Leo Ernewein
The laws.
00:34:11
Lando
Yeah, I know. Like, unripped so.
00:34:13
Leo Ernewein
People laws.
00:34:13
Lando
But, no, again, big shout-out to... Yeah, exactly.
00:34:18
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:34:18
Lando
Big shout-out to Anze Kopitar. Congratulations, man. You'll be missed.
00:34:21
Leo Ernewein
What do you think is going to take over the captain as a quitting by field now? It's gotta be by field, right?
00:34:26
Lando
Well, maybe him or I thought Adrian Kempe.
00:34:30
Leo Ernewein
Can pay spent a staple there for a long time too. Yeah.
00:34:33
Lando
Yeah, I thought about either Byfield or I think Adrian Kempe.
00:34:35
Leo Ernewein
And we,
00:34:37
Lando
I think...
00:34:38
Leo Ernewein
I like that.
00:34:38
Leo Ernewein
That's a good show, too.
00:34:39
Lando
Yeah, I think that's who it could be. But I...
00:34:42
Leo Ernewein
How do you think Colorado played in that series? I mean, obviously, you think they'll probably play well, but are you worried about how much time off they're going to have when they have to face other stars of the wilds?
00:34:52
Lando
Well...
00:34:55
Lando
Yeah, like I think, you know, when Colorado played good, like I, the L.A. just, you know, they just really played such good defensive hockey that it was really hard for Colorado to generate any offense. And Colorado has actually played that type of game, you know, a number of times throughout the season. So I wasn't worried about it.
00:35:17
Lando
I know I've had a lot of people come up to me and say, you know, are you worried about their average? How come they're not smoking L.A.? And I said, well, L.A. is a good team, guys. Like, they didn't make it in the playoffs just to be a pushover. They're pretty good team. They've got good players. So...
00:35:32
Leo Ernewein
It's just the CFL where eight out nine teams are going to make it now. We'll get to that too. Sorry.
00:35:36
Lando
Yeah,
00:35:39
Leo Ernewein
Couldn't help it.
00:35:40
Lando
it's all good, man. But to answer your question about their layoff, I think it's probably going to good thing for them because I think they've played a lot of hockey. There's been guys who have had Some bumps and bruises who have been in and out of the lineup. So I think this is probably going to be a good thing for them to get some rest this weekend and get ready because I think whoever they play, Minnesota or Dallas, it's going to be a war.
00:36:07
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, and I mean, I think that was always the end goal when you saw the playoff format. Not the end goal, but I mean, you're thinking about that second round series before even playing in the first game of the first round series, right?
00:36:22
Leo Ernewein
So the fact they didn't seem like they stumbled, or if they did stumble, that didn't hurt them very much and they got back on track quickly and stuff like that is a really good sign.
00:36:22
Lando
yeah.
00:36:34
Leo Ernewein
Because... you know, it's, it's hard to say that every player in that dressing room wasn't what you're going home and watching the Minnesota Dallas stars series almost straight.
00:36:46
Leo Ernewein
They're paying attention.
00:36:47
Leo Ernewein
They're, they're watching who they're playing next because they know that that one's going to be, that, that could have been a Stanley cup final series if they were in respective East and West conferences, right?
00:36:57
Leo Ernewein
Those are two of the best teams in the NHL three, the best teams, NHL, sorry.
00:37:00
Lando
yeah
00:37:02
Leo Ernewein
Any of those teams could be in the Stanley Cup finals this year, right? So we'll move on here.
00:37:06
Lando
yeah.
00:37:08
Leo Ernewein
About a month and half ago, Gary Bettman and the general managers at the National Hockey League had their annual meetings, and Bettman and them were asked at a press conference about the playoff format, and he said he had no intention of changing it.
00:37:21
Leo Ernewein
He likes how he says the NHL has the best first round out of any professional sports league. Do you agree with him, Landon?
00:37:28
Lando
No, I do not. Not the fact that it's not a good first round because they are, but I disagree with him. Gary is missing the point of why you want the best teams to move on to the playoffs.
00:37:43
Lando
And if you want competitiveness, how is it fair? You look at how the playoff format is set up right now. Montreal and Tampa could be very easily in the Stanley Cup final right now, right? Based on their record, how they play. One of those two teams is going to get bounced out first round. You look at, we just were talking a little bit about Dallas, Minnesota, who they're going to play Colorado. Well, how, you know, they've been one of the three best teams in the, in the Western conference this year.
00:38:12
Lando
They're one of those two teams is going to get bounced out because of the record. And, It's just don't understand how you can sit there and say that this is great for the league when a lot of general managers are starting to say and players are starting to say this isn't working anymore. This is just it's not fair. It's not working out anymore. And I think, you know, the...
00:38:34
Lando
the playoff format really needs to change. Like I just, I don't like how Gary can sit there and say, bank that, you know, the first round is gonna, is the best in the league is best anywhere because you know, the, the first round shouldn't be your best round in the playoffs.
00:38:51
Lando
It's the best round should be the Stanley cup final.
00:38:53
Leo Ernewein
It shouldn't be. You're right. You're right. You're totally right, and you hit the nail on the head. The problem is that it's a business, and they probably looked at it and said, everybody's going to watch the finals and the conference finals anyways.
00:39:05
Leo Ernewein
Our problems were with the first two rounds and generating interest. What better way to do it than this? And that's probably why they did it. I don't agree with it, and I think it creates a bit more – playing with the standings at the end of the year, as opposed the one through eight system where some teams are like, Oh, well, we don't want to win because then we have to play this team or something like that. Right. And you, you all of sudden you get that issue or whatever, where somebody's all sudden scrap making some healthy scratches on the final two games of the season or something like that, because they want to lock up the fourth seed and they don't want to play or they want, you know, whatever.
00:39:44
Leo Ernewein
But I will agree with them that it does create the best first round action. So it's hard to argue with that, that from a business perspective, it solved their issue of keeping, of drawing interest for the first two rounds.
00:39:50
Lando
For sure.
00:40:00
Leo Ernewein
Because we're gonna watch the conference finals and Stanley Cup finals anyways. It sucks that we don't get the best matchups though. And so from a pure sports fan perspective,
00:40:09
Lando
Yes.
00:40:12
Leo Ernewein
Obviously, it's muddied. And that's the problem. That's the problem I have constantly when I'm getting older here with all sports is that private equity and late stage capitalism is ruining it all because they put money into it and sports betting and all this crap.
00:40:28
Leo Ernewein
And then you to deal with these other issues that you never thought you had to deal with.
00:40:29
Lando
Yeah.
00:40:32
Leo Ernewein
I never thought that we'd have to deal with seeing some of the best first round best best matchup playoff matchups in the first round before as a kid because it it just wasn't fathomable they had the one through eight and that was fine and it didn't need changing but no we have a way to draw more interests and stupid it was probably a computer that said hey try this like analytically this this will fix your problem and they did it and it worked and
00:41:03
Leo Ernewein
Damn it. Stop
Criticism of NHL Playoff Format
00:41:05
Leo Ernewein
it.
00:41:07
Leo Ernewein
That's all I got say about it.
00:41:10
Lando
one versus eight, there was nothing wrong with it. Now, the only thing that I do technically agree with is that I don't like how the top three teams at that time were the best three teams.
00:41:21
Lando
It didn't matter the point systems or anything like that. But you're giving the division winners the chance to be the top three teams. That's the whole point. And then whoever is at the bottom...
00:41:31
Leo Ernewein
If not, why play for the division? What's the point?
00:41:33
Lando
Exactly. Exactly.
00:41:35
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:41:36
Lando
And then after that, it didn't matter who was fourth to eighth. It could have been a mixture of anybody. And so when you look at the teams now, if you want to give the two division winners in each conference the top two seats, that's fine.
00:41:51
Lando
And then everybody else, it's like it's free game, right, as far as I'm concerned. And you look at – kind of looked at the standings real quick. Like, I mean – I kind of looked at how the standings would work.
00:42:05
Lando
So Dallas, I think, or sorry, Colorado won the Pacific. And then Vegas won the – or sorry, I'm mixing that up.
00:42:14
Lando
Colorado won the Central. The Golden Knights won the Pacific. So Colorado would be one. Vegas would be two. Then probably I would say Dallas was probably third because they had the best points out of anybody. you had Minnesota fourth. And then I think it was like Edmonton fifth, Utah sixth or something like that.
00:42:36
Lando
And then I think it was Anaheim seventh and then like LA eighth. I mean, you look at how that would have worked out. You wouldn't have... You would still have had Colorado playing L.A. regardless. But then you would have had Vegas playing Anaheim. And Edmonton would be playing Utah right now.
00:42:55
Lando
And Minnesota would be playing – who did I say? Minnesota would be playing –
00:43:00
Leo Ernewein
Dallas and still be Minnesota Dallas.
00:43:05
Leo Ernewein
That doesn't solve our problem.
00:43:07
Lando
No, what did I say? No, Dallas was third. I'm getting all kerfuffle there tonight. No, I said Dallas was third. Minnesota was fourth. Edmonton fifth. Utah sixth. Okay, so it would have been Dallas playing Utah. That's what I'm mixing all that up. And then Edmonton would be playing Minnesota.
00:43:25
Leo Ernewein
Okay.
00:43:27
Lando
If that makes sense.
00:43:27
Leo Ernewein
Still, that's a pretty good first round. Yeah, I guess that's what I would have liked a bit more to see, though. A bit more balancing in the first round.
00:43:35
Lando
Yeah.
00:43:36
Leo Ernewein
Because, you know, I'm not watching the first round for seven. Well, I am watching for seven game series and stuff like that. But not if the next team is going to...
00:43:50
Leo Ernewein
go 4-0 and 4-0 and 4-0 all the way to the Stanley Cup final. Their toughest test was the first round. I don't know. That's not playoffs. That's just weird seeding.
00:44:01
Lando
Yeah.
00:44:02
Leo Ernewein
I want because I would still watch those 1-8 seeded games. Probably not as much, but if I'm a fan of the team, if the Leafs are the one seed and they're beating up on Montreal or Ottawa on the eighth seed, which probably won't happen for a long time here, yeah, I'm going to tune in because that's, you know, it's your team. So you can't try to manipulate these matchups for ratings.
00:44:23
Leo Ernewein
We're not the NBA here. We're not... Cullen fouls on free and getting free throws to try push this to a seven game series. It's hockey. right. The puck bounces in a weird way. We take it.
00:44:35
Leo Ernewein
That's how it goes.
00:44:35
Lando
Exactly. The other thing I was going to say real quick is the fact that they got this idea from the NCAA too. The bracket thing. That's where they got it from.
00:44:45
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. Yeah.
00:44:47
Lando
And then the wild card thing, I think they also got that from the NBA, I think too. I think that's where they got that wild card thing from.
00:44:54
Leo Ernewein
You see the NBA has launched their new rules for –
00:44:56
Lando
Or no, maybe it was the NFL. Maybe it was the NFL that they got that idea from. I can't remember. was one of the two leagues.
00:45:01
Leo Ernewein
real quick, because we're on the NBA here, they launched their draft lottery odds for – think it's next year, not this year.
00:45:04
Lando
Bye.
00:45:10
Leo Ernewein
And teams in the play-in, if you're like the 10 or 9 seed even the 8 seed, So even if you win one play-in game and you still get knocked out in the first round, you can still get a higher percent chance to win the lottery.
00:45:25
Leo Ernewein
Obviously, teams 1 through 8 now will get a high chance. before, if you finished like 14th seed, your, your chances to your odds to win the lottery were like 0.05.
00:45:36
Leo Ernewein
Now I think there's somewhere between three and 5% for those teams, uh, just on outside of the law or in the lottery or sorry, in the play in through to like nine, nine through to the play or something like that. So a lot of people are cheesed because it does, it helps the better teams get better and the worst teams stay worse. It doesn't really fix their problem.
00:45:56
Lando
No, it does not.
00:45:58
Leo Ernewein
And a lot of teams are saying that, you know, the Utah Jazz this year got fined 500K for obviously trying to lose games at a competitive league.
00:46:07
Leo Ernewein
And GMs have been quoted saying the number one pick is worth about a million dollars. So, you know, you could fine us as much as you want. We're going to continue to do that because the number one pick could turn around a franchise for sure if you hit and you don't get a Greg Oden or somebody with some injury issues or whatever, yada, yada, yada.
00:46:24
Leo Ernewein
Anyways, we'll jump back to the NHL here. I just wanted to add that in because we're so on it.
00:46:27
Lando
No, it makes sense.
00:46:29
Leo Ernewein
And I like to go off topic. The playoffs here, though, there's been a ton of guys embellishing, though. Crosby, McKinnon, they got called for it. Ivan Barbashev last night. Sean Dursey as well.
00:46:40
Leo Ernewein
Or Ivan Barbashev along with Sean Dursey. Lando, why do you think there's been so many embellishments during these playoffs as a former ref? It's good job to point that out. But, you know, do you think the refs are doing a good job of calling it?
00:46:55
Lando
I, well, first, to answer your first question, why there's been so much embellishing, I think they're trying to get an edge on the competition. And I think they're doing whatever it takes to try to win a hockey game and try to get penalties and try to get on the power play.
00:47:11
Lando
But I think what's happening on the referees' perspectives, I think they're doing a good enough job. Now, could they do a better job? Absolutely. But I think what's happening is, from a referees' perspective, just watching them, I think they're so befuggled or confused about, is this a legitimate...
00:47:30
Lando
Are they legitimately going down because of the infraction? are they doing it just to try to get an edge? And so I think the referees are having a heck of a time trying to call stuff.
00:47:40
Lando
I really do.
00:47:41
Leo Ernewein
Because the line is so thin.
00:47:41
Lando
I think, don't think, yeah.
00:47:44
Leo Ernewein
And it's such a heat, like playoff hockey is so heated, right? It's so intense that sometimes you don't even know. just kind of, it happens. And not to say that they did or didn't embellish.
00:47:58
Leo Ernewein
It's just the way their body reacted, right? And maybe the referee saw it as, from their angle, looked like they overdid it or they didn't.
00:48:08
Leo Ernewein
Maybe, maybe with all the angles that we get on broadcast and stuff like that it tends to help point it out a bit more. but yeah, I just, I'm seeing it a lot more this year than I felt like seen in the past.
00:48:20
Lando
Me too. Yeah.
00:48:22
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:48:23
Lando
And it's not a good look because it's not making the players look good. You look at what happened with Crosby. That was just stupid. Why would you do that?
00:48:34
Lando
Right? Like, yeah. Anyways, it's just, you know, like I said, I think the refs are having a heck of time trying to make calls because I just, I think they were hoping that if they nail McKinnon and Crosby, that this would stop, and it hasn't stopped.
00:48:47
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. And it hasn't. Yeah.
00:48:50
Lando
Yeah, so.
00:48:51
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. Well, you got to nail everybody's star once, right? At some point. So, it's being a stars though.
00:48:54
Lando
Yeah, exactly.
00:48:56
Leo Ernewein
Heart trophy finalist, Macklin, Celebrini, Nikita Kucherov and Connor McDavid voted by the players. Who do you think, uh, should win?
00:49:05
Lando
Well, based on the three, I think Macklin and Salabrini sure would.
00:49:10
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. I'd love, I would love to see Celebrini win. It's just, his team didn't make the playoffs.
00:49:16
Lando
That is true. Yeah, and that's...
00:49:18
Leo Ernewein
And for me, it comes down to Kucherov and McDavid. And I'd almost go Kuch this year, man.
00:49:25
Lando
I would Kucherov too is my second choice. And I think who got left out and got snubbed big time again, was McKinnon again. Like I think Nathan McKinnon got snubbed.
00:49:37
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. agree.
00:49:38
Lando
Right. And I think he really got stopped this year. And then there was one, there was one other guy that I thought probably should have, you know, been somewhat close to being a hard trophy.
00:49:41
Leo Ernewein
agree.
00:49:50
Lando
or kind of come close to it was Seth Jarvis from the Carolina Hurricanes. Like, he had a phenomenal year, right?
00:49:57
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:49:59
Lando
Yeah, it's just like, wow. So, yeah, anyways.
00:50:02
Leo Ernewein
Mark Shifley had an incredible year. Nick Suzuki did too for abs.
00:50:05
Lando
Yeah, he did too. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:50:08
Lando
Yeah.
00:50:08
Leo Ernewein
If I would go with different finalists, I'm not necessarily different because McDavid's got to be in there.
00:50:13
Leo Ernewein
You know, you scored nearly 140 points. It's hard to argue. And same with Kucherov. His team was so good and his 130. I do think McKinnon, he scored 127. think that's...
00:50:26
Leo Ernewein
You know, that's tough. How do you...
00:50:30
Leo Ernewein
How do you... Yeah.
00:50:32
Leo Ernewein
get that they put Celebrini in, but his team didn't make their playoffs.
00:50:33
Lando
How you miss them? Yeah.
00:50:37
Leo Ernewein
I would have obviously put McKinnon over Celebrini. I think that's a major snub because I think McKinnon, with the way his team performed, had a real chance to win that award.
00:50:47
Leo Ernewein
And to not even be nominated is like a swift kick in the, you know, so...
00:50:51
Lando
Yeah, exactly.
00:50:52
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, that's pretty disrespectful. Speaking of disrespect, well, it's not really disrespectful here. CFL, though, made an announcement this week that the schedule change is going to happen for next season. They're going to start on Victoria Day, which is the long weekend.
00:51:08
Leo Ernewein
A bizarre way for their playoff format, though. 90% of the league is going to make the playoffs. Landon, like eight out nine teams now, as if it wasn't bad with six out of nine.
00:51:20
Leo Ernewein
Why?
00:51:22
Lando
I like that they're going to start earlier. That's great.
00:51:26
Leo Ernewein
too. More summer games focused around, you know, Canadian long weekends here.
00:51:28
Lando
Yeah, exactly.
00:51:31
Lando
Yeah.
00:51:32
Leo Ernewein
We'd be wrapping up spring training, you know, around April, or sorry, the mid-May with the first weekend kicking off at the end of May.
00:51:33
Lando
Complete...
00:51:38
Lando
They're...
00:51:43
Lando
Correct. 100%. I completely agree with them. They'll own all the long weekends throughout the summer. It's kicking off on Victoria Day. But this playoff format, if any writer across the league who writes for the CFL, any commentator for the CFL,
00:52:04
Lando
says that this is good. This playoff format is good. You are a fool. As far as I'm concerned.
00:52:09
Leo Ernewein
they're only saying it's good money for financial reasons, right? That'd be the only reason they're saying it's good is because the league looks at how much they, how much revenue they get off of a playoff game and said, why don't we have more of those?
00:52:22
Lando
Yeah. The thing that...
00:52:23
Leo Ernewein
And you can't do a series in football, right? You can't, can you imagine if they tried a three game series, how little athletic stock the CFL would be?
00:52:26
Lando
No.
00:52:32
Leo Ernewein
So this is the next answer is to just extend the playoffs and,
00:52:37
Leo Ernewein
God, I feel like you need more teams to do that. What's the point in the regular season?
00:52:42
Lando
You do.
00:52:43
Leo Ernewein
You don't play to finish last and that's it?
00:52:47
Lando
Yeah. Why?
00:52:48
Lando
Why?
00:52:52
Leo Ernewein
You could make the regular season five games now.
00:52:56
Lando
Yeah, well, I laughed at this because there's one podcast that I listened to, and his name is Sid Sixero, and I know I've referenced him a few times over our podcast, but I laughed at this.
00:52:56
Leo Ernewein
Sorry.
00:52:56
Leo Ernewein
Go ahead.
00:53:09
Lando
He basically said, you're the ninth team in this league now, and you don't make the playoffs, you're going to get fired. You're going be the laughingstock of the league.
00:53:17
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, it has to be. It has to be an inquiry out of a cannon.
00:53:20
Lando
You're going to get fired.
00:53:24
Lando
Right? Like, so how do you... And he made a good point, and I agree with this point because I thought exactly the same thing. How do you consider this a pro league now? And my...
00:53:36
Lando
I like to know what the commissioner, Stuart Johnston, is actually thinking about with all these changes. Like, what... I get...
00:53:45
Leo Ernewein
I mean, Mr. Krabs money, money, money, money. Sorry.
00:53:48
Lando
Oh, yeah. Oh, no. We're talking about money. It's 100% what's happening. They're worried about money. He's trying to make money for the league again, which is fine, but he's going about it the wrong way.
00:53:58
Leo Ernewein
I get that. But it's, yeah, it almost feels like it dilutes the product. And that's the what you, the last thing you want to do as a commissioner is dilute the product. And to me, that dilutes the product.
00:54:08
Lando
And I think he's doing that. Yeah, he's delusional.
00:54:11
Leo Ernewein
But at the same time, think having this would be great if they had 12 teams.
00:54:18
Lando
For sure.
00:54:19
Leo Ernewein
Even 10 is pushing it. 12 and have nine make. Sure. 12 and have six make. Perfect. But no, that's not good enough. You don't make enough revenue.
00:54:29
Leo Ernewein
Get more teams. And that's tough because that's a whole nother financial thing to deal with. We were looking at the white caps potentially leaving BC. I know that's soccer and MLS, but you know, it's, it's, a, it's a whole other logistics problem with stadiums and, and a lot of other issues and fan base support.
00:54:41
Lando
Exactly. Yeah.
00:54:50
Leo Ernewein
And, you know, and some, some teams are already struggling with fan base support. I don't think, I think there's definitely enough talent. don't think that's the problem. The talent factory is always going to be there with guys coming out of college and the NFL washing out stuff like that.
00:55:05
Leo Ernewein
It's the, it's the support from locals and to generate income and stuff like that. And if you want more playoff games, I just think you need more teams. And it starts with an East coast team for sure.
00:55:18
Lando
Yeah.
00:55:20
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. It starts with East coast team and a, and a team,
00:55:20
Lando
Yeah, I'm thinking. Yeah.
00:55:26
Leo Ernewein
Where else was I going to say? A northern team would be cool. I think team up north would get a lot of support, but playing in the summer would also be a completely different animal up there.
00:55:30
Lando
Yeah.
00:55:38
Leo Ernewein
Right? Could you imagine trying to play under floodlights at 3 p.m. or something like that?
00:55:43
Lando
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:55:44
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:55:47
Leo Ernewein
Maybe you don't go that far north. I don't know. I don't know.
00:55:52
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:56:03
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:56:06
Lando
You look at maybe Windsor or London or somewhere in there, yeah, or
00:56:16
Lando
Yeah.
00:56:21
Lando
Correct.
00:56:22
Leo Ernewein
Right? And now with you starting earlier, that could also help
00:56:22
Lando
Yeah.
00:56:26
Leo Ernewein
pull people to Argos and, you know, but if you get somebody in Windsor, bada bing bada boom, then I'm going to make the trip into Toronto, it'd be it becomes a day thing as opposed to, or just a couple hour thing as opposed to a whole day thing, or even few days.
00:56:41
Lando
Yeah. Yeah.
00:56:43
Lando
Anyways. I'm starting to call the CFL now a Mickey Mouse league because technically that's what it is.
CFL Playoff Format Critique
00:56:52
Lando
Or it's becoming that way anyways. You know me, Leo. I'm a huge supporter of the
00:56:58
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. You put the CFL stuff in not the NFL draft, which we'll get to here.
00:57:00
Lando
I'm... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:57:04
Lando
But it's just... It's just so frustrating. It's so frustrating as a fan to watch what they're doing to this league. Because it's... I think what's going to happen is they're going to drive everybody out that they're not going to have anybody.
00:57:17
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, that would be a problem.
00:57:19
Lando
That's my personal opinion.
00:57:20
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:57:21
Lando
Yeah. So...
00:57:24
Leo Ernewein
well, Jumping over to NFL here real quick, because I just wanted to plug this in before we get to the, but, uh, the NFL draft happened for Nana Mendoza, obviously went number one to the Raiders.
00:57:31
Lando
Yeah, for sure.
00:57:38
Leo Ernewein
just want to see if the Broncos had a first round pick here or if they traded out. I don't think they did.
00:57:47
Lando
don't think they had a first round, no. I think they had a second round.
00:57:50
Leo Ernewein
just like it. I know the Patriots picked another offensive tackle.
00:57:54
Lando
Yeah.
00:57:56
Leo Ernewein
Caleb Lomu, he had bit of a – not a questionable – he had a bit of a weird – I shouldn't say weird either. It's just him showing off his style, I guess, or whatever, but a bit of a sassy dance, I guess, if you call it, on his picture at the NFL draft or whatever where he was – you know how they show you this draft card when a player gets picked and shows a picture of them they're showing highlights or whatever?
00:58:17
Lando
Yeah.
00:58:17
Leo Ernewein
And it was Caleb doing some weird dance or something like that.
00:58:20
Leo Ernewein
It was funny. Other picks that I really liked – Well, the Eagles stealing Makai Lemon, who was a receiver out of USC, Southern California.
00:58:30
Leo Ernewein
So he was on the phone with the Pittsburgh Steelers at 21 saying the Steelers were going to draft him. The Steelers were going draft him. And all of a sudden, the Eagles are trying to call him because they traded up to 20 to take him.
00:58:45
Leo Ernewein
And he's not answering the phone because he's on the phone with the Steelers. And then all sudden somebody runs up to him. They're like, hey, get off the phone. Get off the phone. It's Philly. It's Philly. And he's like, oh, what? And he's now realized, mean, he's staying in Pennsylvania, but you've got to be bummed for the Steelers to have the guy that you were going to take have somebody just trade up above you to go and take that guy.
00:59:08
Leo Ernewein
Hilarious.
00:59:09
Lando
Oh, man.
00:59:10
Leo Ernewein
Junior, the Miami defensive end, falls to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which I think is a solid pick. He fell all the way to 15 when he was projected to be in the top five.
00:59:20
Leo Ernewein
He's a really solid defensive end. So Tampa just infuriates me as a Saints fan. Ty Simpson is a quarterback out of Alabama, got picked at 13 to the LA Rams, which is kind of weird because Matt Stafford just won the MVP. And you think, you know, you just won the MVP and you didn't win the Superbowl.
00:59:40
Leo Ernewein
You try to go back and win the Superbowl next year. And what would do that, but get you better weapons. They'd literally drafted anybody. They could have drafted any other position, To help him win. Instead, they drafted a position that could help them win in three years. Like, I don't understand it.
00:59:57
Leo Ernewein
Their GM, Les Snead, though, is apparently really good friends with his dad. So... So I guess they were, he really wanted them. Caden Proctor, big left tackle out of Alabama for the dolphins.
01:00:10
Leo Ernewein
Caleb Downs is who I wanted the saints to pick. He's a safety out of Ohio state. lot people are saying he's probably the one that most likely end up in the hall of fame out of this draft class. He went to Dallas. The saints took a wide receiver, Jordan Tyson, because they needed a wide receiver. They had, um, had,
01:00:24
Leo Ernewein
Chris Olave and then like a bunch of plumbers after him. So I don't want to be disrespectful. They aren't plumbers, but they were guys on like practice squad spots and stuff like that. So,
01:00:35
Lando
Gotcha.
01:00:36
Leo Ernewein
They definitely beat somebody.
01:00:38
Leo Ernewein
Jeremiah Love, the running back, whoever he was talking about, maybe the Giants would pick even though they had Cam Scadbu.
01:00:44
Leo Ernewein
He went to Arizona who had three good running backs already on their depth chart.
01:00:49
Leo Ernewein
No offensive line and not a decent quarterback. So everybody's like, what are you guys doing here? He's going He's going to be like Ashton Jenty 2.0 and not get any yards this year, maybe next year. But Carnell Tate, wide receiver, went to Tennessee. Arvel Reese, good linebacker slash edge, went to the Giants.
01:01:09
Leo Ernewein
And the Kansas City Chiefs traded up to get a cornerback because they lost. think they traded Trent McDuffie or he signed somewhere. I can't remember. But anyways, we'll jump over here to the last. Landon, do you have anything that want to mention on the NFL draft? Did you watch it at all or?
01:01:24
Lando
I did not. Yeah, it's not something that really gravitate to. did – yeah, yeah.
01:01:29
Leo Ernewein
I'm such a nerd sometimes.
01:01:41
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. Yeah.
01:01:43
Lando
But, you know, I think – You know, if I think about for the Las Vegas Raiders, I think they desperately need to draft a quarterback badly. Like, they've gone through a circus of quarterbacks like you wouldn't believe. So, hopefully he turns out into something. So, I was pretty happy with the Patriots. They always seem to get their best tackles anywhere.
01:02:06
Lando
And they seem to be the players. team of the NFL all the time. They always have good offensive linemen. So that's...
01:02:15
Leo Ernewein
They understand that the play starts with the big boys and you build out from there, right?
01:02:17
Lando
It does. Yeah, you build out from there.
01:02:19
Leo Ernewein
I'm hoping that Will Campbell bounces back because for them, I think this is their third offensive tackle in like three years or something like that.
01:02:20
Lando
Yep.
01:02:26
Lando
Yeah.
01:02:26
Leo Ernewein
So to me, I think this means that they're kicking Will Campbell inside the guard.
01:02:26
Lando
Yes.
01:02:32
Lando
Yes.
01:02:32
Leo Ernewein
And to me, that's a good size because I saw pictures of the two coming up to Patriots training camp and Caleb Lomu's like 6'8".
01:02:41
Leo Ernewein
Will Campbell's like
01:02:43
Leo Ernewein
And it's a very different to see them next to each other something like that. Will Campbell might even be like six one or something like that. And I'm like six foot, so I'm not going to say that's short or anything, but compared to six eight, it's hard when you're going against guys like Miles Garrett, who are like six, five and two 50 built like a brick wall kind of thing.
01:02:43
Lando
Yeah, big boys.
01:03:03
Leo Ernewein
Right. So, last year before we wrap things up, uh,
01:03:04
Lando
Yeah, exactly.
01:03:08
Leo Ernewein
LIV, Live Golf, backed by Saudi Arabia Group, the public investment fund there, pulling at the end of the season, pulling their funding.
01:03:12
Lando
Well,
01:03:19
Leo Ernewein
So Live is going to be no more. you think about how Live has fallen apart, basically, there, Landon?
01:03:27
Lando
I'm not quite sure what they were trying to do right off the right off the bat, like trying compete with the PGA. Like I don't get what they were trying to do.
01:03:36
Lando
And I was quite vocal about this off the way before we even had our podcast, Leo. And I just said, simply said, this is the stupidest thing in the world to try to compete against the PGA Tour.
01:03:51
Lando
And, you know, because the PGA...
01:03:52
Leo Ernewein
You're talking about a Mickey Mouse league, though. This is the real Mickey Mouse league.
01:03:56
Lando
Exactly. And the part of the problem that I'm not surprised that they're losing money and they're not going to continue on because, yeah, it's just a complete Mickey Mouse league. For those who don't watch golf or about golf, I'll explain this to everybody who listens to us.
01:04:16
Lando
Basically, the PGA Tour almost has tournament every weekend throughout, you know, Late winter, early spring, all the way until early fall.
01:04:30
Lando
Liv only has, think, I'm just going to throw out a number. I don't know exactly. But let's just say they have 15 weekends slotted throughout their whole golf season.
01:04:43
Lando
Well, the guys that they brought in, they tried to bribe them, which it worked. and they paid him an astronomical amount of money. They said that the tournament pay is going to be high, but the problem with the live golf is they're not playing very much. So guys like Garcia, John Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, and all them were barely playing golf. And so they were lucky that the Masters, the PGA Championship, the British Open, and I'm missing one, the Masters,
01:05:26
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, they weren't consistent enough, yeah.
01:05:33
Lando
So going to the player's side of things now, get you want to make a good living, We all want to make a good living. We want to make a good amount of money that we can, you know, do things, pay bills, blah, blah, blah. But if I'm looking at these PGA, those PGA players who are now trying to get back into the PGA because that's what their agents are trying to talk to the PGA to get them back.
01:05:57
Lando
You know, my question to these guys is –
01:06:02
Lando
Why? First of all, why would you go to this league to how much money is going to be enough?
01:06:07
Leo Ernewein
Money. Yes.
Earnings and Financial Structures in New Leagues
01:06:08
Lando
Yeah, exactly.
01:06:09
Lando
How much how much money is going to be enough for you guys? You make a good amount of money playing in these major tournaments, plus the other tournaments, the FedEx Cup and all those tournaments.
01:06:20
Lando
You make a good amount of money doing all these tournaments. When is it going to be enough?
01:06:29
Lando
It just baffled me when this league came up. It's like, don't get it. I really don't. It just...
01:06:35
Leo Ernewein
Well, here's the part that don't think anybody really thought about when this league came up was, okay, so they're going to pay out a lot of money and they're going pay out these massive signing bonuses, but they weren't, you know, we didn't know that some of them weren't paid up front. They were paid as like quarterly installments.
01:06:53
Leo Ernewein
And when the league folds, some of those players might not receive the remainder of those multimillion dollar deals.
01:06:59
Lando
Yes.
01:07:00
Leo Ernewein
Right? So what do you do in a regular America where you go and you can sue the company and stuff like that? Good luck suing the Saudi Arabian government. That's a whole other animal. So I think this is a huge, like...
01:07:14
Leo Ernewein
warning not only golf, but to other professional sports that if they try to do a startup league and it's in another country where maybe the laws aren't necessarily the same as this country, you're dealing with a whole different animal. It's not just all about the money. I'm sure the money might be enticing at the start, but bet you a lot of those people are kicking themselves right now.
01:07:35
Leo Ernewein
A, trying to get back onto the tour and B, trying to get any sort of money back.
01:07:36
Lando
Yeah.
01:07:41
Leo Ernewein
I'm sure some, not a lot of them are hurting, But, you know, it was projected income in your life, right? And anytime you lose something like that at the, I wouldn't say a snap of the finger because lot these guys probably been hearing about this for a while.
01:07:56
Leo Ernewein
But it's still, when it's official, it certainly doesn't help, right? So...
01:08:02
Lando
Yeah, and that's the part where I said I don't get what they were trying to do. Exactly. I'm talking about the players. Like, I don't... Like, you're right. The money... Yeah,
01:08:12
Leo Ernewein
Go golfer. You have it good. Do you really need it better?
01:08:15
Lando
exactly.
01:08:16
Lando
So, yeah, I know.
01:08:16
Leo Ernewein
I'm just kidding.
01:08:17
Leo Ernewein
I'm just kidding.
01:08:17
Lando
I know what you're saying, but yeah.
01:08:19
Leo Ernewein
Right? Like, yeah.
01:08:20
Lando
Yeah, it's bizarre. Bizarre. So, I mean... Like, a couple of those players that are trying to get back into the tour, the PGA Tour, I don't particularly like, and I didn't really miss them.
01:08:35
Lando
But, yeah, like, it's bizarre. Bizarre, bizarre, bizarre. Stay tuned, folks, on this story, because I think there's going to be...
01:08:43
Lando
Some leaks going to come out to more of this story. And I think stay tuned for it because I think I don't think this is going to be first time we're going to hear about this because I think this is going to be prolonged topic throughout the golf season this year.
01:08:58
Leo Ernewein
I think you're right there, buddy.
Episode Conclusion
01:09:00
Leo Ernewein
Well, that's a wrap on episode 19. Thank you so much for listening in the car or at work or wherever you listen. Reminder, rate our show, and the more gets rated, the more popular show goes out, and hopefully it becomes a bit more popular, and that way you'll be able to see it a bit more out and about, and it'll be more available to you and stuff like that, too.
01:09:20
Lando
Mm-hmm.
01:09:20
Leo Ernewein
So thank you again for listening, and Lando, as always, take it away with your shout-out here, brother.
01:09:26
Lando
All right, my man. So I didn't do a shout out last time because I was the host. But I want to make a quick shout out to Tyson and to Haley, who listens to us all the time.
01:09:39
Lando
And they're my cousins. So I want to do a quick shout out to them. They listen to us from Regina, Saskatchewan. So another we got more Saskatchewan fans, man.
01:09:50
Leo Ernewein
Spreading far and wide, brother. Thanks, guys, for listening. We appreciate you.
01:09:57
Leo Ernewein
And, yeah, no, it's always a pleasure to have more listeners as far as we can get it. You know, we'll take anybody. shouldn't say we'll take anybody, but we appreciate you listening.
01:10:09
Lando
Yeah, no, we We honestly do, guys.
01:10:09
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, if you ever want to comment on anything, feel free to drop it below on where you're listening.
01:10:12
Lando
Thank you.
01:10:17
Leo Ernewein
And we appreciate the support.
01:10:19
Lando
Thanks for listening, everybody.
01:10:27
Leo Ernewein
Oh, noice.