Transcript
Leo Ernewein: Welcome back to the Leo and Lando show. I'm your host, Leo Erdewine, and I'm as always joined by my side, Landon and Lando Semenok. We've officially hit the quarter century mark today, episode number 25, man.
Leo Ernewein: Before we dive into it, though, how have you been, Landon? How's the week been treating you?
Lando: Hey Leo, welcome back man. Episode 25. I know, century mark. Can you believe that? No, good man. Had a busy week. We were doing a lot. I'll be really quick here. We had to do some housework and get things set up because we had company this week and I had my cousins from Regina. which I've done a shout out for. They came out for pretty much just less than a week and they just left today. So it's, yeah, been a busy week, but also a fun week.
Leo Ernewein: That's good to hear, man. Right on. Busy and fun. It's been, you know, a bit of a whirlwind for me as well, having the first layoff and stuff like that.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: But happy to get back on the horse and we'll see how things go. You know, sometimes it turns out to be a blessing. Sometimes maybe not. We'll see. I'm just going to try to stay on the positive side of things. So speaking of, well, I guess...
Leo Ernewein: A side of things, we'll jump into the NHL offseason period so far. We're about halfway through it. Money's been flying around like crazy, right?
Leo Ernewein: Biggest shot kind came out from the Philadelphia Flyers.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: They tried to completely shake up the league, dropping a massive five-year, $96 million offer sheet on Leo Carlson from the Anaheim Ducks to make him the highest paid player in hockey.
Leo Ernewein: Anaheim ultimately matched it, right? Keeping him but it was a gamble by the Flyers. Why do you think Philly was willing to push all their chips into the middle to take, to take on a player in a contract like that size? But not only that, but to reset the market.
Lando: Well, I think one reason why they went after him is because I think they got pressure from fans that they were close, but they just didn't have enough talent to get past Carolina.
Lando: And I think ownership told Daniel Breer that you have to try to figure out to get more talent on our team. So what does Daniel Breer do? Well, he...
Lando: he saw an opportunity with a young Leo Carlson who had a career year. Anaheim didn't lock him up yet. They were still negotiating and they thought, they thought, well, this is in league parameters that we'll go and put an offer sheet towards Leo Carlson.
Lando: Now, do I think that he is completely overpaid? Yes, I do. I think,
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: Like, I think that is just an absolutely absurd contract. I don't think he quite deserves it quite yet. But, you know, now Anaheim's got him locked up for five years and pretty much half their payroll is tied up to him.
Lando: And so why do I think they're shaking the market? I My guess would be I would say it was probably more of desperation to try to get this player locked up and go from there and say, see, we can bring good players into our system.
Lando: That's the only thing I can think of. you have any idea? Because I thought about this a lot, why they would do something like that. And I really... I couldn't come up with an answer because I obviously I'm not, I, I'm not inside their heads basically.
Leo Ernewein: Well, I thought...
Leo Ernewein: Right, but Landon, I thought that this... I thought you were to say something that dates back to the Cutter-Gauthier kind of saga where the Flyers drafted him fifth overall and he refused to sign with them and kind of forced third hand to deal him for less value.
Lando: Yeah. Yeah.
Lando: That could, yeah. I forgot about that. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: And I think they got, what, Jimmy Dryas dial back, who at the time, I thought that was a good, like a decent return. I think...
Lando: Mm-hmm.
Leo Ernewein: more in the hockey world knew bit more about Gauthier than I did and thought, yeah, I don't know, Leo, like Dresdale's okay, but he's no, like Gauthier's elite. And he's, he's certainly shown that right with the ducks this past season, 69 points in 76 games at the age of how old is he? 22. So that's, that's pretty up and coming for a winger 41 goals too. So he's, he's got the goal scoring ability.
Leo Ernewein: And Danny Breer has just been cheesed over that, in my opinion, ever since that happened. And I think you're right that there was some pressure from the ownership, but saw an opportunity where I think it's Pat Verbeek of the Anaheim Ducks, he's their general manager, messed up.
Lando: Yep, yep, yep.
Leo Ernewein: He had all season to lock down Gautier, or not Gautier, Carlson. And I think Gauthier, right? Because Gauthier's... Or no, not Gauthier. Gauthier's an RFA next year, I want to say.
Lando: Yes, yes, yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah. So now they don't have a lot to re-sign him, which is maybe Rear's ultimate move is to get Gauthier back on the market and say, hey, we're not as incompetent of a franchise as you thought we were. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: How about coming back to Philly, which I think is a huge gamble, but other way it sort of resets the market because now player agents and players are going to be asking for, for Leo Carlson money and above.
Leo Ernewein: Uh, and the gap ain't going up that much boys, right? It was going up for inflation. It wasn't going up for teams to spend more, for teams yeah for teams to get super teams like florida and stuff like that it was going up for inflation uh because these players were saying hey well and it was going up because they had a tv deal and stuff like that they were getting more money was going up there's a lot of reasons it was going up but damn that that is a lot of it yeah and uh sorry go ahead
Lando: Yeah, yeah, but that was the ultimate that was the ultimate Yeah, well What I was going to say there, Leo, too, is my dad and I were talking about this back when this news broke out.
Lando: And my dad, Irv, said if I was the NHL and I saw this contract, I'd be pissed. Right?
Leo Ernewein: Oh, yeah.
Lando: Because you're 100% right. Now, there's other reasons why the cap did But that's the one of the reasons is that everybody was struggling with inflation. So the NHL said, well, we've been doing very, very well over the last how many years since the pandemic, we've been, you know, generating revenue, blah, blah, blah, blah. But ultimately that they did that because the players were really having a tough time making, you know, ends meet just like the rest of us are.
Lando: And so,
Lando: yeah.
Leo Ernewein: It's time because that's only to make our development better and stuff like that.
Lando: Yeah, you're right. Yes.
Lando: Yeah, you're right. You're right. So, but.
Leo Ernewein: I don't think lot of guys were struggling, but this is kind off topic, Landon. I don't know if you've seen this in the news. lot of NBA players talking about how much money of their contracts gets taken away by taxes and agent fees.
Lando: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did.
Leo Ernewein: You see that? It's everybody in the comments. It's all boo-hoo.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Hilarious. There was one guy, Kyle Kuzma. I think he still plays in the NBA for the Washington Wizards. I think he used to play for the Lakers.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: And I don't know. He's been a journeyman and stuff like that. But anyways, he put out a tweet saying like, hey, nobody told you to like, the problem isn't taxation and stuff like that.
Leo Ernewein: It's lifestyle creep. Nobody told you to live like a king. and you know spend x amount of money and roll around with 12 deep people and an entourage and sort of stuff like that uh you know it's it's gone in five years and a lot of you know you yes you are expected to live off that for the rest of your life is more his words i believe so and i couldn't have put it better but anyways back on topic yeah carlson contract is crazy and i definitely think that
Leo Ernewein: Breer for the GM, Danny Breer for the Flyers, has a little bit of beef with the Ducks, maybe to say the least, and thought this is a way to stir the pot.
Leo Ernewein: I know, I think he made an enemy in 31 other general managers though, right, Landon?
Lando: Yes, he did. Yeah, he did.
Leo Ernewein: And never mind Gary Bettman. So we'll see how long Breer's in the job for. It could be, that could go down, that offer sheet could go down as what he is known for Because, like, we all remember him as a pretty decent player.
Leo Ernewein: I liked him a lot. I liked him a lot on Buffalo when he was, you know, I thought he was one of their best players.
Lando: I did too. Yeah, me too. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: And I think that'll be overshadowed by what this could lead to, you know, in terms of...
Leo Ernewein: monumental shifts around the league when it comes to salary distribution. It'll turn more into the NBA where these guys are getting paid. The top end's getting paid more and the bottom end's getting paid less because they've got to make room for the top end players.
Leo Ernewein: And that's not the whole point of increasing the cap. I mean, I guess they could have probably increased entry-level contracts to the minimum and stuff like that if they really wanted an issue. I don't know if they did. I could look that up as well. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: I feel like I'm just not going to get an answer from Google on that one as easily as in a timely manner, at least. Anything else you want to touch base on on the flyers here?
Lando: Well, basically, I know we're going to talk about the next topic here. So since Philadelphia couldn't get Leo Carlson, they went and signed Trevor Zegers to a four-year, $36 million contract. So, interesting. Interesting.
Lando: Interesting how they went back to their own grassroots and got a player re-signed or signed extension. And Trevor Zegers is actually pretty good hockey player.
Lando: Now, there is...
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, wasn't he part of the deal with Gauthier? Like, I mentioned Jamie Drysdale, but Trevor Zegras was...
Lando: Trevor Zegers, I'm trying to remember.
Leo Ernewein: I'm pretty sure he was the big chip in that deal as opposed to... Let me look this up.
Lando: think he was... Please do, because I can't... I'm trying to remember...
Leo Ernewein: I like how I'm mentioning Jamie Drysdale.
Lando: That was James.
Leo Ernewein: Ended up on the flyers. Traver Segras. So I don't think he signed, did he?
Lando: No, I think he was a free, maybe was he a free agent? I think they traded him for a draft pick.
Leo Ernewein: think so too. And at the time, he was like, probably at his highest value. And I was like, y'all are crazy. Yeah, and a trade with the dryers in exchange for Ryan Poling and a second round pick.
Lando: That's it I thought it was Ryan Poling.
Leo Ernewein: Ryan Poling was the best center drafted by, think, Montreal.
Lando: Yes.
Leo Ernewein: was never really high on him.
Lando: No, either. That's who it was. was trying to think, which guy would... I thought it was Ryan Poling, but I thought, no.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, I was.
Lando: So I was like...
Leo Ernewein: Has Ryan Poling cracked the league? Like, did he crack the league? Was he in the league at the time or is he still a prospect?
Lando: He was a prospect at the time. So was basically a drop pick, basically. Like he was a prospect drop pick.
Leo Ernewein: Has he cracked the league? Do you know?
Lando: Yeah, oh, yeah, he played, he was on the third line for the Anaheim Ducks for most of the season.
Leo Ernewein: Okay, so he's filled out to be expected.
Lando: Yeah, he's filled out.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, top-nine center kind of thing.
Lando: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Okay. But still, like, not, I don't know. Pat Verdweek, man, what are you doing? Okay.
Lando: Well, but there's hit, there's.
Leo Ernewein: I'd be a terrible GM. There's so many moves for it. Like I would have broken the bank out for Jake Bean. I loved Jake Bean. I thought he was awesome.
Lando: yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Basically because I watched him in the World Juniors and I was like, he's sweet. And he just, you know, he looked great in the World Juniors.
Leo Ernewein: Different game in the NHL. But yeah, I would have loved him. I would have never gave it up on his development. Stoked when he ended up on Calgary. Not stoked when he barely played.
Lando: Yes, correct.
Leo Ernewein: I understood why.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah. And I'm glad you brought up the Zegris stuff because that was going to be how I was going to transition to the next one. So good job there. But we'll jump into other pieces of massive pieces of business across the league, like out of Chicago, Conor Bedard, not surprising that he isn't going anywhere.
Lando: Thanks, man.
Leo Ernewein: Just sent a five year, $75 extension. to stay the face of the Blackhawks franchise. When you look at the structure of that deal, how well did Chicago handle this?
Lando: I think they handled it well. I think he's the player to build around for the Chicago blocks. They don't have anything else. mean, yeah, they have a couple other young prospects coming up, but he is, yeah, like those are, yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Frank Nassar, yeah.
Lando: are, but other than that, they don't have anybody else. So he is the guy.
Leo Ernewein: No.
Lando: And you're trying to look for the next Jonathan Tays type of thing. I mean, he's the guy that you build on. And I think they're going in the right direction. I think they've gotten better this last year. He's also gotten better as a hockey player. So...
Lando: There's lots of... They're trending in the right direction is basically what I'm trying to say. The only unfortunate part is that Conor Bedard probably won't be able to play until Christmas because he just had shoulder surgery, I think it was. So he's going to be out at least until Christmas time, I think, somewhere around there. But Other than that, great signing. He's getting a signing bonus every year of the same number that he wears in 98, in 9.8, but he gets salary of around, I think it was 5 million. They're not breaking the bank with him.
Lando: Basically, they are going to pay him if he gets a signing bonus. But as far as cap friendly goes, they've a steal of a deal for the Chicago Blackhawks.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, I mean, 15 mil a year for Bedard there. And when Carlson, I mean, Carlson is a center. Isn't Bedard a center too?
Lando: Yes.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah. So I, you know, if I was Bedard's agent, I would have been asking for 18. You know what I'm saying? Right?
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Like.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: There's no doubt Chicago would have ponied up for that, but maybe they thought they didn't need to.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: I do want to touch base on the Blackhawks prospect pool because Nazar is already in the NHL, I guess. I did see a funny video of him. It was like NHL 27. Somebody hit. There's Frank Nazar doing the 6-7 celebration or whatever after scoring a goal, and he says, if somebody hits me with this in real life, it's a controller through the wall or something like that.
Lando: Oh no.
Leo Ernewein: It's like, oh, that's awesome. But anyways, Anton Frondell, probably I'd say the crown jewel their pipeline, third overall in 2025.
Leo Ernewein: He'll probably make the roster next year, I think, although he's playing for, I think, Dews Garden out in the SIAGHL or however you say it. Roman Kansarov, Kansarov, is that you use it? Sam Rinzel, right-handed demon. Kansanov and Frontell are both wingers, although Frontell can play some center too.
Leo Ernewein: I do like Sam Renzel, Nick Lardis, Oliver Moore, Kevin Korshinsky, Sasha Boyvert. They do have a few other guys. I think their prospect pool's deep. It's just not as top-heavy as maybe we would have expected for a Blackhawks team going through a rebuild that has been rebuilding for, know, as long as they have it now, right?
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Like...
Lando: Yes.
Leo Ernewein: when you look at the chandles a shark's prospect pool you're like oh gargle it drooling uh you look at this prospect pool you're like yeah i mean it's okay but uh it just it lacks those big front end names i think the depth is great i think it's probably the deepest one out there at least that's from what i'm reading i don't i can't say that i'm uh
Leo Ernewein: And they broke the bank for Bowen Byron too, right? So none of this prospect is 25 and he'll be on their top line more than likely.
Lando: Yeah, they did.
Leo Ernewein: But that's a heavy gamble on him too. So it'll be interesting for Blackhawks fans going forward. But I'd say it's looking hopeful, more hopeful than it was before. Would you not? Did you say they have a decent offseason so far?
Lando: I think they have. I like what they've done. And you know what? You're 100% right. Bowen Byram... is a bit of a gamble. And I know we've talked about him in past episodes or two episodes ago.
Lando: But, like, I saw him with Colorado. He's got loads of talent. And he's got all the skill in the world. The only thing that I worry about him at times is that he gets injured prone.
Lando: And he's had a concussion history. So, hopefully, he's passed all that stuff. But other than I mean, he needs... he wasn't going to get the opportunity in Colorado.
Lando: He wasn't going to get the opportunity in Buffalo because of Cale McCart in Colorado and then, Darlene, Rasmus Darlene in Buffalo.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah. Yeah.
Lando: So he wasn't going to get that opportunity in Buffalo either. So, I mean, good on him. He got a good contract, good on his agent for helping him get on a, team so that he can thrive.
Lando: And I think he's at good age. He's just before his prime where I think he'll get better and better. And he's another player just like Conor Bedard and Nazar that you can build around and be a core piece going forward. Because like I said, I think he's got the talent in the world to do it.
Lando: I mean, you and I both saw him in the World Juniors couple years ago. and helped Canada win the gold medal.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: There's nothing wrong with his play. He's a great defenseman. But sometimes I worry about his injury-prone history, which he's had a lot.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, I know, I agree. That's a that's a solid take there. And like, the only issue I see with that is like the downside of it is if like, if you continue to rebuild and you draft some top end defensemen or Artem Leshtinov actually turns pans out at second overall there and, and fills in, well, he'd be a nice pairing with Bowen Byram, but say you get two other defensemen, you lock into two other top pairing defensemen and you're paying Byram now 12 mil to play the bottom four.
Leo Ernewein: of your defenseman pairing, probably on the second pairing defenseman line. And then eventually you'll have to pay those guys. Now, I don't think Byron deals that long. I think it's five or six, but it does potentially create a window where you still have Byron on the books for two or three more years or just two more years and you got to pay these guys right away kind of thing.
Lando: No. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: but that's worst case scenario. And I think that's, you know, also a good problem to have if you already have two upcoming defensively that you have to pay. So I think the Blackhawks cross that bridge when they get there. Right. I think overall is a good off season for them.
Lando: Mm-hmm.
Leo Ernewein: Something that probably hasn't been a good overall offseason, though, is over in the Motor City of Detroit. Just to witness kind of the end of the era, Stevie Wye officially stepping down as general manager, Eisenman out as the Red Wings GM, moving into a senior advisor role. And when you look back at his executive run in Detroit, Landon, what do you think the legacy he leaves behind as far as advisor role goes?
Leo Ernewein: Or as far as, you know, GM role goes, sorry.
Lando: Well, I think one, I was talking to a Red Wings fan at work because he helps with refrigeration at my store. And one of the things that he said that frustrated him is the fact that he, his vision, his vision was, was, was really lacking.
Lando: And I said, well, my, my, my take is on, I think he had a vision, but the problem is, is he didn't have, the big pieces that he had in Tampa Bay to build contender.
Lando: Like, I mean, anybody who can stumble across Stephen Stamkos and draft Stephen Stamkos and have Victor first overall and have Victor Hedman.
Leo Ernewein: First overall. But he did find the... What's it called? Who's that winger? Kucherov.
Lando: Uh, Kucherov? Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, he did find him in the second round, right? It's just I also think that was... I don't think he's necessarily responsible for his development.
Lando: No.
Leo Ernewein: But he did spot him. And maybe he just didn't have any of those out in Detroit yet. But I agree with you that... those heavy, those star, lacking star power again.
Leo Ernewein: He just didn't look into two first overall picks. Or I think Hedman was second, actually. But yeah, incredibly talented cornerstone franchise pieces.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: And also this whole Dylan Larkin thing kind of, you know, put a whole wrench in the plans too, right?
Lando: Wrenched. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: With him demanding a trade. And then I thought maybe... Maybe he'd end up in Columbus and convince Zach Renski to stay, and then Zach Renski ended up staying anyways.
Leo Ernewein: I thought maybe Renski would go to Detroit and convince Larkin to stay. don't know. Maybe Larkin. I don't know where Larkin's going to go. I think maybe Dallas one-for-one swap with Jason Robertson.
Leo Ernewein: that too much?
Lando: I don't know.
Leo Ernewein: Is that paying too much?
Lando: Yeah, I don't know.
Leo Ernewein: I don't know.
Lando: But it's just like the thing with Eisner, though, like I was going to like I was going to say was the fact that when he became the GM, I think everybody thought that, OK, he created almost dynasty with the Tampa Bay Lightning. on all these guys.
Lando: I think everybody thought that he was going to do that, be the master of trying to turn the Detroit Red Wings around because he was one of the pieces why Detroit became the powerhouse that they were for 25 years since he started there.
Leo Ernewein: Exactly. was a perfect story.
Lando: It was, but I, I just, I don't, I, I don't know if it was so maybe so much him or maybe was just the team or a combination of everybody, but they just, they, they really dropped the ball on, think,
Lando: finding guys and and and probably i would say that they really tried to fast track this rebuild and i think it burned them in the act and i think it burned them in the ass basically and and
Leo Ernewein: Understandable. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: I think this goes to show just how hard rebuilding a team is.
Lando: it is very hard
Leo Ernewein: Because, like, I was one of those people, Landon, that was so excited. I thought it was the perfect story. My last franchise on the most recent NHL game I played, which was probably, like, oh, jeez, 21 something like that. It was a while back. But anyways...
Leo Ernewein: No, it might have been sooner than that. But I remember looking up and seeing the Stevie Y news and going, all right, I'm being Stevie Y and rebuilding the Detroit Red Wings, right? Like that was, it was, it was too perfect not to be.
Leo Ernewein: And I think it just goes to show that, hey, you know, if it was so easy, he would do it every time. And it's not an easy job, that's for sure. And, you know, again, we go back to, or I go back to the things where I would be a terrible general manager. I remember playing NHL and seeing guys in the draft and stuff like that and seeing Maureen Sider going, he's a top four defenseman. That was, think, his potential the time.
Leo Ernewein: And so, you know, he'd usually get picked around the bottom half of the first round, maybe second round, depending on how teams picked and stuff like that. When they picked him, I think in the top five, I want to say, something like that, I was like, man, what is he doing? This guy's crazy.
Leo Ernewein: It turns out that was an awesome move. Was it not? It was a great pick.
Lando: Yeah, he's a good defenseman. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: It was great, yeah. And I thought that was absolutely bonkers. I thought it was a mega reach at the time. And it turns out I was wrong. So you hit some, you miss some.
Leo Ernewein: I think generally you hit more when you have Stephen Stanko's bona fide superstar prospect, and then as well as a second overall pick, and he landed Victor Hedman. So I just don't think he got us lucky in the lottery. I think maybe the lottery odds have changed too since he was the general manager in Tampa.
Leo Ernewein: Maybe they have, maybe they haven't.
Lando: Well,
Leo Ernewein: I don't know. Maybe I'm just talking about there. Yeah.
Lando: no, you're not wrong. No, and then, you know, one of the things I remember couple weeks ago when the news broke out about that, mean, there was one post that even he drafted Kucherov, then they drafted Basilevsky, then they drafted Braden Point, yep, and then they also drafted...
Leo Ernewein: He dropped the break in point dude in me. Yeah. In the third round.
Lando: They also drafted, there's one more player that was a good hockey player on their team. I'm trying to remember who the player was.
Leo Ernewein: They would have drafted.
Lando: It wasn't John, it wasn't John, who, sorry?
Leo Ernewein: Andre, no, something Ernie? No, it wasn't Ernie.
Lando: No.
Leo Ernewein: Andre Blatt and like the seventh round or something like that.
Lando: Yes, that's him. Yes, that was him.
Leo Ernewein: Is that who you would think of?
Lando: Yeah, yeah, yes.
Leo Ernewein: Andre Blatt? Oh, okay.
Lando: Yeah. Yeah, and so he was a late pick.
Leo Ernewein: I'm pretty sure he was like a late pick. I never liked Blatt when I playing the NHL games. I just got, I traded him. Yeah.
Lando: Oh, did you?
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: Fair enough. But, I mean, you look at the players that he drafted in his time there, no wonder Bay has been successful. And so we're Detroit for sure.
Leo Ernewein: Successful.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Credit to their scouting department. Maybe he just didn't bring the scouts over with them.
Leo Ernewein: Maybe they were like, we don't want to come. It's too nice down here in St. Pete, Tampa. You know, stuff like the Bay's too nice.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: You want to go to Detroit? Ew. What?
Lando: Yeah.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah. I don't know. Right. If I had the chance though, I'd probably stay down in Tampa if the money was right.
Lando: Yep. Me too.
Leo Ernewein: Me too, brother. We've got some really cool news out here out Vancouver out of the Canucks organization. The Abbotsford Canucks just hired longtime Brooks Bandit coach Ryan Papuanu as their next head coach. He's coming off a massive pro debut in the ECHL with the Wheeling Nailers, where he went 46-20 and won a division title.
Leo Ernewein: Before that, he spent 16 years in the AGHL winning championships with the Brooks Bandits. Landon, how big of a jump is this for him?
Lando: A huge jump. And I'm really happy for because I know not well, but I know him. Exactly through my brother.
Leo Ernewein: Through your brother, yeah.
Lando: I mean, he's a great coach. And I think Vancouver, for what they're trying to build and try create a great culture that they're trying to do and try to change everything. I mean, Ryan Papuano coaches exactly like Manny Malhotra does. So basically, all the young players that they're going to have with the Abbotsford Canucks are going to have the same sort of treatment and the same sort of coaching style.
Lando: that Manny Maholcha coaches, it's going to be a win-win for that organization. And on top of that, it's a great move because I think for Ryan, I think going out east was a hard thing for him and his family to move because they're Alberta-based and they're from the Calgary area or Brooks, Calgary area.
Lando: That's where his wife is from. His kids were born out here, Southern Alberta.
Leo Ernewein: Southern Alberta. Yeah.
Lando: So to move to Abbotsford to be closer to family, I think was a great move. And not to mention a big jump and another step closer to the NHL. I mean, he just turned the Wheeling Nailers completely around, which is one of the farm teams for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Leo Ernewein: Where?
Lando: He turned that team around in one year and, you know, and, and I can't believe Pittsburgh or the Anders didn't even offer a contract, which maybe they did.
Lando: I'm not saying that they did or didn't, but I I'm wondering what part of this move was I get a big jump and two, I'm one step closer to the NHL and, you know, to do it with the average for Canucks.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: I mean, they're, I mean, I said this to a couple of Canucks fans. I said, this one huge step towards creating a much better culture for the Canucks going forward.
Leo Ernewein: I'm glad you mentioned that.
Lando: And, and, And I'm happy to, honestly, not very big fans of ownership of owners with how, you know, sometimes I don't want to greedy is the right word, but sometimes they are a little greedy.
Lando: But I think good on the ownership of the Canucks, the Akalini family for realizing that we have a culture problem from top to bottom.
Lando: We need to change it. And what better people to put under than having like the Sadeen twins. You have Ryan Johnson as the general manager. Now have Manny Malhotra as their, use your NHL head coach. And now you've got Ryan Papuano as your head coach for your farm team. I mean, it's a win-win for everybody. And I'm happy for the Cox organization.
Lando: that they're taking the initiative and the right steps towards creating a much better culture for Vancouver. Because, I mean, obviously product has to, you know, all the right people are in place now. Now that product has to be,
Lando: you know, be played on the ice, which I'm sure there's going to be growing pains for everybody, but at least the pieces are there so that you can grow. can, in the next, how many years that they're going to be together as an organization, at least they can, they've got the right people, like I said, so that they can put, nudge this thing forward and get back to, know, being a contender again.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah. And I, I agree with you, man. Like, It starts from the top down and when you hire good people and good development training staff and stuff like that, you tend to see more results, more positive results than negative.
Leo Ernewein: So I'm, I would place the Canucks as again, as another winners in this off season, despite the lack of roster additions. It's more about the, the staff additions. I think that it's going to start to turn things around for that rebuild out in Vancouver and,
Leo Ernewein: And I, as you mentioned for Ryan and his family, big jump from, I think wheelings in West Virginia. So, so yeah, that's a, you know, if you know anything about West Virginia, it's coal mine territory, mountains, boonies, not a lot of cell coverage.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Uh, Yeah, very, very much behind in technology in certain places in West Virginia. I'm sure Wheeling's bit bigger than some places, right? But as far as the whole state of WV goes, but...
Leo Ernewein: big, big culture change for sure. Coming up from, from Brooks to, to out there. I'm sure a little, it's not that different, but you know, certainly more country, uh, and Brooks is as is.
Leo Ernewein: So, right. Like, Like, um,
Lando: Yeah, no, I know what you're saying. But I'm so happy for Ryan. I think, you know, I'm glad he's finally getting opportunities and that, you know, organizations and people are starting to realize what he, how good, how capable he is.
Lando: And, mean, one Canucks fan said on the Abbotsford Canucks Facebook, he said, you know, this is a win for everybody because everywhere he's gone, he's won.
Lando: So what does that tell you?
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, well, that's what I like that you pointed out the culture that I remember as a kid watching those Brooks Bandits teams and going, God, I wish those, I wish that was the Camor Eagles.
Leo Ernewein: Because it just seemed like they were the Alabama... college football variant of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, right? Like they were dominant. They could recruit.
Leo Ernewein: They could, they just, from the top down, that organization looked like it was ran like the model organization almost, right? And I'm sure there were some, there was some stuff that, you know, people didn't like because nothing's perfect.
Leo Ernewein: But it was the culture, I think, that I could just see from watching them play. I wasn't even affiliated with them at all. I was just a fan. from watching them play.
Leo Ernewein: And yeah, it just reminded me of a dynasty, you know, 16 years, a long time too. And that they've won a lot of trophies over that span. So good for him.
Lando: Yeah. And my brother and Ryan both came in to Brooks at the same time. They were both new, both
Leo Ernewein: Ryan Barrow.
Lando: I know my brother Colton was both, both Papuano.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah. Oh, and Ryan Papuano came in. Okay.
Lando: Yeah. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Okay.
Lando: They, they both, they both came in to Brooks at, well, I guess Ryan was an assistant coach at the time. So I guess he wasn't new, new, but he's new to a new role and Colton came in and Colton was part of the,
Lando: Colt had talked about in his podcast, how he kind of started that whole left egos and stuff and started what has been a dynasty with the Brooks Bannins.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah. Left the Eagles and stuff. Yeah.
Lando: I'll be honest with you guys, and I'll tell you and the viewers. if Ryan completely turned that Brooks Bandits organization completely around because they were in absolute shambles, like they, they, they were, know, a couple of years before Ryan became an assistant coach and head coach, like they were almost bankrupt. They almost literally were bankrupt. And, and then they had coaching issue with, you know, in the community,
Lando: where he was drinking and doing drugs and was telling players to do certain things or allowing players to, there's just, there was not a good, it was just not a good culture.
Leo Ernewein: Not coaching. Uh, it was, you know, conduct detrimental to team in that sense.
Lando: Correct. And, and in that sense.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: And so when Ryan, when they let, when they let, you know, the head coach go, Ryan and Popwano was appointed as head coach. Like they can, they completely turn that organization around.
Leo Ernewein: He saved the franchise. Yeah. If he doesn't have a statue in Brooks, he should.
Lando: He saved the franchise. Yeah.
Lando: Yeah.
Lando: And the guy that replaced 16 years later that replaced him, his name is Dakota Mason. He played for Ryan Papuano and my brother. And he said his name is Dakota Mason.
Leo Ernewein: Awesome. Yeah.
Lando: And they... he took over for him. They had a tough start this last offseason, but they just won the BCHL championship again. So what does that tell you?
Lando: So it's just the legacy goes on with Brooks. But anyways, I know we're getting a little off topic, but congratulations to Ryan. I'm so happy for him. And I hope everything goes well out in Abbotsford because, I mean, great hire by the Canucks because the boy, they're going to get a gem out of him. Now, again, product,
Lando: Things have to be, know, you have to win. But I think as players wise go, boy, they're going to get it. They're going to have treat with him. Because I've heard nothing but good things from players, former players about him.
Lando: I mean, Colton gushes over Ryan still to this day because of how well Ryan treated players.
Leo Ernewein: That's awesome to hear.
Lando: Yeah. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Let's shift over to the CFL here, bud, because the season's kind of turning out to be pretty unpredictable so far. Edmonton Elks kind of rolling out to a 5-1 start after they beat out the BC Lions leaving the Lions sitting at a rough 1-4.
Leo Ernewein: On top of that, Leek took a massive hit with Bo Levi Mitchell and Zach Kolaros down with injuries. Zach Kolaros, sorry, down with injuries in the next... No, Zach Kolaros, I said that right.
Lando: Yeah, you did.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, I always second guess myself on his name every single time. was the thing back in school where I said his name wrong and our teacher always caught people when they said their names wrong and he didn't catch me.
Leo Ernewein: And I thought, did I say his name? Like it was always from that moment on, I always second guess myself because I'm like, did I say it wrong? I listened back to what I said and I did say it wrong and he didn't catch me.
Leo Ernewein: And I was like, oh, that's weird. Must been slipping on his game. Anyways, hope he's not listening to this. Yeah, Zach Caleros, they went down with injuries. So, Boo Levi Mitchell and Zach Caleros
Leo Ernewein: in this exact same game. So, that was kind of crazy. What's your reason when these quarterback injuries landed?
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Do you think they're reshape sort of the playoff picture?
Lando: I think they will 100% because Mitchell, I think, is pretty much done for the season. Although he did have successful ankle surgery because he broke his ankle two places, I believe.
Leo Ernewein: rough.
Lando: Oh, totally rough. And then Sackleros is having another neck injury. And so he's out for the six game injured list. So good thing that they traded for Drew Brown.
Lando: So, mean, yeah, I think this is definitely going to reshape the playoff picture because I, I think now, mean, I mean, another quarterback, I guess just went down yesterday.
Leo Ernewein: Which quarterback you know? Nathan Rourke? Oh, no.
Lando: so, no, I haven't heard anything more other than was down.
Leo Ernewein: No.
Leo Ernewein: He's like the one quarterback I like in the league. I like the Steelers, but he's Canadian too, right?
Lando: I know. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Isn't Nathan Rourke Canadian?
Lando: Yeah. Yeah, he's Canadian, so.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, he played at the University of Indiana. I'm pretty... No, he was Ohio. He played the University of Ohio, Bobcats. Not Ohio State, the big boys, but...
Leo Ernewein: Ohio Bob, he was pretty good for the Ohio Bobcats. Anyways, way off topic.
Lando: Meh.
Leo Ernewein: Because I was going to talk about Indiana being how good they are now and how crappy they were two years ago. Anyways, way off topic. Anyway, meanwhile, the Stampeders, they're kind of in a pretty bad skid, giving up an average of 30 points per game, dropping to back-to-back matchups against Montreal to fall to And Ottawa can't find a win. Toronto, well, they're not looking...
Leo Ernewein: Pretty much better than anyone gave them credit for out of all these early storylines, though. Landon, which team has you most surprised so far?
Lando: Well, I think what I'm surprised with how good Edmonton is. I mean, the way... mean, yeah, they beat BC by two points.
Lando: I mean, BC is a good football team, so it's not...
Leo Ernewein: They are good football team, yeah.
Lando: They're just having really bad luck. That's just what's happening with them. But Edmonton, like, you watch their defense. Their defense is phenomenal.
Lando: Like, it... They cover well. They tackle well. They fly all over the place. think they're confusing quarterbacks because think I know Nathan Roark twice has played Edmonton twice, and he's had trouble with the first time they beat them. But, I mean, at the start, had trouble reading what Edmonton was actually doing. And so...
Lando: The only reason why BC lost is because BC's defense picked off Cody Fragardo a few times and the offense went down and scored and was in perfect field position. But I mean, Edmonton has just been phenomenal to watch there. Again, Cody Fragardo has been great addition for the team.
Lando: Mark Killam, who is a former Stampeders coach. I mean, he finally got his staff on the team. He's got the right players in place. And mean, it's, I hate to say this because it's an Edmonton franchise, but it's nice to see that franchise with so much history and so much winning that they were so struggling over the years that to finally see fight.
Leo Ernewein: I missed the Eskimos.
Lando: That's the Eskimos, yes. For me, Eskimos.
Leo Ernewein: I said I missed the Eskimos.
Lando: I do, too. Yeah, I do, too.
Leo Ernewein: It was a classic name.
Lando: You talk... Yeah, it... You talk to my neighbor, he says they need to change that name back to the Eskimos 100%.
Lando: And there was actually, there was an article from Sportsnet that talked about them at the start the year that they should have started, that that name change was one of the reasons, was just an absolute nightmare for the team.
Leo Ernewein: I wish they would too.
Lando: And the pandemic didn't help, but yeah, pandemic didn't help.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, pandemic didn't help. Yeah. But it certainly, it certainly alienated some of their older fan base, I think, for sure.
Lando: It did. And so my friend Kyle and our friend Kyle there, Leo, and fill in when you can't do...
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, co-host Kyle.
Lando: Kyle said that he went up to the game because he's a season ticket holder and he went up there to watch the BC Lions. He said, that's the biggest crowd he's seen in five years.
Lando: So Edmonton... Edmontonians are starting to take note about how good this football team is. And you know what? Let's go spend the money. It's a nice night. Let's go watch these guys. And they got a good treat, apparently, because it sounded like because I have family here, I didn't get to watch the game. But it sounded like it was a very close end-to-end football game with lots of...
Lando: Lots of tackling and great plays and all that sort of stuff that I think they got entertained, which is great. I mean, they need more fans there because, boy, oh, boy, that stadium gets It's pretty empty if there's only, like, you know, 12,000 fans.
Lando: But that... But I'm getting a little off topic, but yeah, Edmonton's just, they've really surprised me.
Leo Ernewein: And then,
Lando: I thought they'd do better this year because they had a good end of the year last year. They just, they ran out of runway, but I thought that they would be somewhat, I thought they'd be at least top three in the West.
Lando: And so far they've exceeded my expectations. So what were you going to say?
Leo Ernewein: I know our listeners are going to love this. I got more off-topic questions for you. When did you go to the Apple Bowl in Kelowna there with the Lions versus the Stampeders?
Leo Ernewein: Was that two weeks ago?
Lando: So I, yeah, so that was June 28th. So that was just a little less than a month ago.
Leo Ernewein: Right. So we haven't had a podcast since then, though, have we? I don't think so. No. Yeah.
Lando: no, I've done a couple, I've done a couple of takes on it. I did a take on it.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Okay, because I wanted to ask you personally how was like the crowd in that because I read it was kind of sold out.
Lando: It was sold out.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, so it was pretty cool, eh?
Lando: It was packed. It was, yeah, it was packed. Like, As far as, you know, like I said in the take, as far as... you know, fan experience, going to the game, the game itself, it was so much fun to go watch.
Lando: Like my family and I were sitting the first row in one of the end zones and we had a great sight line to everything. Now, I mean, obviously the other side of the field, you had a little trouble seeing at times, but you could actually see what was going on.
Lando: But was a lot of fun. The weather was good. They didn't have a lot of parking around there just based on location and where the Apple Bowl was built, but it wasn't built for – it is.
Leo Ernewein: That's the first time they did that though, right? Like, cause they were out of their home state.
Lando: It is.
Leo Ernewein: They need to make that a regular, a yearly thing.
Lando: Well, and I think –
Leo Ernewein: Because that's one my favorite things about college football that they have like neutral plate showdowns that become like staples in the – it sort of brings fans from both sides to one state.
Lando: Yeah. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, it's just an all-around good experience. It's good for the economy.
Lando: It was,
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, it's awesome.
Lando: And there's a lot of Lions fans in Kelowna and in the Okanagan, right?
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: And it's a big football area because the Golden Suns play there.
Leo Ernewein: Mm-hmm.
Leo Ernewein: Oh, the Okanagan Golden Suns.
Lando: They're Golden Suns.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: And so, yep, yep, yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Is that Okanagan Golden Suns? Yeah.
Lando: And it's kind of semi-pro. Like, it's kind of like college- semi-pro but uh but i mean they do well for attendance there as well but it is a football area and so there's a it and the lions are very popular and it is it is yeah yeah yeah and so you know like that as far as fan experience goes like i we walked into the stadium or the area where for security And I mean, the CFL and the BC Lions, it's such a good job.
Leo Ernewein: Gotcha.
Leo Ernewein: Probably one of Canada's biggest football areas, I'd say. That varies in Ontario.
Lando: You walk in, they had souvenir tents everywhere. They had a concert going before the game. And then you walk a little bit more and on this big field and there was a food booths there.
Lando: They brought in food trucks from like, you know, Mark from their market.
Leo Ernewein: Nice.
Lando: So there was so much different types of food you could try. they had, uh, A ton of, you know, beer tents and like it was just was such a cool event.
Lando: It was I had a lot of fun. Colton, my brother, who we had as a guest and we talked about the Brooks Bannets before. He joined us for the game and his friend joined us for the game.
Lando: And Colton doesn't get a chance to see a lot of football. He does watch, you know, he does know the teams in the league and stuff like that. But for him to see live football game,
Leo Ernewein: Right. But like, I think, I think making that a, I think making that a yearly thing would certainly help fan engagement, which is one of their issues.
Lando: I agree. And I know, yeah, for sure. And that it's one of their issues. And then I think, I know the president of the league's issue.
Leo Ernewein: At least the leaks that you specify. Yeah.
Lando: Yes.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: But, you know, like I, go ahead.
Leo Ernewein: And I do. Oh, I just wanted to say, I do want to say shout out to Southern Alberta and their football too, because I don't want to forget about them when I mentioned, you know, the Okanagan as a hotbed.
Leo Ernewein: Because when I was in high school, places like Tabor or no, Raymond, Raymond kicked the crap out of everybody. Raymond, Alberta, small town in Southern.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Anyways, going on.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Go ahead, Landon.
Lando: Yeah, that's okay. And Tabor was up there too, man. And so anything leopard.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, they were, eh?
Lando: And so what I was going to say was the fact that I know the president of the BC Lions have said, kind of hinted that they'd love to come back if that worked out. So I think the CFL needs to do more of these sort of things in these neutral sites because I think they'd be surprised how much more ban engagement in these communities that they would actually get.
Lando: Like places like Corona,
Leo Ernewein: Just don't do one in red gear.
Lando: No, that...
Lando: Well...
Leo Ernewein: You go, no, like you agree with me right away.
Lando: Well, I mean, if they have... You know what?
Leo Ernewein: They paid top dollar for security. Then sure. Fine. No, kidding.
Lando: No, but you know what? I thought the same thing in Kelowna. thought, well, how the heck are they going to do this? But they did it for two games with the Elks and the Stampeders, and they both sold out both games.
Lando: And they made
Leo Ernewein: they were great. Hey,
Leo Ernewein: And were they both called the Apple Bowl or was just the Stampeders one called the Apple Bowl?
Lando: No, they both – well, the Apple Bowl is what the stadium's called.
Leo Ernewein: The name of the stadium.
Lando: Yes.
Leo Ernewein: Oh, lame. I thought it was like the event is called the Apple Bowl and it's like
Lando: No, they called it – they called it Touchdown
Leo Ernewein: Bring some pageantry to the sport. You know?
Lando: What was the other question you wanted to ask? Because you had a couple questions about the CFL.
Leo Ernewein: Sorry,
Lando: You don't know? Okay.
Leo Ernewein: buddy.
Lando: Okay.
Leo Ernewein: Sorry.
Lando: That's okay. And then I want to talk about the Stampeders really quick,
Lando: I think they're in a lot of trouble too because their defense can't stop anything.
Lando: They've been averaging 30 points or allowing at least 30 points a game.
Leo Ernewein: Giving up, yeah.
Lando: And I've watched four games of theirs so far.
Leo Ernewein: Some New Orleans Saints in the 2010 defense.
Lando: And it's been, yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Oh, oh.
Lando: Oh, they can't, they can't stop anything. And I, they, they have linebacking issues. I think they have defensive back issues and, you know, and if their offense isn't going toe to toe with their, with, with the offense of the other team, they're in big trouble, which is quite funny because last year was the total opposite.
Lando: Their defense was holding them in games and their offense could score. couldn't even get a touchdown. So, It's funny how year-to-year affects teams, but I'll be honest with you there, Leo, and to our listeners, I think Dave Dickinson is on the hot seat because he had, ever since he's taken over the team, I think he's in big...
Leo Ernewein: No.
Lando: Ever since he's taken over the team and been doing both roles of GM and head coach, that team's gone down...
Leo Ernewein: It's a lot.
Lando: That team's been going downhill.
Leo Ernewein: He's my favorite coach in the league. I don't want him to be on the hot seat.
Lando: No? Well, I think he is because I...
Leo Ernewein: He's my favorite. Probably my favorite CFL coach of all time next to Pinball Clemens.
Lando: Yeah? Oh, neat.
Leo Ernewein: I think so. Who was the Alouette's coach? No, Alouette's quarterback. Never mind. I liked him. He was never a coach.
Lando: Anthony Calvillo.
Leo Ernewein: Alveo, yeah. I liked him a lot, too. I always thought he would be a great coach. Turns out he – I don't think he ever – Yes?
Leo Ernewein: Yes, for who?
Lando: The Montreal Alouettes.
Leo Ernewein: Good for him. Love it.
Lando: Yes.
Leo Ernewein: Love it. Can't wait to watch him rise.
Lando: Yeah. Yeah, and head coach is Jason Moss, and he's turned that franchise around too.
Leo Ernewein: That's good for
Lando: I mean, and they're, yeah.
Leo Ernewein: I've heard a lot about him, yeah.
Lando: Yeah, so, yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: So, that's my CFL takes there, man, because yeah, I'm a little worried about Calgary now, because
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, and that's Jason. You spell his name like M-A-H-S or something like that. It's like Moz, but it's spelled...
Lando: M-A-A-S. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, that's it. That's it. Thank you, no H.
Lando: Yeah, yeah.
Leo Ernewein: But yeah, I've seen it before because I remember having to talk about him after this Grey Cup or something like that and throw to him with audio or something like that.
Lando: You're welcome. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: We'll wrap things up here with the World Cup officially finishing today after a wild month of soccer slash footy across North America. Spain took the whole thing with a tight 1-0 win over Argentina, and honestly, they backed up why they were the most dominant team in the entire tournament. They were historically stingy, allowing only one single goal across eight games, completely completely shutting down Argentina's attack in the final.
Leo Ernewein: Landon, don't even think Argentina might have had one shot on goal compared to Spain's 20 in the final.
Leo Ernewein: mean, I was joking with some friends that, oh, why are we watching this? It's going to be 4-0 Argentina. We already know the results. Yada, yada, yada, rigged, yada, yada, yada. Hard to rig a game if you don't get a shot on net.
Leo Ernewein: You know? Yeah. I don't think it was necessarily rigged. There were some moments where I thought Messi maybe... They just booked Enzo Fernandez, who's a midfielder for Argentina. They gave him a yellow card because he bumped into somebody and then he was rolling on the ground and didn't even get up. They deemed it not a foul, so they're like, time-wasting get off. Or not get off, but he had a yellow. And then 10 minutes later, 15 minutes later, guy doesn't play cautiously. I think he almost cost them the tournament along with their manager.
Leo Ernewein: He ran into, was it Gavi from a midfielder from Spain on a challenge and hit him.
Lando: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Leo Ernewein: And it wasn't like a bad challenge when you look at the replay, but the way that Gavi followed through because, you know, Enzo Martinez was charging at him and hit Gavi in the foot.
Leo Ernewein: Gabby's whole body kind of flipped over Enzo's hip. And so he went head over heels almost. Well, he did go head over heels.
Leo Ernewein: It looked horrible. Thankfully he was all right, but obviously you got to give another yellow for that. And when you're on two yellows, you get a red and you got kicked off. And he was trying to argue. I was just like, come on, man. Like, I used to like you. Quit being a spoiled brat. And he was, oh, man, it was such a mess.
Leo Ernewein: So I think he cost them a lot. And I also think their manager, not subbing in probably their best striker or their best goal scorer in Lartoro Martinez, who basically got them to that tournament. He scored the winner against England in the semifinal.
Leo Ernewein: And he's an incredible striker. And I get that Julian Alvarez is a great forward up front, too. And he also got messy. But eventually, when they went down to 10 men, they subbed off Julian Alvarez, a forward, for Marco Sinensi, who's a defender.
Leo Ernewein: And they said, OK, we're going park the bus and try to get this to penalties, which... I get that strategy, but it's super risky to play park the bus when you haven't gotten a shot all game. Like I'd be trying to switch it up to get more offense instead of going, okay, well, we haven't gotten a shot all game. We're just going to give up on offense entirely. And,
Leo Ernewein: play this they they basically call it haram ball where you park the bus and and you don't let anybody get behind you and may get extremely hard for the other team to attack but it's super boring to watch because it's basically just the other team pressing you the whole time and you can't do anything on the other side and it becomes completely one-sided and that's what we saw was basically 20 to 1 or 20 to 0 and shot attempts which is just brutal.
Lando: Mm-hmm.
Leo Ernewein: And shout out to Argentina as well, or not Argentina, Spain as well. Their defense was, you know, they impeccable. The last time they won the world cup, they only allowed two goals, which was a record throughout the tournament. And this year they broke that record by only allowing one goal, which is like, I thought that never, that record was never going to be broken to win a world cup while only allowing one goal throughout the whole tournament. Pretty, pretty hard.
Leo Ernewein: On the other side of the pitch there, Landon, well, first, I want to give you chance to respond to any of that. Did you watch the game at all? Were you able to catch any?
Lando: I did. Yeah, I caught the second half.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: So I missed that red card, second yellow card.
Leo Ernewein: No, that was in the second half. It was in the second half.
Lando: Was it in the second half? So I just must have just missed it because when I turned it on, I saw that Argentina was down to 10 players.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: And one of the things that I wanted to say about Argentina... I mean, you talked about, you know, all the players that they've had. But one of the things that I think cost them the World Cup, too, is that they relied on Messi way too much.
Lando: Way too much for their offense. And I think it bit them in the ass. And, you know, nobody really picked Spain to really win this whole thing. Like, did you?
Leo Ernewein: I was picking Spain after Germany.
Lando: I did.
Lando: I know.
Leo Ernewein: I liked Spain.
Lando: know I didn't.
Leo Ernewein: The only issue I had with Spain is they didn't have like a natural number nine or a natural striker, but they have this guy named Mikel Marino, who has been incredible all tournament.
Lando: Yes.
Leo Ernewein: He's a natural midfielder. I used to play for rail associated out in Spain and they sold them to Arsenal a few years ago or this year. And when Arsenal had striker issues or injuries,
Leo Ernewein: he sort of filled in as a striker, and he was doing pretty well there. And in this tournament, he was filling in as a striker and scoring all kinds of goals. In fact, there was one where he had pretty much a wide-open header, and he missed it.
Leo Ernewein: And the commentators were like, oh, man, he's going to be like... Weeping and asleep as he goes to sleep tonight if they end up losing this game kind of thing. Because it was such like a slitter almost that he missed.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Thankfully, they ended up winning on a pretty cool goal as well too. An incredible, a great pass into the box. And then an incredible touch by Nico Williams to set the ball back about 10 feet.
Leo Ernewein: So that a guy named Ferran Torres could come in and just whip it top ends. seal the deal. And that was in, I think it was stoppage? No, extra time, sorry.
Leo Ernewein: So, of course, Argentina had some time to answer back, but when they hadn't had a shot for 115 minutes already or something like or 100 and... I think they scored in the 94th or something like that, so... No, it was...
Leo Ernewein: Either way, it was in extra time that they scored. It was early in extra time. Argentina still had the break as well. And Landon, I don't blame you for not catching that red card because, man, all the footy games that I've watched, I've paid the least amount attention to.
Leo Ernewein: And it's not because the football was bad. It's because the amount of commercials they put in with those hydration breaks and crap like that that I found myself looking away so much and doing something else while the game was on.
Lando: Yeah, yeah.
Leo Ernewein: didn't even... I didn't even tune in pretty much until the halftime show. I didn't even get to see any of that. don't know, did you? I assume it was atrocious.
Lando: I didn't, no, I didn't, I heard, I was reading it online too and they said it was atrocious, so.
Leo Ernewein: I can't wait to read about it online.
Leo Ernewein: I bet. It's just like, come on, guys. What are we doing here? They Americanized the poop out of it. I didn't like that part. I'll get onto that after, but first I want to talk about the implications for Leo Messi because Spain did a great job shutting him down. I think you're right that Argentina kind of relied on him a lot.
Leo Ernewein: He just finished his sixth career World Cup, tying a tournament record. He's 39, which was incredible with eight goals and four assists. Looking ahead, though, he'll be 43 by the next World Cup.
Leo Ernewein: So... Even though he hasn't made an official retirement yet, it's kind of wild to think that this might be the final time we ever see him on a World Cup stage.
Leo Ernewein: Landon, how would you put that kind of sheer longevity on his international career into perspective after a final like that, though?
Lando: Well, I know there's been a lot of other players in history of not just soccer or football, but just in sports in general, that sometimes after winning championship, you want to go out and win another one. So I don't think his legacy will go on as whenever he retires, his legacy is going to go on as one of the best players that's ever played the game. I don't think his legacy is ever going to get tarnished. He is a lot of fun to watch. The cousins that came to visit me, they have a grandchild and he has a messy jersey.
Lando: That's how popular he is around the
Leo Ernewein: That's how big the reach is. Exactly.
Lando: That's how big the reach is.
Leo Ernewein: It's,
Lando: So he's reaching out to a lot young players or young kids. And so I think I was a little disappointed in him today that He couldn't help the team get over the hump. But, I mean, he's only one guy. Everybody else has got to help him out. And his manager's got to get help out, too, by making it successful for everybody. I just think, I'll be honest with you, I was surprised that Argentina beat England.
Lando: I think, to me, personally, think Argentina was very lucky to even be in the World Cup final, to be honest with you.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, me too. But the expectations were high. They had the talent. If I'm the Argentina Football Association, I'm firing Lionel Scaloni, their man, tomorrow.
Lando: I would be too. I would be too. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: That final was atrocious. They didn't even give him a chance to win. The worst final I think I've ever seen.
Lando: No.
Leo Ernewein: As far as one-sided play goes, and they still got into extra time. They didn't deserve to be into extra time. They didn't deserve to be in that final.
Lando: No, they did not.
Leo Ernewein: They didn't deserve to be probably in the, yeah, I think you're right, in the final in general. I don't know if England deserved it either, and it would have been super annoying hearing it's coming home for another week.
Leo Ernewein: But... I do have a lot of English friends, and I have a soft spot because I think England should have won the World Cup by now since 1986.
Lando: I think they did. This was their best chance, and they blew it.
Leo Ernewein: I think...
Leo Ernewein: I think so, too.
Lando: I think this was their best chance.
Leo Ernewein: I think so, too. They played awful, though.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: And if I'm the English Football Association, I'm firing Thomas Tuchel, their general manager, the next day as well. Because when they were... I think they were tied or they were up.
Leo Ernewein: No, they were up one, nothing. And they played Haram ball for the rest of the game.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: They put Harry Kane as a central defensive midfielder. I even saw Donald Trump tweeting about it being like, I don't know enough about football or soccer or whatever he said, but I know it's probably not wise to put your best offensive player in a defensive position.
Leo Ernewein: It's like, who's feeding Trump soccer information?
Lando: Yeah, no kidding, eh?
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: But anyways, I'll be honest with you, man. This whole World Cup, though, because I know you have a few other questions, and hopefully I'm not jumping the gun. But there was a lot of teams that I was very surprised about how well they did in this tournament. And there was teams that I was shocked how bad they were. I was shocked how bad Germany was in this World Cup.
Lando: They were horrendous.
Leo Ernewein: Me too. I was disappointed.
Lando: Oh, my goodness, they were brutal.
Leo Ernewein: I was super disappointed. Germany also has that problem where they have a great position pretty much in everywhere, but their midfield's probably not as strong as Spain's.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Their defense probably is. Same with their goaltending.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: But they also lack that number nine striker kind of somebody who just has that lethal attack mentality, that Kobe Bryant mentality, if you will, where it's
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: They'll shoot no matter what. If they think it's a bad shot, they don't care of thing. Yeah.
Lando: They just couldn't score. That was one of the – I remember watching – was watching TSN SportsCenter, and that was one of the things that the guy – that their commentators were – or their analysts, sorry, that they were saying is that they just couldn't score this year.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: And they said – which is quite astonishing considering the history of German soccer. So – and then one of the teams that I was very – Correct.
Leo Ernewein: I think they the all-time goal scorer in World Cups. Miroslav Klose.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Miroslav Klose was very long time.
Lando: The two teams that I was very surprised how well and how good they were was Norway and Switzerland. They were good.
Leo Ernewein: I was really impressed with Norway.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Switzerland didn't shock me. I'm used to them being overachievers. Cape Verde blew me out of the water. The fact that they only lost to Spain 1-0...
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: And the round is 16. I was like, what are they doing here? Another thing too, Canada, Mexico, and the United States all getting knocked out in the round of 16. That sounds kind of fishy to me.
Leo Ernewein: If we go to the 2030 World Cup and it's, what is it? Morocco, Spain, and Portugal. And those three teams get knocked out all in the same round too. I'm calling rigged. You know, kind of fishy.
Lando: Yeah. Well, I don't, I, I, yeah.
Leo Ernewein: I mean, I don't think like, I think that matches their talent level.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: But it just seems like, it's odd to me that one team didn't over exceed and one team didn't under exceed in that sense.
Lando: Yeah. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: And to me, I think that some people maybe out of hand and saying, Oh no, we're hosting this world cup.
Lando: I know what you're saying.
Leo Ernewein: There's no way we're not making the group stage or there's no way where we're getting knocked out after one game kind of thing.
Lando: Yeah.
Lando: But you know what, though? Of the two out of the three teams that I think deserve to be there, do think Canada 100% deserve to be there.
Leo Ernewein: Oh, that goal from Stefan Estacchio was Canadian folklore now, man.
Lando: Oh, yeah.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: That's going to down in history. It was incredible moment for Canadian soccer.
Lando: And Mexico. Mexico.
Leo Ernewein: I do think we got super lucky with the draw though. And South Africa, South Korea, but that's just the way it goes.
Lando: Yeah. Oh, for sure. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Right. And South Korea, think they went into shambles after.
Leo Ernewein: And like, I don't know if I told you about this. They inquired. Oh no, I did talk about it on the last podcast. They, they, their health and finance and tourism, no sports, sports, tourism and something ministry,
Lando: Yeah, you did.
Leo Ernewein: to conduct an investigation. So what ended up happening is that coach who, you know, ended up getting fired the next day and they conducted investigation. He tried to defect. He ended up like not flying back with the team to Korea and like tried to stay in the States. I don't know if he ended up like succeeding or anything like that.
Leo Ernewein: But I'm pretty sure he was just like, no, I'm not. Because he was worried about the punishment he was going to face. I think there was some financial, maybe, I'm not 100% sure. So alleged financial corruption going on behind the scenes there too.
Leo Ernewein: But yeah, all I know is that he did not fly back with them and he tried to stay stateside.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Which is crazy. Yeah.
Lando: It is crazy, so...
Leo Ernewein: Anything else you want to touch base on the World Cup there, bud?
Lando: So I know I touched base on Switzerland and Norway. I was really impressed with, oh, the other thing that I thought was, I thought the United States was very lucky to get in. But you're right. How the draws were lined up was all in favor for all three nations to succeed.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: But I thought the United States was very lucky to get there. And it was funny to listen American news and media outlets to say that, Oh, they're going to go all the way.
Lando: No, they're not.
Leo Ernewein: I just love... My favorite part about this World Cup is all the discussions it brought about with all the people I follow for American sports content about their conversations they're having about how Erling Holland would be a great wide receiver in the NFL or how all these NFL players would dominate soccer if they played it their whole lives.
Lando: I know they're not.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: like, dude, Messi was never the most athletic guy. Just because you're athletic does not mean you're good at soccer. takes a lot of...
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: technical skill and a lot of other factors. Right. I just love it.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: It's to me, it seems like ignorance because, know, they're saying the best part about this world cup is Erling Holland's wasted potential to be a six foot four monster wide receiver the NFL.
Leo Ernewein: And like, dude, have you seen how much money this guy's making? Like wasted potential. Get off me. His hands are probably bricks too.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Like guy's been playing with his feet his whole life. He probably can't catch anything.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Not to knock the hole in, but he's great. But,
Lando: I know you're saying. But the three teams that I was disappointed about this year that I thought would do way better than they did was Australia.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: I thought that they would take a way bigger step than they did and they got knocked out.
Leo Ernewein: The Socceroos.
Lando: Yeah. They got knocked out in...
Leo Ernewein: That's their nickname. I love their nickname. Anytime somebody says Australian soccer, I have to mention the Socceroos.
Lando: I do too.
Leo Ernewein: It's like a weird quirk.
Lando: It's a great nickname.
Leo Ernewein: It's the best nickname in sports, one of them, at least.
Lando: It is. I thought the Netherlands were awful this year.
Leo Ernewein: Uh,
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, they disappointed me.
Lando: And I thought Portugal was horrendous too. So, yeah. So, I guess, you know what? I guess the next tournament that's kind of close to the World Cup is Euro 2028 is the next one.
Leo Ernewein: Euro 2028, I believe.
Leo Ernewein: I don't know where the Euros are, so I'm going to find because I know the next World Cup. Euros, because of course we got like Cope America and all that sort of stuff, but we really care about that.
Lando: No.
Leo Ernewein: Let's see when the MXGeros July they're in England, Scotland, and Wales in the Republic of Ireland.
Lando: Oh, cool.
Leo Ernewein: So it's going to be in the UK with the final at Wembley, of course.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: Cool. So, and then there.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah. Although I think it was a successful World Cup, it probably didn't go off as disastrous as I thought it did based off all the stuff leading up to it.
Lando: Me too.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: I am still, think it'll forever go down. It's like the American, the commercial version of the world cup.
Leo Ernewein: And hope that going forward, Gianni Infantino, the FIFA, what is he commissioner, president of FIFA or whatever that is. I hope going forward that he doesn't implement these commercial things.
Leo Ernewein: because they are commercial breaks. They're not water breaks. If they were water breaks, the camera would stay on them. We'd all be watching them drink water on the pitch for five minutes. Instead, they're going over the sideline making tactics.
Lando: yeah
Leo Ernewein: It's a timeout. And what do you do in American sports when you have a timeout? You cut the commercial. So give it a rest.
Lando: yeah yeah how much how much influence do you think trump had and fox had in this one big time they had a lot they had
Leo Ernewein: Quit trying to sell me for player benefits. Bullshit.
Leo Ernewein: Uh, yes and no. I think Trump's influence might have been more had Gianni Infantino had less of a spine. Because Trump, of course, wanted to take out Iran and replace them with Italy, who Italy hasn't qualified for the last three World Cups since like 2014, which is just brutal.
Lando: yeah yeah
Leo Ernewein: When you consider that they've won the World Cup like three times. I think it's three. Pretty sure. Maybe even more. They might have won
Lando: they got some work to do let me tell you that is that is brutal that is brutal
Leo Ernewein: Italy's got a youth problem. A, their league doesn't play their young players, so they move overseas. And then some of them are incentivized to move overseas at a young age and just switch their allegiance or their country allegiance or whatever.
Lando: Allegiances? Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: And also, yeah, young players aren't developing on Italian teams.
Lando: Where is...
Leo Ernewein: They're developing in the Bundesliga, which is their German league.
Lando: Oh, are they? Yeah, okay.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, that's probably the spot that they're developing the most. Or they're just not playing, right? Which is crazy. They'll sit and rot on the bench while the manager chooses to play some 31-year-old because he wants to save his job instead of promote some talent.
Lando: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got a question for you. Where the heck is Mr.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: Soccer? Where has Greece been in the World Cup? Because they used to be in it all the time too, and they're nowhere to be found either.
Leo Ernewein: Eh, Greece is... Greece had a miraculous, I think it was 2004 Euros win, but that was sort of way punching above their weight.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Greece has never really been... They have two massive soccer franchises. well, football teams in the Greek league, and it's Pathanakos and, oh, what's the other one?
Leo Ernewein: I can see Olympiacos, the red team.
Lando: Oh, okay. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Green and red are their colors. Green is for Pathanakos, green and white, I think, and Olympiacos is white and red. And they hate each other, and they're notorious for, like,
Leo Ernewein: Just corruption and stuff like that. A lot of Greek players... Actually, I think recently, the last time I played FIFA, which might have been last year, there was three or four Greek talents that had some pretty high potential. So they have kind of an up-and-coming golden generation, but they've never really been a footballing nation. I'd say they do definitely punch above their weight when it comes to football. They're no easy team to beat.
Leo Ernewein: But you don't necessarily expect them to win a lot of games. If they're going to win, it's going to be nil-nil or 1-1, and then they'll beat you in a shootout.
Leo Ernewein: You know? And luckily in a shootout kind of thing. They're not the greatest team. They don't have a lot of offensive talent. They'll play structured, defensive, boring kind of watching football.
Leo Ernewein: At least that's my opinion.
Lando: You're right, yeah.
Leo Ernewein: Don't quote me on this. I'm not a Greek expert. I haven't watched a lot of Greek football. But... They do have some up-and-comers. But then again, football is so different because the leagues are so varying in skill that an up-and-comer in Greek may look good, so good on paper all the time. And then they move over to the English Premier League or even the championship, the second division in England. And then they just become just another guy.
Lando: Right.
Leo Ernewein: And you're like, man, that guy used to be so promising. What happened to him? And it happens to, it's not just Greek players. It's all sorts of, it happens, I think more so in football where players don't reach their full potential from what I see, at least from what other people give them as potential or what the heights they can reach.
Leo Ernewein: Because there's just so much disparity when it comes to talents in different leagues. And the fact that you can play over in Asia or over in South America or over in, you know, you can play all over the world.
Leo Ernewein: So obviously there's going to be different levels of talent, but it varies so much that you could be a star out in Greek and they buy you to come play in the premier league. And you're just another guy because it may work out. It may not. It's just, you know, whole different level out there in England with all that money and stuff like that.
Leo Ernewein: But yeah, hard to believe we locked down 25 of these there, Landon.
Lando: I know, man. Hey, like, and, and we're getting close to being almost one year here too.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah.
Lando: So awesome. Awesome.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, on the up and up and we'll continue to make some more editorial podcasting decisions and stuff like that. We're looking at improving some stuff on the back end here. So hopefully we'll continue to do that and maybe we'll have some nice new stuff for you on the next few episodes. We'll see. We'll see how much Leo actually is active on his words there. Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: That's a wrap for the action today before we sign off on our 25th episode. I just wanted to give a... Actually, Landon, I'm going to let you do your personal shout-out first, and then I'll do my shout-out.
Lando: Okay, sounds good. So my personal shout out, I'll be really quick, is that we've got two new listeners from my store work. Their names are Brady and Jason. They've listened to us, I think, the last couple episodes there, man.
Lando: And so I just want to do a quick shout out to them. Thanks for jumping on board and being new fans of ours because... That's what it's all about. We're trying to reach out to as many audiences as possible.
Lando: And if we can reach out to those two and they can pass on our podcast to them, that's how we grow our podcast, man. Right. So a shout out to those two.
Leo Ernewein: Exactly. And, you know, we're just trying to create an easy listen and have some, some fun conversations around sports that, that hopefully engage you guys as the listener and stuff like that.
Leo Ernewein: So you said Brady and Jason Brady with a B?
Lando: Brady with a B, just like Tom Brady or Brady Kachuk.
Leo Ernewein: Yeah, just like Tom Brady. So shout out Brady and Jason.
Lando: Yeah.
Leo Ernewein: And Landon, I wanted to give my shout out to you, bud, because I just wanted to thank you for, you know, all the support that you gave me over the course of the tough couple of termless weeks that I've had here after getting laid off and all that jazz.
Leo Ernewein: As we were supposed to record our podcast probably about a week and a bit ago. And I said, Landon, I'm sorry, buddy. I need more time. So just wanted to directly thank you. You've been so incredibly supportive and thoughtful during a really tough time for me lately. You're an amazing teammate, Landon, and even better friend. And I truly appreciate you having my back there, brother.
Lando: Hey, my anytime, buddy. You do the same thing for me. So anyways, guy, everybody, thank you so much for listening. And we'll keep this thing rolling. 25 more episodes.
Leo Ernewein: Noise.
