The Chris Johnston Show. Let's go. Your number one destination for a behind-the-scenes look at the game of hockey. Is this thing on? Here's NHL Insider Chris Johnston and host Julian McKenzie.

Big Money Seach. Let's look into the Canadian's Leaps game to start off our Thursday edition of our show. You were mentioning just before we got on today, all these other games and all these wild crazy scores, and then Montreal, Toronto, a one-nothing game. It's just funny to see that score line, considering the craziness of Wednesday night.

Yeah, one-nothing you associate with games in May and June, not games that are played in October, right? I mean, this is the time for, if you're Miko ranting to get your hat-tricks in when teams aren't in sync yet, maybe goal tenders are still getting back up to speed. Which he did. Exactly. You don't expect one-nothing, but you also don't expect a 48-save shut-up for a Samuel Montem Cribo. Pretty nice start to the year for him and what I think is an important season. I had a little help from his goalpost, but as goalies have said, you got to stop the ones that are going in, and he did that. Yeah. Interesting start to the year. I mean, it's amazing. We go through weeks and weeks discussing story lines, like breaking down teams, and a game gets played, and it just feels like everything spins in other directions. And obviously, some hope in Montreal. That team is going to be more competitive than they've been the last three years when they've been a bottom five team league-wide. And pretty good first foot forward. Nice to see Cole Caulfield score a goal honoring Johnny Goodrow with the number 13 sweater on his back.

That's what I wanted to bring up. I just love the Bell Center. Anyone who's a loyal listener will know that I have much affection for games in that building, as I know you do as well. So pretty nice opening night there in the Belle Provence.

The atmosphere in the league. I haven't been to every single rink, and Vegas very much surprised me, but I haven't found a rink with a better atmosphere than the Bell Center. With Cole Caulfield, he did score the one goal in that game. I thought it was It was fitting. I liked it. He did switch his number from 22 to 13 this offseason in honor of Johnny Guedjro. It was a very touching moment, I thought.

Yeah, it looked like he pointed upwards and skywards a little bit there. Whether he did or not, obviously, he's doing that in honor of a player that he described as his idol, someone who became a friend and a teammate. They played together at the World Hockey Championship in May. I'm a sucker for him. He just seemed nice. It's only fitting that he would score the first goal of the year. One point I didn't make on Montembeau, Julian, and I tweeted this, and I was surprised at the number of people pushed back on me.

I wanted to get in on this because I saw this And I don't think it was the first time you've made mention of that. And I think we should get into this.

Well, okay. We're going to talk about Canada's goal tending as we move into these best on best events, right? The next one up is the Four Nations' face off in February. The team has to be picked by December second. So doing some quick math here, that's 53 days. It's not really that far away, right? A little bit more than seven weeks. Team Canada is going to have to put in its roster. And who is going to be the goal tender? I think Samuel Montembeau has a fantastic chance to be among the three Canadian goalies. I'm not saying at this point he's going to be the starter. I think, quite frankly, the Canadian management is in a position where they have to go with whoever's playing the best at that point in time in their estimation. But people seem to think I'm crazy for suggesting it. I didn't want to argue with the Internet because you can't win, but I wanted to be like, okay, so if Montembeau isn't in the top three, who are the three that are 100 % better than him? I I mean, among the players you consider, Jordan Binnington, Stuart Skinner, maybe Conor Ingram playing in Utah.

I mean, we're not in the era, and I'm sure there are others, but my point is we're not in the era Aiden Hill won a Cup in Vegas. A couple of years ago. We're not in the era where it's automatically you have a Marty Prodere to throw in there or Roberto Luongo or Cary Price. I mean, Canada, I'm sure lots of people paid attention to this as has slipped as a goal-tending country. And so Montembeau, I think that started this season, I don't know how much of a priority it is for him, but it certainly has a great opportunity here to be playing games at the Bell Center in February when the entire NHL is off wearing the belief. And so the thought crossed my mind when he was having such a good start to the season that that's a positive for him. And then I feel like I had a lot of people yelling at me saying, he's not in the mix. I can tell you he is in the mix. And What happens in the next seven weeks will ultimately decide who the three goalies are.

Sam Montembeau won a gold medal with Canada at the World Championship. You would know better than me, but guys who play for Team Canada at the World Championships, Taki Canada remembers that, and they keep that in mind when they build teams going forward. This is not just a pick out of nowhere. We're just going off of one 48 safe performance. Sam Montembeau is slowly He's building up a resume. He's building up a case to be on that team.

Sure. And he's got excellent goals saved above expected numbers. He had a really strong season last year. It just gets lost a little bit, right? Montreal, his team, has not played any meaningful games in a long time. He's not a household name. I mean, the Canadians got him by claiming him off wai. So it's not as though... He doesn't have the pedigree, again, of... Cary Price was a fifth overall pick, right? Patrick Wauw is winning cups in his first year or two in the league. I mean, he doesn't have that level of pedigree or hype around him, but it's a reflection of two things. It's where the state of the overall Canadian goal tendings at is that there isn't the alpha dog obvious picks. And I think he's got a great chance to get there anyway. So I just wanted to touch on that since I have the microphone on this show because I didn't want to get battling everyone on Twitter. It's not like a hill I'm going to die on here. I'm just telling you as a fact, he's certainly in the mix.

Well, at some point we are going to do something involving the Four Nations face off in terms of a... Pick your Team Canada roster. And I'm very intrigued to know if... Let's say we do this in I don't know the date you mentioned for when the lineup has to be done around that time.

Well, if I'm doing it today, Montembeau is one of my three. So I'll give you a spoiler.

I want to know if in December, if we do this, he's still on that list. I would think he is. I think you're absolutely right to consider him as someone who has a chance to make the team, especially considering what goaltending looks like. Note, he's not saying, CJ is not saying, Sam Montembeau is the absolute number one goal tender for Team Canada. He's just saying he has a chance at making that team, and I don't think he's wrong.

Well, let's hope he gets some better defense played in front of him in the games ahead because, well, it is a nice story on night one that he made 48 saves. If he's asked to do that too much, it might submarine his chances.

That's true. On the other side of that game, Joseph Wall for the Toronto Maple Heaps is he's still battling a lower body injury, and Anthony Stollar has got the start for Toronto. What's going on with Joseph Wall? What's your read into that situation?

Well, it's concerning. He wasn't available for game seven against Boston in May. And then, as a surprise on day one of the season, he's not available for the Leaps to start the year five plus months later. Obviously, a lot transpired in the meantime, including him getting a three-year contract extension from the Maple Leaps at the earliest possible opportunity. So he's signed for three years beyond this one. And so obviously, this is a player the Leaps believe in. I think he's given them reason to believe when he's played For me, the biggest issue is that he's had a number of injuries. He's had different injuries, and he seems to be suffering from these injuries, not at periods where he's been taxed too hard. We haven't seen him really have a run as even a long, like a two-month number one goal tender, let alone a six or seven-month full season load. I think that's where, for me, there's some concern here is that you just can't rely on him at this stage. The Leifs are in a pretty precarious spot to start this season because he gets put on IR, which means he's out for the first week now, at least, and potentially longer.

He spoke to the media also, Julian, the day before the game. It made it sound like he was going to play. I mean, if you look at his quotes, he's talking about how much he loves the Bell Center, and he looked up to Kerry Price. And I mean, look, maybe he didn't want to give away the hand or maybe something has come up. But it's just there's a lot of mystery there. And well, I think the Leaps certainly feel good about Anthony Stollars. I think they should feel good about what they saw in the first game from him. Yes, he lets the one goal on a cross-ice pass in the power play. But other than that, clean sheet for Stollars in his debut at the Leaps. But he just never played a lot of NHL games, and they're already talking about starting him again on Thursday night. They're obviously planned to use him more than he's ever been used before. I think that would have had that even with a healthy Joseph Wall. But I just don't know how they're going to manage this early part of the schedule as they get through this. And really, can Wall get healthy?

I think that's been a huge organizational question. Again, the guy's in fantastic shape. It's not like there's concerns about his anything to do with that he's doing away from the rank or anything like that. But for whatever reason, he hasn't been able to stay healthy. I don't know if it's a bad run of luck or what it is. The Leaps, I know, have invested a lot in trying to get some of those answers for him or in conjunction with him during the offseason. But it's an auspicious start, I would say, to the year. On one hand, yeah, it's just one week. Who cares? But if he's not back right away, you start to get some of the conversation in Vancouver, I mean, totally different circumstances. But it's the same situation where Thatcher Demko was unavailable at the end of the playoffs. You go through this offseason, he's unavailable to start the season. In his case, it's a very unusual knee-related injury that he has. They don't have really a specific timetable on his return. And he's such an important part of the team. I think Joseph Wall, while nowhere near as established as Demko, could be that for the Leaps.

The promise is all there, but you're not getting the delivery. So basically, it's hard to come out firing yet until we see how long this drags on for. But I think there's reason for some concern, but the Leaps might have to use Stolar's more than they want to. What happens if he gets injured? Again, he's not ever shouldered a huge workload in the NHL. He also has had some injuries in his past. Then you're down to Dennis Hildaby and Matt Murray as your tandem. It just feels all a little uncertain. And look, in some ways, that's goal-tending. We've seen a lot of good I think, at Carolina, they've consistently used three goalies minimum every year. Kocetkoff has been there. Obviously, they had Ranta and Anderson. This isn't totally unique to the Leifs or anything like that. But when you just don't have... They don't have a proven number one yet is just the truth. So you have a lot of players that have had nice stretches, and then you have a bit of a wild card, Matt Murray, who has been a number one, but he's a long way removed from that, and he's coming off a significant hip surgery last year that basically cost him the season.

So maybe it'll work, but you can start to see some storm clouds gathering, and maybe Joseph Wall will put this to bed. He'll be healthy to play next Wednesday when they play or next Saturday. But if this drags on through October, I mean, this is going to be a major storyline in Toronto.

Absolutely. To your point about Archer Seelabs, not the best start for the Vancouver Canucks. Just wanted to mention them briefly. You already have fans already clamoring for Kevin Lankin to start the next game. What a wild barn burn. I think we might have had a game of the year candidate between Vancouver and Calgary yesterday. I managed to catch a little bit. I know you slept a little early, but just you mentioning Archer Seelabs made me think of Vancouver, Calgary, and how that game went yesterday, and the fact that, yeah, Thatcher Demko can't come back soon enough for that, do you?

Yeah. Well, and look, it's going to be a few weeks at minimum. Like, best case scenario is a couple of weeks. So the good news is Seelhoff had a great run for them in the playoffs. I mean, I don't think we could overreact to one game positively or negative for any team, for any individual performer. I mean, I picked Edmondton to win everything on our last show, and then they started with a 6-0 loss in the first night of the season. So if we were overreacting to anything, I think we'd be in trouble. But Steelaffs did have a nice finish last year. Lankinen has been a really solid number two, including last season in Nashville, and there's a reason why they signed him. To have the depth that they might need to get through this season. But, yeah, you can't get back soon enough. I love the play where Quinn Hughes is defending the empty net and then amazing long outlet pass to JT Miller, and he rips on the tying goal. I might have slept early, but I certainly caught the highlights. And that looked like a great night there for the Knux Flames.

And that's more the game, as I say. That's more the October games I'm expecting. It's wild back and forth and lots of goals, and everybody's getting their cookies. Not these one-nothing games.

A sick goal from Connor Zahri, too, in the overtime. Telling you, an early candidate for game of the year. Siege, I didn't intend on this. This is a pretty goaly Vee show. We mentioned Sam Montembeau. We just had a conversation about Joseph Wall. We just casually mentioned Archer Sylow's. And we also have to talk about goal tenders getting paid or wanting to get paid.

We're crashing the crease here, brother.

Thank you for taking that term. Yes, that's exactly what I want to hear. That's what I pitched in the group chat yesterday. We got to crash the crease and talk about more of these goalies around the league. We did work on the Lena Solmark's story yesterday, but I want to get to Igor Shisterken first. Was asked about his contract status. He is a pending UFA at the end of the year. No comment after his first game of the season, which saw him shut out the Pittsburgh Penguins. Where are the the Rangers and Igor Shisterken at contract-wise?

Well, it's an interesting situation, right? Because Shisterken had wanted to get this done before the season started. Obviously, and evidently did not distract him because he pitches a shutout in his season opening start in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. Where they go from here, I think, is going to be very telling. The Rangers have not got up to where Shisterken wants to be. I'd point to a specific number on the Rangers's cap sheet. It's got a lot of numbers, and I don't have them in front of me. But Artemi Panarin's cap hit is 11.6, blah, blah, blah, 2, 3, 8, 4. He's got a very unusual cap hit, but it's 11.6 million and change. There seems to be the impression out there that Shisterken feels like he's the most viable player on the team and that he has a case to be paid as the highest paid member of the team, which I actually do think are reasonable claims. I don't think that's out to lunch ridiculous by any stretch. I think that's a fair thing for him to say. But of course, if he's to say, Get paid 11.7 million just to throw a number out there, that's a long way above the next best goaltenders in the League.

I mean, yes, there's a carry price deal that we talk about at ten and a half, but carry is not in the League anymore. Among active goal tenders, the highest paid goal tender is Serge Vabrovsky at 10 million flat. So to go from 10 million to 11.7 million is a pretty significant jump. Obviously, we're now seeing a bunch of goalies, and I'm sure we'll get to them, clustered in the 8 to 10 million range. A bunch of these new guys signing are getting up to that range, and that's good. It's a sign of upward momentum if you're a goal tender. But for Shesterken to pull Valt right to the top, it takes a lot. And so the Rangers didn't get there. What's interesting is, usually I'd say a player in his shoes, and this goes for skaters that are among... Usually the star He won eight years on a contract like this. I think that what's telling about Shesterken is I think he considered that the eighth year maybe isn't the be-all and end-all for him. I think the AAV is what got his eye. There's lots of arguments here. If we get into percentage of salary cap, when Kerry Price signed his ten and a half million deal six years ago, that was a hugely different percentage of the cap.

Then even if Shesterken got 11.7, again, to pick her number at random, today. And so that's where it's at. I just don't know where it's going because, well, I have to believe if the Rangers came back to him on November 15th with the offer that he's been looking for, he'd probably accept it. There's no firm indication at this time if he or his agent are willing to negotiate in season. Again, I think they will be if the Rangers are pushing their offer up. But if not, maybe the year plays out. And there's risk in that for both sides. I I think that the risk for Shisterken just is a down swing in performance or injury or something that derails a season. And then I can't confirm the $88 million that Kevin Weeks reported he turned down. But I do believe it's in that range If it's not exactly 88, that the Rangers have been clear they were willing to go above ten and a half. So if their last offer was 11, it would be in line with everything that I've been told. But they might be in a bit of a standoff here, and it's unusual, right?

Unfortunately, for those that are free agency, we're seeing a lot of players come off the board in the last month. There's been a lot of what could be big name free agent signing, but maybe it'll be Shesterken. I believe he wants to stay in New York, but it seems like he's very set on getting a specific contract. And to this stage, the New York hasn't been willing to go there.

Would you pay 12, 13 million? Just thinking back to that random, that example we got a couple of days ago where we were asked, I think if you'd rather pay Eagrish's Jerk in 11 million, or I think Mitch Marner 11 million. I don't remember the specific number, but this dude clearly wants to blow the top number already for goal tenors out the water. That's been out there. And maybe that's 12 million, maybe that's 13 million. If you're the Rangers, is that wise to do so, especially when you consider the fact he might not even need the eight years?

Well, there's two ways to look at it, right? I mean, I think the fact if he's going to do it on seven years, It actually makes it slightly more palatable. It just reduces the risk that there could be a year later on that you're paying him a lot of money and he's just not what he once was. The second part of it, though, is that on one hand, you might say, well, goalies don't make that much. And that's true. If you look at the goalie leader board for contracts, that's way far and above. But the second argument I would make to you is there's not that many goalie... If you move on from them, if you don't want to pay them that, there's not that many other stud goalies out there that you can feel confident will be at the top every year among the goal-tending charts. And so he does provide something that's a bit of a scarce resource nowadays. And some of the other goalies that are in his class or that he's trying to get into their class because he's probably not... He hasn't reached Vasilevski levels yet. I mean, Vasilevski has got the two cups and the.

But he's in the conversation with the Hello Bucks and the Vasilevski as being among the best goalies in the league. I honestly think... Look, I haven't done this in detail, but I don't think it's crazy to give him that. It's bucking the trend. It's obviously taking away money you don't have elsewhere. You've got players like Alexis Lafrenière who's coming up on a contract. There's trickle down effects to every contract you give out, especially big money ones. But I also think he's a big money talent. What are you... If your answer is no, I'm not paying him that, then my next question is, well, then what are you doing? Are you letting him just walk away? Would you ever consider trading him? I mean, that seems crazy given the expectations on the range of season. Off to a pretty good start. One and O start with lots of good vibes around it for them. I just think sometimes when you have special players, even when the numbers get a little uncomfortable, you just got to hold your nose and sign the contract. But he's a UFA, too. He's got a ton of leverage here, especially if he plays well this year.

If he plays well, I mean, I could see him getting seven times twelve on the open market. I'll say that. If he were to go free on July first, I think that would be out there for him. I think there'd be more than one team that would be willing to give him that. And so let's see where it goes. I mean, look, in the end, they might end up splicing in the middle, and maybe he gets Panarin's contract exactly or It gets eleven and a half million in season. But right now, it's at a little bit of a standoff. And I think there's certainly some emotion around it because some of the numbers are leaking out there publicly, and nobody likes that. I mean, it's not quite on swayment levels. You don't have the team President coming out and talking about the numbers, but it's a high-stakes negotiation. And Chesterken, I think, ultimately wants to focus on the season, but this has got to be somewhere in the back of his mind.

Could you imagine James Dolan having to come out and say, Hey, I have 88 million reasons why I'd want to play goalie for the Rangers?

I could imagine that. I don't think it's going to happen, but I mean, it's not... James Dolan runs that team, and I know the Knicks and everything. I mean, his word is law in that building. And so if he wants to say something, I'm sure no one's going to tell him, don't say that.

Absolutely. Let's get to lead us all, Mark. Four year deal for him, 8.25 million AAV. As As far as we know, complete coincidence that the AAV is the exact same as his boy, Jeremy Swayman in Boston. What did you think of that deal coming down?

Well, I don't think it's a complete coincidence. My understanding all along is Ascends, we're basically waiting for Allmark to be ready to engage in contract talks. They went through the offseason. Obviously, they liked the player. They made the trade to get him with one year left on his deal. They didn't make that trade wanting to walk him right to free agency in summer 2025. But they wanted to give him time to get comfortable in the city, get comfortable around the organization, and ultimately want to come to the negotiating table. And here we are what? Sunday, the Swayman deal got done. So 72 hours after If a Swayman deal gets done, he gets the same AAV. I think it's easy enough for us to connect the dots. And look, I think it should be the case. I mean, those guys shared a lot of success in Boston, and I think It's really not an apples to apples comparison. I mean, Swayman signs as a RFA, it's six UFA years. I'm just saying, if you were doing the negotiation behind the scenes, I think that you'd be looking at different comparables, but it's easy enough to just say, Look, I think I'm as good as this guy.

And ultimately, Ulmark had a fair amount of leverage in his negotiation because the sends obviously didn't want to walk him into some situation where he leaves. And so I think it's fitting those two good buddies and former teammates end up on the same number. I think there's a bit of risk here for Ottawa, obviously. They haven't seen him play for their team yet, but there's risk in every contract. No way around that. And by limiting it to a four-year deal, I do think that they do mitigate it to some degree. And it's five years now he's under contract to the team. What were your impressions being at the press conference? What What were the vibes like? What did you take from yesterday?

Just in the last few days, I'll add the last few days because you're right, Lena Solmark has yet to play a meaningful game for that franchise. But just off of what he's done in preseason and off of the impression that he's left on teammates in the organization, this seems like a real breath of fresh air with this player. Basically, since 2017, goaltending has been this Achilles heel for Ottawa. I know I've written that before, but you can look at the numbers. It has not been stellar for them. And since Craig Anderson has left, they've been looking for that ideal number one to replace him. Unis Corpusale last year did not work with him in Ottawa. So for Lena Solmark to come in and just establish himself without playing a regular season game, yet they play their first game tonight against the Florida Panthers, I think that plays a huge role in why the Ottawa senators were were very much enamored with this player and why they definitely wanted him signed. I think the vibes of that press conference, it seemed as if the Sens obviously are happy to make the deal that they did. Players obviously seem pretty happy about it.

Now it has to go work. I wondered when this deal would get done. I figured with the way that Steve Stales was talking about it, saying it's something they'll look at in the near future when I had that one on one with him a couple of days ago. I figured, I wonder if this is something that could get done before the season. Linas had told me, You know what? I don't want to get rushed into into anything. When it's time to make the decision, I'll make the decision. I just wondered all along, just thinking human nature here, going through a regular season, you don't have your contract settled. We're seeing that It's right out in New York right now. It can work for some people, might not work for other people. But I understand why this deal got done when it did. Now it's just on Lena Salmark to go out there and show and prove why he's worth that money. What I'm wondering now, and I'd love to know your opinion on this. You have the core that's there. Ready to get Chuck, Josh Norris, Shane Pinter, all those guys. And then you sign Lena Zalmark, who's 31, to a four-year deal.

This team's clearly trying to make the playoffs and make the next step. I don't know if the window term is the right way to place it, but I wonder if that could still be used. Is that some pathway? Is that like some window? That's the time they need to get themselves competitive. Not necessarily win a cup, but they need to be competitive in that stretch.

I mean, they got to win a cup in that stretch, no? Well, I'm not sure you can extend beyond five years.

I just don't know if they can in that stretch.

I haven't done the deep dive. That's what I'm thinking. How long could Chuck sign for? I mean, how long... The window is really like those eight-year deals they sign those players to. When do those start coming due? Because A, at that time, those players could leave. Some of them all them, whatever, or they're getting big raises, which makes it further difficult to keep it going. I think the window where they have to be trying to win a cup is two or three years. I'm not saying they will get there, but internally, that's got to be where your focus is. There's lots of teams with that window and only one cup to give out each June. The math doesn't add up in the favor of any one organization. But I think there has to be urgency in Ottawa. I think there is urgency, frankly. When you look at their off-season, they're adding all these veteran players. They're trying to better surround Claude Jérou to be a strong voice in the locker room to bring the younger players along. I understand what they're trying to do there. The one thing I'll say on Allmark, too, and I don't mean to bring up any bad memories for anyone, and he's got a really strong track record.

It's not a perfect comparison. But it did remind me a little bit of the Matt Murray acquisition back in the day where they traded for him. At that point, Murray had really been through some injuries in Pittsburgh, but give him the big deal before he plays there. And it's like, This is our number one. And obviously that didn't work. And then obviously Corpa Salo gets a pretty big free agent deal. This is our number one. Now, Ulmark has the best track record coming in of those players in the moment. But It's definitely trying to manifest something. And obviously, those prior two decisions didn't work very well for Ottawa. I think the odds of this one succeeding are better, but you almost hate to say it. There's not a lot of fallback option here. This really better work.

This has to work.

It's a big amount of money. You don't really have another guy in the system that's poised to be a number one if Walmart doesn't run with it this year. It's a high stakes bet. Again, I think it's not necessarily a bad bet, but if this doesn't work, you don't like to think of what the next steps would look like.

To your point about Ready, Good Chuck, his contract expires 2028, but his no movement clause kicks in next season. Something to think about.

I mean, not that it's all tied just to Bradley Kachuk, but you're excited about those type of players eventually carrying you to better days. The Stutzla's And so to me, the window is as long as they're signed now, where you have to be giving them a reason to resign. And one of the reasons would be if they feel like they could win a Cup there. So you have to get your organization in a position where the players themselves believe they're the cusp of doing something or else they're just less likely to stick around. I mean, that's ultimately why Leon Dreisle stayed in Edmonton, right? Is the oilers got to a point where he truly believes he can win a Stanley Cup there. Obviously, they paid him a ton of money and they gave him eight years, which no other team could do. But that was the tiebreaker in the end. And so I'd say even like with Austin Matthews doing his third deal in Toronto, that came at a time when he felt like the Leaps gave him a chance to win a Cup. If that goes away in any of those markets, the top players are going to look elsewhere.

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Com/johnston. $45 upfront payment required, equivalent to about $15 a month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees, and restrictions apply. See mintmobile for details. One more goalie story for you, Joey DeCord. Getting a five by five. Hasn't played that many games in the NHL, though. Very interesting deal for him.

Yeah, it tells us two things, right? I mean, great for Joey DeCord, who really traveled the long road to a spot to get that security in the NHL. I think 2012 is he 2012? Is maybe when he was drafted. Anyway, it was basically a 10-year journey from actually played for the senators very early in his career, briefly. But he's at 69 career games. So to get five times five is really a nice story for him. But it also makes you wonder about Philip Grubauer, right, in Seattle, who's on a pretty pricey deal, almost six million for him. He's had lots of injury things to deal with since he's been with the crack and hasn't given them the goal tending that they would expect. Again, I don't want to overreact to one game, but even opening day, they got an afternoon game there. They're up to nothing. He lets in a tough goal, and they end up losing that to St. Louis, rather 3-2. I think it tells us about the beliefs they have in Joy to Cord, who, if you remember, was the star of the Winter Classic last year when it was played in Seattle.

Ended up taking the reins for that team and giving them a lot of great play. But I think that's another team where we're talking about urgency Agency. They have to win in that market. I think there's a lot of... They're not an expansion team anymore. Do you know what I mean? They were big players in free agency, gave up a lot of money to Chandler Stevenson and Brandon Montour. And they've graduated Shane right now, one of their early top picks as part of the roster, played a good opening game. And so I do think that the patience will wear thin, I guess, with Grubauer if things don't turn around there. So on one hand, they've now solidified. There's no question about the cord going forward for them. And just be curious to watch how things materialize between him and his partner. Even think how on As usual, that is. On the second day of the season, he signs an extension. He didn't start a pretty good extension, and he didn't start game one of the season. So there's a lot of tandems around the league. That's a true tandem. And now Decord is getting paid similar to his tandem made, and I'm sure they're just going to run with whichever player plays best this year.

Very quickly, Joy Decore drafted in 2015, seventh round pick, 199 overall.

He played in Arizona, right? Before, Arizona had a D1 program, I Man.

Shout out Joy DeCourt. Getting paid. Arizona State. He spent three years with ASU.

Just remind me because we didn't touch on it, but Carter Verhagey gets his big deal in Florida. Yes, he did. 56 million, eight-year contract. But Carter Verhagey was briefly a maple leaf, traded to the Islanders, cut it by the AHL Bridgeport a couple of times, was in the ECHL for them, ends up making his way up onto a Tampa team that had all kinds of cap troubles, so there was an opportunity for him, He gets let go by the lightning, lands in Florida, obviously, he's scored a ton of goals and become an impact player for the Panthers. But a guy who really was... He was in the ECHL at one point. If you had to went to Carter Verhege and said, Hey, don't worry, bud, you're going to win a couple of Stanley Cups, and you're going to sign a 56 million dollar ticket in a tax-free state with all kinds of signing bonuses. Just keep at it. I mean, he probably wouldn't have believed you. I imagine there was probably some days in Joey DeCord's life if you had to say, Don't worry, you're going to get a $25 million deal here. Just keep at it.

So I like to highlight those stories of perseverance, because at the same time we're saying this, there are players out there right now in no man's land, not sure about where their careers are going. And some of them are going to beat the odds and make it to the big show and get all the good things that come with that.

I love that. That's a great way of putting it, CJ. Believe in yourself. Are you ready to answer questions? We did not get to ask CJ earlier this week, so we're going to go through some questions today.

How about that? Yeah, and thanks everyone for sticking with us. Julian's got a big move. It's been a busy time in Ottawa, so we did a Tuesday show. This is upside down week, but we'll get back to regular schedule programming here soon.

Yes. The first question actually is from Red Shark pack. How was the move? It's still on your own. I got a bunch of bins. I still got to go through with all my stuff and still got to get some furnishings together. But I'm here. I'm in Ottawa. I got my apartment. We're on the same time zone. It's happening.

Do you have a car? Did you have a car in Calgary? How do you deal with a car when you move?

Basically, I went to some shipping company and got them to... It's actually funny. I got them to ship it from Calgary to Montreal because it was cheaper for me to send it to Montreal where the company has a terminal versus Ottawa where they don't. So this weekend, I'm going to I'll go back home to Montreal. And I think around that time, my car should be back, and I'll drive it back to Ottawa when I get it.

That's good because I love Ottawa, but it's a city you absolutely need a car in. It's not... Especially if you're going out to Kanata, which I'm sure you will be a bunch to the arena. There's no way around it. You got to drive in Ottawa.

Oh, yeah. Hat tip to Alex Adams from Sportstead, who's literally been driving me all week.

Are you going to give him five stars on the Uber driver there or what?

I might have to. Dude, picks me up in a nice ass Tesla. I might have to, man. This is a nice whip.

I'll tell you this. When I've traveled, I mostly try to avoid renting cars. I just don't like dealing with it, finding a gas station when you're going back to the airport, blah, blah, blah, blah, I got this giant pickup truck. I'm talking a big-ass pickup truck, which is fine, but I've never really driven a car that big, frankly. Then I had to go, for some reason, downtown into the market from the airport. I just remember driving around the market. It's so narrow, the streets that I'm in. It's just like, ridiculously oversize pickup truck. Oh my God. I didn't hit anything. But I just remember that was one of the most perilous driving experiences in my life. I don't know why I'm told that story. No, I love that story.

It's a good story. Someone actually asked MLG Philly, what is the hardest arena in the NHL to get to based on its location and flight availability? Is Ottawa near the top of the list, considering the fact that it's so far west from the city?

It probably is. The thing is I live in Toronto, so the flight thing is easy. There's a flight every hour from Ottawa to Toronto. In fact, Ottawa is so great. If If you're flying between Ottawa and Toronto, as long as you don't check a bag, you can basically... It's like getting on a bus. You can show up a bit early and they'll put you on the earlier flight, usually with no problems. So it's pretty convenient that way. I'm trying to think of hard places to get to. Columbus is a hard flight city, but then the Rana is downtown and there's tons of hotels and you just walk. So that part is easy. Where else?

Glendale used to-What is it like a map matrix?

When the coyotes were in Glendale, that was a long way from the Phoenix airport. A long way. Raleigh is a little inconvenient because you need a car there or lots of Ubers, and sometimes the Uber situation isn't great. The arena is just off this big highway. There's not a hotel next to it. So there's always logistics involved with covering hurricanes games. I'm probably taking this question to heart more than the person meant.

No, I think they would appreciate this because I haven't been to every rink, so I feel like...

San Jose is a hard place to fly to from far away, and I live far away. I know if you live in Denver, there's direct flights right into the San Jose airport, which is very close to the arena, but you usually got to fly to San Fran. There can be killer traffic. That can be $150 Uber, which Depending on your company. It could just be... Getting to San Jose isn't always the most convenient. I remember that San Jose, Pittsburgh, Stanley Cup final was like... That was a journey.I love travel logistics.Is San Jose the answer for this? I love travel logistics. The person is really... I love planning trips. I love figuring out the best, most logical way to do this stuff.

That's why I'm wondering if we need some matrix or some big map where maybe I should have given you this question in advance and given you eight hours to go through every possible NHL city and measure out, well, it takes this much time to take an Uber, but with this flight, it takes this time, blah, blah, blah, blah, They threw in hard arena to get to, but then they also threw the travel variable because some places are much easier to fly to than others.

Anyway, my brain's everywhere.

I think San Jose, for the purposes of this question, that's going to be the answer, unless there is a more difficult spot than San Jose.

No, I mean, a lot of the rings are in downtown Metropolitan places, right? And then usually when they are, there's hotels nearby and restaurants and everything you would need to go there for a day and a half and do your job. So most of them are automatically off the list. There's not even a thought. It's more about Florida's Rink is in this weird no man's land, although even there are hotels and a big mall near it.

Yeah, at I have that, but it's like, if I wanted to go to the elbow room, that's a whole journey. It's nowhere near the arena.

That's one of the many reasons why you won't find me there too often.

Unless the Panthers go back to the Stanley Cup final, I guess. Next one from Eric.

No, I didn't go, man. I spent all those days in Florida, and I wasn't there.

You were not there? Did You didn't go.

No, because I didn't go all the way into Fort Lawn. Anyway, yes.

Anyway, yes. This next one from Eric. I really can't wait to hear the answer to this one. There's a few of these I can't wait to hear the answer to. Why does CJ Why does CJ not show as much emotion about the leaf's failures compared to the Blue Jay's failures?

I mean, pretty easy. I don't have the allegiance to them. I'm not spending money on the Lefs. I spend my time on the leaves at times, but I'm getting compensated by my employer to do so. I'm not a fan of the team. It's that simple. It's Is it a common question that journalists get. I can't even explain to you how easy it is to separate the two, especially when you get to my age. I've been literally doing this half my life. It's not nearly the same thing. The Blue Jays are what I do in my spare time. The Blue Jades are what I do in my summers when I'm off. When I'm around the leaves, I'm there always thinking about stories and talking to players. Even when you watch a game, you just watch a game differently from a press box when you're going to have to write than a game you would if you had a beer and you're sitting in the first row of the 300 level or something. If I'm at a Jay's game, I'm not thinking about, hey, what would I write tonight if I was covering this? One is work and the other is pleasure.

I think it's the simplest way to put it. So I don't have nearly the same emotion or really any emotion tied up in it.

I find more and more now people don't get the fact that in our jobs covering teams, I'd much rather not be a fan of any team that I'm covering. And people just don't have that. I don't understand. I don't know if you've encountered it so many times, but I get the sense that people just don't get that if you're working in the NHL and you're working as a reporter, you're not a fan of the team that you cover. I've had so many people say, Oh, so are you going to be a fan of the Sands? Or when I was in Calgary, they were like, Oh, so are you a Flames fan? I was like, No, I'm still just being objective during my job. I just find it really interesting that people don't get that.

You can cheer for people. You can like people that you deal with. You can be happy when they have big moments. It's not like you're cheering ra, ra, or wearing their jersey. I don't mean like that. But you can be happy. I can feel happiness when I'm around someone who does something that's... When you watch the Panthers win the Stanley Cup, I can feel happiness for the people that I've known on that team. It's not the same as cheering for them like a fan. Yeah, I guess it's hard for me to understand how other people don't understand it, but of course, they've never done in my job. That's fair. My sister works in a bank. I don't actually know what she does at her job. People might know we're sports reporters, But they might not really know what that means. They know we go to the games, but they might not understand the exact interactions we're having. To be honest, and I know Steve isn't a journalist, I'm more amazed that Steve can still care about the least as much as he evidently does. I'm more amazed that he doesn't burn out because he's a media personality for sure.

He produces a ton of content. He's done it for 15 years or whatever it is with his LFRs. I'm more amazed that he could maintain his fandom, let alone the question going the other way. To me, it's the easiest thing in the world. I watch any two teams play, and my cold, dark heart does not get excited when one scores a goal or lets win. I'm excited to see the players do amazing things, and I'm always curious about what it means for story lines and whatever. But it's pretty easy not to care who wins and loses in any given night.

This next one from D. Fizzle. After that Jay's rant, I got to know, have you guys had any I'd like to speak to your manager moments? Just those situations where someone really needs to be corrected by their bosses. They're basically asking if you've ever had a Karen moment.

No. I worked at Wendy's in high school, and I saw all kinds of shit, frankly, and people treat you like crap. I was there And honestly, when I first started, I was making six dollars and 40 cents an hour working at Wendy's after I'd go to school all day and then go to work and basically have to clean up junk in the garbage and make burgers and whatever and take a lot of stuff from people. I've always had a lot of empathy for people work in the service industry, which is largely what you're talking about, front facing jobs that aren't necessarily glamorous. And so I've honestly I've never taken out my frustration on the person or people in front of me. That includes like airline employees when things go wrong or anything. It's not my mojo, but I will certainly... I got a lot of text, I'll say, after that Jay's rant. A lot of people were like, Hey, you were spot on. And some people I didn't expect or didn't know that listened to our pod. So I got no problem taking it on those people because they're paid millions to guide the organization, and they're just willingly ignoring the fact that the team is sliding in the wrong direction for three straight years and just trying to be like, Well, it'll be fine next year.

So I don't mind having a Karen moment on them on a podcast. But if you're doing something that makes my day better, working at the grocery store, working for the airline, you're not going to feel my wrath.

One thing to keep in mind in any of those situations, nine times out of 10, the person you're dealing with, some customer service rep, nine times out of 10, they've had nothing to do with whatever issue you're going through. That's something I just keep in my head every time.

Yeah, we all got a boss, man. We all got a boss.

You are absolutely right on that. This one from Tim Wiley, I can handle. Journalistically, what goes into moving from one beat to another? Do you get to say goodbye to previous beat colleagues and friends met in that city? How long do you get before you need to be in the new city? Do you give story ideas, tips to the new person covering your old beat? I guess it really depends situation to situation. I did get to say goodbye to basically as many friends as I could back in Calgary. There were a few I didn't get to, but a lot of my journalism friends I got to say goodbye to. I even went to a couple of flames players and let them know, and I got to say goodbye to them. In terms of how long you need to be before you need to be in your new city to start, I wanted to get here as soon as possible, basically. We're making it work, and I'm going to be able to cover that first regular season game for the Sends in my case. But there have been people who have taken more time than that in their other jobs.

And do you give story ideas, tips to the new person covering your old beat? Well, I guess this situation is a bit unique, right? Because the person who used to have my job works for the team now.

Yeah, Ian Mendez.

Yeah. So it was a very interesting dynamic on that one. But we talk basically every day, but at least in our shop, considering the people who have been around the team, there's definitely different story ideas and other things to think on that I get passed on and I have to consider for my job. So it really depends per person, but I at least tried to give you the full scale, at least in my situation. Hopefully that answers the question.

Honestly, it's a It's the strength that you don't know this ends up and down. It's actually a benefit to you because your curiosity will find you the story. Sometimes when you think you know everything, and this isn't directed at you, just anybody, you miss things because you think you're on top of everything. But in your case, You probably don't know the prospect pipeline. You're not familiar with the drafting history deeply. It's going to make you have to learn things. And as you ask those questions of yourself and you discover things, you're going to write stories that tell us something. So I've always actually thought it's better not to be an expert, quote unquote, because if you follow your intuition and you learn, then you start telling everyone what you're learning, and that becomes interesting coverage.

Again, another gem from Chris Johnson. He's so good at this. I'll get to a few more before we get to stick taps, because we will still do stick taps. Sam, in Montreal, who is the best player you've ever seen in person?

Probably Crosby. I mean, maybe McDavid. I got... Like, tough to say. Probably Crosby at this point. But how do you define best? And I know that I can't ask a question back. Mcdavid has probably done the most individually spectacular things, I guess, is maybe the best way to put it. Crosby has been just the cream of the crop for so long. I came along too late to see Gretsky and Lemieux, at least as a kid, I saw them on TV, but I wasn't at the games or I wasn't interacting with them way. So that's probably my answer.

Crosby I've only seen a handful of times, but he's amazing. Mcdavid would be up there for me. Nathan McKinnon. Nathan McKinnon needs to be in that conversation for me. I enjoy watching him play every time I get to see him in person. It's like watching a freight train run rampant on an ice surface. That's as best as I can describe watching Nathan McKinnon. I really enjoy watching him play. Kutrav is pretty sick, too. Yes, he is. Nikita Kutrav is really sick, too.

I've covered a lot of camp over the years, and he's just like a magician. Yes, you have.

Man. Yeah, I think Crosby, McKinnon. Yeah, Kutrav definitely makes some sense there in that top five. Austin Matthews is really sick to watch live. I got to give him that prompt, too.

I was at his four goal debut. That was something I'll never forget.

Man, I saw him score a hat-trick against the Flames last year and seeing throw hats on the ice. That's one of the cooler things I've seen in my short time covering the NHL.

What did he have? Like six hat-tricks last year, I think. 7, 6? Shit.

Was it six?

Damn. Yeah, he started with back-to-back ones to start the season. So he's already off pace by not scoring in the opener. I'm being facetious.

I'm being facetious. Obviously, he's being facetious. Don't get mad at CJ, please. I just have one quick one here from Sumer Sikon. Should we abolish the NHL entry draft. If players at 18 can just sign with whoever they want, doesn't it put pressure on teams to be better culturally rather than bottom out and hope to get lucky?

There's a case for it, but it's just such a If you're going to change to the system. I don't see it happening. I could see where you're coming at. I'll also say this, though. Look, there's right now two players from the 2024 draft made NHL rosters. Jet Luchenko, who's picked 13th the Flyers, and obviously, McClane, Celebrini in San Jose. It's hard to say the team should be signing 18-year-olds because maybe most 18-year-olds wouldn't then get signed. I don't know how that would all work.

It's a good point.

But I do recognize it's a tough system. You get drafted by a team, you're basically stuck with them for your first seven professional years. I mean, obviously, there's exceptions, but that's how it works. But it would be such a big change. I can't I would say that it should happen. That's where I land. That's fair.

Do you have a stick tap for this week?

I do. It's going to be a double stick tap, and it's for Clayton Keller and Lawson Kraus, who both played more than 500 games for the Arizona Coyotes and got to experience their first game together in the regular season in Utah on Wednesday or Tuesday, rather. I just thought, what a cool night for For those that have given so much to all the frustrations that they dealt with in Arizona, all the uncertainty to get a night like that in Utah, where it looked like an absolute party. Obviously, the fact that the mighty HC started their new incarnation with a win over Chicago helped things. But I just think to see the Coyote's organization, I was at their last ever game at Mulderina. They They went through so much where they had to make do with so little. I feel like in one thing that's happening in Utah is they're getting the proper infrastructure built around them. I know the arena, the Delta Center needs a lot of work. They're in a temporary practice facility this year at the Olympic Oval. That'll be a full-time new one that's being built now. But I just think that it must be pretty cool for those players to get to experience a little bit more like a top-flite NHL experience and to play a game like they did on Tuesday.

It must have almost been a pinch me type moment. So stick It's a little bit of a reverse to those guys for grinding through a lot of years to now look, there's expectations. I think Utah could be a playoff team. And so this is a different year unlike any of those guys I've experienced.

All right. I like that stick tap. Usually with stick taps, obviously, we're trying to find really good ones.

Usually, I make it up on the fly, now you're doing it. Is that what you're saying?

I think that's what's happening here. I'll just shout out all the fans who turned up to the live SDP recording yesterday at Greta Bar in Toronto, and also Steve, who has a book coming up. And are you signing books? Man, shout out Steve for somehow being able to be able to write books. That's so hard to do. But yeah, shout out to all the fans who turned up at Greta Bar yesterday and watched the guys do their podcast. So that's my stick tap for this week.

I'll take it. Good job, buddy. I Enjoy the home opaire. I'll try my best.

Oh, I will. I definitely will. I'm taking in this experience and enjoying every single moment of it. It's been amazing. You know what? A stick tap to everyone in Ottawa who's been very welcoming to me since this move has been going down as well.

I need to report back on the candy situation in the press box in Ottawa because I remember it used to be pretty decent. You know what's funny? It's been a few years since I covered a game there, so I don't know if that's changed under the Mendes regime with PR or what.

But earlier this week, we were waiting on a media avail, and to pass the time, Ian Mendez showed up and handed out candy to everyone. So I'd like to think that's a precursor to more candy in the press box, but I'll report back with my findings in the group chat.

If I'm not mistaken, they used to have first intermission hot dogs, too. So this is the important info I need you to go and report back on. I need to know what the situation is like in the press box.

I mean, they're probably not going to be the same standard as the Bell Center hot dogs, which I will get to enjoy over the weekend. But yeah, I'll report back on those findings in the group chat. In the meantime, thank you to everyone who was listening. Thank you to everyone who was watching. And drop us some questions for next Ask CJ on Monday. We'll be back with more great content. Peace, guys.

The Chris Johnston Show. Follow Chris on Twitter @reporterchris, and follow Julian at JKA McKenzie.

The Chris Johnston Show.