The NHL Trade Deadline is fast approaching, Friday, March the eighth, and you're going to want to be following SDPN because we have some excellent content lined up for you. No need to sit around in front of the TV all day. When a trade breaks, SDP will be posting immediate reactions. Then after all the wheeling and dealing is done, stay tuned for our special SDP Trade Trade Deadline Review episode. And as always, SDPN is where you need to be as the deadline approaches. The Chris Johnston show is tapped into all the latest Trade Rumblings, and Basu and Ghennam have all your Montreal Canadiens updates. So tune in. Friday, March the eighth, NHL Trade Deadline is going to be a lot of fun, and Sdpn will be all over it. Follow us on socials, smash that subscribe button on YouTube, and get excited for some massive Massive deals. And on that note, welcome to the Basu and Gut, Ain't Old Book, Arpen.

I'm excited. I'm excited for some massive deals. Boy, I can't wait. But we've seen a couple of big deals. We've seen a couple of big deals, and we're going We're not going to get into that today, but we need to start with the immediate matter at hand, which was the Canadians game in Florida. And the performance, the month that was just put together by Canadian's captain, nick Suzuki.

Insane, man. Honestly, it's funny because... Okay, right off the bat, let's mention, he finished second in goals in the entire NHL in the month of February, behind a certain guy named Austin Matthews.

But the context of that-Only two behind. Only two behind a certain guy named Austin Matthews. Not far behind.

The context of that is that Sean Monahan was traded at the very beginning of that month. When he was traded, it became clear that Montreal's offense would lean even more on Suzuki's lines shoulders. Especially him, he took it to another level. To me, that's in terms... Marty said, After the game, he has found the consistency of a captain. That was pretty much his words after the game last night. But it's true. People can argue that Koffiel and Slavkowski, they're not really on the heater right now. I don't think that they're playing worse or anything. They're good. They're just not putting necessarily as many points as they were a few weeks ago. But Suzuki has really taken it upon himself, and this is some impressive display of hockey going on right now.

A hundred %. I agree that that line from Marty, out of everything he said about nick Suzuki, was the That's the one that really jumped out to me. That he's got the consistency of... He's got a captain's consistency however you want to word it. He said it in French, but that is the highest praise. I think that Marty Saint-Louis could have probably given him. The second highest praise that he got that day, though, came in the morning when Paul Maurice decided to... He didn't decide to, let's be clear. He was asked... I wasn't at the morning skate. I watched it on video afterwards, just to be clear. Kolby guy, who writes for Florida Hockey asked Paul Maurice about Suzuki for his game preview and just mentioning how Suzuki's defensive metrics are up. We talked about it, how at one point this season, Donald Sisson at the Athletic had him among his Selky candidates or his Selky leader board midway through the season. And a lot of his defensive metrics, ironically, since his scoring went up, some of those defensive metrics have actually dipped quite a bit. But still, the question was asked to Paul Maurice.

Paul Maurice, right off the bat, says, I think he's got some bar cob in him. And then I went on to explain what he meant. This is a guy who has just finished watching Canadian's video to prepare for a game and was quite in tune with He was speaking somewhat authoritatively about the Canadians prior to that, talking about how their defensive game had tightened up of late, talking about details that you would have had to have watched some games to know to say, because he was right for a lot of things. He remember the big thing about the five-game losing streak, and how was their best five-game stretch? Well, Paul Maurice saw the same thing, as did R. J. Tori, by the way, who said the exact same, who also said the same thing before the coyotes faced the Canadians. Paul Maurice is speaking from some knowledge. He doesn't know nick Suzuki personally. He made a point of mentioning that, that this is his interpretation of watching nick Suzuki on video. But it's quite something for him to just come in right off the bat, say that he has a whole lot of bark off in him, how playing in a Canadian market on a rebuilding team as an offensively skilled guy, you would be tempted to cheat for points, but he doesn't do that.

He plays a hard game, an honest game. He's on face-off, battles, everything he said. Also made the point of mentioning that both Barcow and Suzuki, because of their responsibility, probably leave some points on the board at the end of the year. But that, he said appropriately so, that a coach appreciates that and a team should appreciate that.

A certain Patrice Bergeron used to do that a ton, too.

He was leaving points on the board. His entire career was a point-for-game player, if I'm not mistaken. Anyhow, nick Suzuki goes out and gets three points that night, as does Alexander Barca on both of them. They didn't cheat to get them, but still, they got their points, they got their cookies. After the game, nick Suzuki does a Scrum, and it doesn't come So after the Scrum leaves, I mentioned it to him. I was like, I don't know if you heard what Paul Maurice said this morning, but he said this. And Suzuki wasn't all that thrilled talking to us. They wanted to win that game. They deserved to win that game. That was the best game they had played in a long time. And really, Marty, after the game said, We took a step tonight. That's another one of the indicators you get from Marty that he's really pleased with how his team played. So they were upset to lose. I'm sure everyone saw the clip of Sam Montemble leaving the ice.

Sam Montemble, yeah.

So it just gives you an indication of how these guys wanted to get rewarded for the quality hockey, and they just played against, honestly, a league powerhouse. Really the hottest team in the league for a very, very long stretch of the season. Has been this team entered the game 21, 4, and 2 in their previous 27 games. So now they're 22, 4, and 2 in their last 28 games. Oh, no, sorry.

Yeah. It looks a awful lot like their record when they score the first goal.

After scoring first, exactly. Yes. That's why I got a little jumbled there. But they are 22, 4, 2 in the last 28 games. So we walk into the room and Cole Caulfield and nick Suzuki are just sitting there side by side, both just stewing and just looking into a void, not even talking to each other, just sitting there. But once the camera's left, I mentioned that to him, and his eyes perked up. He's like, No, I hadn't heard that. I was like, Oh, did you hear what Paul-Maurice said about you prior to the game this morning? He's like, No. I tell him, and his eyes perk up. A little smile comes out because it's not too big, just a little grin, and seemed really proud to get that because I think after Berjarat, as a role model, and obviously, Barcog is younger, but he's still, he's 28, he's four years older than nick, but Barcow is someone that nick said he's watched a lot, wants to be good everywhere on the ice like him. It is someone he emulates. And so for Barcov's coach to compare Suzuki to Barcov, and then for Suzuki to go out and play a Barcov-like game, all in all, was a pretty darn good day and night for nick Suzuki.

And if you want to talk about the Canadians taking a step against the Panthers, I think it's pretty clear over the last month, nick Suzuki is He's definitely taken a big step in his career.

Yeah, of course, defensively, you talk about Barcav, who's going to be a perennial selky candidate, and he'll have his hands on a few trophies Probably before it's all said and done. But defensively, Suzuki, it's his third season as the Montreal Canadian's first-line center. Despite the recent dip, his defensive numbers across the board have shown significant progress.

Yeah, the best of his career, for sure.

Yeah. And offensively, now, if you look just at the centerman in the league, he's among the guys that are considered centerman by the NHL, which is not exactly the same as what we see on every day. He's 14th among NHL centerman for points. But that counts Sam Reinhardt and Carter Verhege, who are both Barkoff wingers, and also Mathieu Barzell, who's playing right wing to Bo Horvats. So realistically, he's more 10th, which makes him a legitimate first-line center in terms of offensive prowess. And again, the fact that since Monaghan has left, there's been so much added pressure on that first line that makes it even more surprising. But you When you talk about Barkoff. A few days ago, I was talking about the Lady Bing Trophy with Caden Gouly, and I was asking about his views on what's a sportsmanlike player. He mentioned two names. He mentioned Suzuki and Barkoff, specifically. He said, Playing against Barkoff and watching him play, he said, he seems like a very respectful guy to his teammates and to the other team. He something about it because he got injured last year when Barkoff fell on him.

Twice in Florida, yeah.

Yeah. And he said, Our captain, too, is pretty good at that. And he pointed out to the 7-2 loss against St. Louis. And the Canadian players had lost their composure. And Gouly said, myself and a lot of guys, we were not happy with the reffing. And Susie was the first guy to calm us down and say, Well, don't worry about it. Just go out and play. And Gugli said, he told me, and he told guys to lay off the reffs, and they're doing your job, and they're not trying to ruin the game at any point. So it's a small thing, but I think that it speaks to the even kill nature of Suzuki, and it's really something that stands out. Ben Sherrodt used to mention how when he first arrived in the league, Suzuki already showed traits of a veteran player, and he was mature beyond his years. So these things add up. So you talk about a guy who's bursting out offensively, who's being compared to to Barkoff because of his all-around play, who's recognized as a leader and his calming presence by his teammates. You add all those things. Man, it makes for a very interesting player.

It's interesting to hear you say that about what Gouly said about Suzuki and him telling the guys to lay off the rest. I remember watching watching nick play with Guelf in the playoffs, OHL Championship Series against the Ottawa '67s. Nick Suzuki was far and away the best player in that series, let alone on his team. In the series itself. Ottawa made a point that whole series to go after nick Suzuki consistently. He was playing... They didn't, at least they I don't think they do now either, but they don't keep ice time numbers in the OHL. But he was playing 30 minutes a night easy. I remember one game, golf was down a goal, and nick played, I think, every second shift for the last 12 minutes of the game or something like that. It was ridiculous. And every shift behind the play, a little whack on the hip, a little whack on the wrist, a little cross-check in the back. Every single shift, systematically, not once, did that guy retaliate, mention it to the refs, do a thing. Never. Just always got his mind-This guy is gone. Just his mind focused on the game and winning the game.

So it was a trade back then. He was, I guess, 19 that year. It was his draft plus one. It was the year that the Canadian Trade Forum, so yeah, it'd be 19. So it was evident then, impressive then. And it's funny, when I watch him play now, a lot of the things he was doing in the OHL, he's now doing in the NHL. And he wasn't able to do those things before. He has this move where he likes to hide behind opposing players and then pop out and steal the buck. And he's done that numerous occasions this season. You see him lurking, waiting for the right time to pounce defensively. I remember the story I wrote on Suzuki that year was heavily predicated on And his ability to lurk defensively and just lie in the weeds and wait for the proper time to jump into an area of ice and take the fuck away. Last night, early in the Second period? No, earlier the third period. Florida Panthers are entering the zone. There's been a bit of a breakdown for the Canadians at the other end. I believe Gouli was back, defending the carrier, and Barcov is making a line to the net.

Suzuki could have caught Barcow. He could have caught him, except he started to glide instead. If you don't know Suzuki, you could look at that and be like, Why did you stop skating? If you had kept skating, you would have caught up to him, and then he wouldn't have gotten this pass. What did he do instead? He started to glide and he looked. Pass came into Barcow. Barcow probably thought, This is good. I'm looking back for a pass. I have a great A scoring chance right here. And just as the Puck arrives, Suzuki lifts Barcov's stick from behind. Probably didn't even know Suzuki was there. The Puck just drifts into the corner. Situation averted, threat is gone, and It was him lurking again. So it's interesting. All the traits that he had in junior hockey now is now translating to the NHL in terms of controlling tempo, controlling pace. Two things that Marty mentioned after the game, when comparing Barcob and Suzuki, those were things that people said in Junior, he doesn't always play that hard. He coasts sometimes. He doesn't go all the time.

Yeah, because he's He's rarely at maximum speed. He has bursts of speed, but he controls it exactly the way that.

And he controls energy. In the OHL level, he was conserving energy, but he also did that then, this control of pace He control his speed. So it's possible that we're now just seeing the natural form of nick Suzuki in his natural habitat, because that series against Guelff, that was him three or four years into his junior career. He knew that league inside and out. He knew exactly how to exploit other teams' weaknesses at that level. And I think we're getting to that point in the NHL with nick Suzuki. And his brain has fully comprehended his environment, and now he's finding ways to properly exploit it.

It's interesting that you mentioned saving his energy and the fact that he was playing a ton with Guelft, because right now, I was giving you statistics about the NHL sentiment. While he's fourth among NHL sentiment for Einstein. He's behind McDavid, Nathan McKinnon, and Vincent Trochek for some reason. But he's over 21.

He's having a good year in New York, yes.

I know, but For the longest time, Zbanejad was the guy with the heavier workload, right? Because I'm fully aware that he's got a good season, but to all of a sudden see Trochek playing over 21 minutes a night, that surprised me a little bit.

Is that for the whole season or that's just in February?

No, that's the whole season.

That's the whole season. Oh, interesting.

Okay. Marty is playing him a ton, and he's up for it. I don't know how much time it will take because usually we tend to say that people in Montreal, when they play well, we're such a big echo chamber that when a player plays well, the rest of the league tends to know about it more. Maybe it's a bias or whatever. And then when they struggle, the rest of the league knows about it more, too. But I don't know how long it's going to take for the rest of the league to really fully take Suzuki seriously. I mean, We're getting all excited because he's been on the heater for the last month, and he's not going to keep up that pace offensively for the rest of the season.

He's shooting 32%. He shot 32% in February.

Right.

Which is like a three-point shooter in the NBA.

Yeah, exactly. But you remember how we've been saying in the past how it was an important season for Suzuki to establish if he was who we thought he was, or did he have something else, a new level? It's been, offensively, his biggest increase since his rookie season, between his first and second rookie season. There clearly is for a guy who's still only 24, room to grow and develop into a bona fide star player. But it seems to me like the rest of the league seems to still look at him and say, Yeah, he's not quite a first-line center. You'll see where I'm going with this. It's just there's going to be next season the Four Nation Face-off Competition or tournament, and then two years from now, it's going to be the Olympics. I wonder from now until they make the rosters for the Four Nations Face-off, if you'll have enough of a runway to end up on that roster for the Canadian team. And if not, we'll We have enough for the Olympics. I know it's shrewd competition. There's a lot of high caliber players going in there, but it's a minority of observers who have tried and had fun trying to figure out rosters for both of these events that have included Suzuki in there.

I've only seen one. I'm sorry. I think I've only seen one that had Suzuki on the roster. I think it was BXa. Is that possible? I think Kevin BXa's roster had Montombo and Suzuki, if I'm not mistaken. But I could be wrong.

Because you got guys like traditional pics, like Stamkos and Tavares that are... There They're legacy players at this point in their career. But if you look at who are the best players at that time, a year from now, Suzuki could be more performing than any of these guys. You could argue that he is already performing than both of these guys. If there are some room that's left on the roster for those older players that meant a lot, 500 goals for Stamco and whatnot, maybe the fact that there's that Four Nation tournament could be a good way to segue from that old generation and turn to a guy like Suzuki for the Olympics the year after that. But I'm thinking if things are keeping up that way and he keeps going on that upward trend, he's going to be in that upper echelon of players, and he'll force himself into that conversation.

Yeah. It was Biaxa, by the way, who put him and Mutumbo on on his team. Montombo is a backup goalie, and Suzuki is an extra, but still on the roster. And I agree with you. He has some more work to do to get into that, to legitimately get into that conversation. He's on the as fringes of it right now. But yeah, with the way he's played, and not only the last month, I feel like I don't know if I've made this point on the podcast or not. I've written it, but it's worth pointing out now. So back on January 15th, Ken Hughes spoke to mark the midway point of the season. The Canadians played the Colorado Avalanche that night. Ken Hughes was asked during that press conference, how important is it to get a point per game player forward to build around for this franchise? Ken's answer was interesting because obviously he represented Patrice Bergerard and said, I've never really thought of it that way. This is something that often comes up in this market, I found blah, blah, blah. Kind of talked about it. He said it wasn't really that big of a burning issue for him.

After the game against Colorado, Colorado, Ken Suzuki comes out. Ken Suzuki, jeez. Nick Suzuki comes out. Nick Suzuki comes out and says he watched that press conference. Between the time... That press conference was after the morning skate. And between the time of the end of the morning skate at the beginning of the game, somewhere around his game day nap, and at a time when he should be probably focusing on other things, nick Suzuki watched that press conference with Ken Hughes and watched that question being asked. It was asked in French, but I believe Nick's French is good enough to understand the question and definitely to understand Ken's answer. That night, nick Suzuki went out and got two assists against Colorado. The Canadiens beat the Avalanche that night. Since that date, January 15th, you look at the scoring leaders in the NHL, January 15th till now, he is 13th in the league in scoring. He has 24 points in 18 games, 12 goals, 12 assists.

He is more than a point per game player.

He's more than a point per game. So there's some pretty impressive people that he's ahead of, but he's not in the upper echelon elite of the league, obviously. But He's right there. He's got one less point than William Nylander over that span. Three less than Mitch Marner, three less than Matthew Kuchuk, four less than Leon Dreisaitl, four less than David Pasternack. He is in a grouping of players. From the moment he heard Ken Hughes asked about the need for a point per game player, it's almost as if he said, You want to see a point per game player? I'm going to show you a point per game player, and just has gone on a tear since. It's pretty impressive. Honestly, I remember thinking when he said that after the game, like, wow, you couldn't wait till tomorrow to watch that press conference? You have a game against one of the best teams in the league. You're going to be matched up against Nathan McKinnon all day, and you're watching Ken This is his press conference. To me, it says two things. It's how invested he is in the future of the team. Whenever Ken Hughes talks, I don't think Nick's the only one, but nick definitely pays attention.

If Ken Hughes is making public comments, because I really do think nick wants to see a path forward. It's been two very frustrating seasons for him coming into this year. Last year, obviously, the only one who stayed healthy all year, playing with a A mishmash potpourri of guys, wingers, left, right, and center. Every time a guy would go on his line, he'd go out. The fact he put up 66 points last year with the roster that was around him, it's pretty commendable. The year before, same deal. So there's definitely... And Nick's never come out and said this, but you see what's going on with Elias Petterson in Vancouver and how he approach this season. I want to see where this is going in Vancouver before signing. Nick signed long term. It's not the same thing, but I do feel like nick wants to see the same thing. How are we progressing? Are we building towards something? And him and Caulfield sitting there after the game last night in the room after losing in the Panthers in what is essentially a meaningless game for the Canadians, tells you what you need to know about those guys and what they want.

So good Good on him for being invested in where this team's future is headed, and good on him for taking that question and being like, I'm going to show you. I'm going to show you something now. And it's been six weeks since that press conference, and 24 points in 18 games is a pretty good FU to that question by nick Suzuki. It's pretty impressive.

Okay, I think this is a nice segue to something else that we wanted to talk about, because you mentioned Suzuki listening to Kent's press conference. This was brought up by Martin Saint Louis yesterday morning in Sunrise. It concerns playersIt was actually before that. The day before, right?

It was actually last week. No, no. Remember, last week, he would mention in a press conference how he doesn't worry too much about what we write about him. He worries about what we write about his players.

Right. Yeah, yeah. But he went at length about it yesterday. Where he said, he said, he said to the pool of reporters there, and you were there, I respect the works that you guys do. And he said, it's important, especially in this market to understand what's being said about certain guys. And he said, I can't control if they're going to read, but I can control what I can do to help navigate what they're going through at the time. So he says, For me, information is powerful, and I can't avoid that. It's part of my job. Yes. So you have a Montreal Canadian's head coach who considers that it's part of his job to pay attention to what's being written and said in the media about his players. I don't recall ever hearing that. How do you feel about this?

Yesterday, I was trying to think of how many coaches I've covered, who coached this team? So I go back to Ali Vinho, was the first coach I covered of this team. So you got Vinho, Terrien, Julian. I think there was a Carbono in there.

A little bit of Bob.

Jacques Martey, Bob, a tiny bit of Randy Cunnyworth, Julien and Marte and Terry, and again, and obviously, Dom Dusharm and now Marty St. Louis. So we're looking at 11 coaching positions by nine And literally in all that time, I've never heard a coach of the Canadian say that. And not even come close to saying that. Every coach has always said, We don't read what you write, or if they do, definitely hasn't said, It's my job to talk the players down from the criticism they're receiving in the media. And to me, when he said that, it gave a a glimpse into how modern Marty is as a coach, because that's a modern approach to working in a media market like Montreal. Just recognizing that these guys are going to consume media, whether you tell them to or not. I think a lot of old-fashioned coaches will be like, Well, I told them not to read it, so they're not going to read it. That's naive. It's just not reality, especially this generation of players who have been consuming media at rates that has never before been seen in human history their entire lives. These kids have never lived in an era where...

They lived in an era But they haven't really been of age in an era with no cell phones, let alone the Internet. Obviously, they've had the Internet their entire lives, but they've never really been people, grown people without cell phones in their hands. So I find it to be just an incredibly modern way to look at the market and to look at what's going on. Just to be aware, I don't think Marty obsessively reads every single thing that every single person writes, but he definitely reads some of it. And I say good on him. I really think it's a good approach.

You find it's healthy? I'm not necessarily second-guessing it, but you're just thinking it out loud.

I don't think it's that healthy for Marty, but I think it's healthy for his I think it would be healthy for his players to have him have their back or have him talk to them and say, Hey, don't worry about that guy. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Or, You know what? That guy might have a point. Maybe you should address this. Just be aware and be prepared if something we write gets to his players and bothers them. At least he knows what they're talking about at that point, and he could cut things off at the past. If I were Marty, I've told Marty before, I would not be reading everything that you read. I would cut it back a little bit, if I were you.

Can't listen to our podcast, but apart from that.

He can listen to our podcast if he wants. I don't think he would like every episode, but he can. But you want to know, you're going to like this, actually. I don't know. I think there was a technical glitch today at practice in Tampa. Do you remember back on the old podcast with Spalha Tatek, how we hypothesized or suggested that the Canadians with their resources should institute a Department of Innovation, Hockey Innovation.

Yeah.

I brought that idea to Marty today at practice, after practice. Because he was talking, I think Eric Angles was asking about it. Actually, it was Eric Angles who asked about, are there any coaches around the league or any systems around the league where you say, Oh, that's really interesting. I should grab something. I should grab something from there. Is there someone innovating? And Marty was like, Well, the power play is really where most of the innovation is happening. And then I threw out the Department Department of Innovation idea that we had. And he said... I don't think he understood. He always said, I'm always open to new ways of doing things. I really want that. I was like, Yeah, but no, but wouldn't you rather have one, two, three people who are specifically devoted to that? Have a think tank in the organization, a hockey think tank. He's like, We're the think tank. I was like, He's like, Him and his coaches are the think tank. He's like, That's where we are. We're the Department of Hockey Innovation. I was like, Oh, congratulations. You just got a promotion, I guess. It just made me think of when I said, That's a really modern way of going about it.

This was another example where he's like... And just an interesting little adjustment, sorry, but when you talk about modern, last night on the penalty kill, did you happen to notice, I don't know came across on television, the Canadians were completely, completely cheating on Sam Reinhardt. Mike Matheson would leave his spot by the goal line and stand a stick's length away from Reinhardt at the bumper spot, leaving Matthew Kachuk alone on the goal line. And a couple of times, once Kachuk realized this, started to try to go between his legs or whatever, tried to drive the net from that spot because they were leaving it open because he did not want Sam right dark to burn them because they They rightfully identified him as their biggest threat on the power play. And they did it the whole game.

And he did score from the bumper position.

The second they left him... One second. There was one second in the game where the Canadians did not pay attention to him, and that is the second that he scored in that moment, that one moment. But every other penalty kill, they took him away, and the Panthers didn't score. And so I think these are... And that's not necessarily, Marty. I think that's a group decision, but Stefan Robida takes care of the penalty kill. But the line that he said, I think we're the Department of Innovation, I'm paraphrasing what he said, but he said something like that. I think that's us. I think we're the Department of Innovation. So all this time later, Marc-Antoine, what I'm trying to tell you in a very long-winded way is that our idea for Department of Innovation at the Canadians has finally actually happened. So congratulations to us.

It has happened to their ears. Whether it's going to become a reality, well, that's a whole different matter. Yeah. But going back to him listening to what's being said and written about his players, I honestly find that a bit surprising coming from someone who made a mantra of ignoring the outside noise. I wrote a piece a few weeks ago about the various qualities that could help a hockey player succeed in the environment of Montreal. And Basically, are there players that are more predisposed than others to succeed in Montreal? I spoke to many players that are from the current tradition, but also former Canadian players, Max Bacriotti, Josh Georges.

Riesboh. Riesboh was a good interview there. Yeah.

Yeah. Guillaume Lata Andrés and whatnot. There were many qualities that were identified by different players, having a high level of confidence and also the ability to nurture that confidence, and also the ability to nurture that confidence. Being a hard worker, using the accountability that surrounds you to thrive and flourish rather than just succumb to pressure. Putting on a show gives you an extra leash. Being able to have fun despite everything. There's many aspects that come into play, but a player's ability to ignore the noise was the one aspect that was the most frequently mentioned. And Martín St. Louis is the last person I asked for this article. And he said, To succeed in the NHL, in any market, it starts with discipline. Because you won't have consistency without discipline. And for the young players, not just in hockey, but in general, there are so many distractions these days, whether it be social media or the media in general. I hope they don't read everything you guys write and they stay disciplined in their world to help them to be as successful as possible because everything that's written about them is noise. So you have to stay on task and stay disciplined and Don't worry about opinions on social media and don't worry about what journalists write.

Basically, don't worry about it.I'll worry about it for you.I'll.

Worry about it for you. Exactly. I'll worry about it for you. That's 100% it. In case they do worry about it, because I think he's realistic enough to know that not everyone has that discipline, especially today's generation. He probably had it his whole career, but frankly, it was easier to have it back then. You didn't have a phone glued to your ear or your hand all day, every day. That's not the reality. I think having three kids of his own probably helps him realize that, that, listen, these kids, they're Their reality is not what my reality was. I can't just tell them to ignore it. I have to account for the fact that they might not. So, yeah, I think it's great. And I think this is actually a good segue into our next segment because talk about blocking out the noise. We are a week away from the trade deadline. Yesterday morning, the Canadiens had an availability at their team hotel in Fort Lauderdale, right by the beach. It was very nice. I didn't stay by the beach because I couldn't afford it, but they did. And as we're arriving-They can afford it. They can afford it, yeah.

Good for them. So as we're congregating, David Sivard walks by, looks at all of us, nods, says hello, cordial, very nice. And I was looking at him and I was like, I wonder if he could speak freely right now what he would say to us. Could you guys get out of my business and stop writing about this trade that may or may not happen, but that's really stressing me out and that I really don't want to happen. He just stop. I think if he was given free reign to say what he wanted in that moment, that's what he would have said in a very nice and plain way. Let me just be clear. But this is the reality of this.

He could have said it. Other players have said that before him. You know, guys, I haven't had enough of- I don't think in that setting, they've said it.

You said it in the dressing room for sure. Josh Anderson did it just last year. But anyhow, the reason why I bring him up is because obviously what's going on in the NHL right now impacts David Savard in a way that he would rather not have it impact. Chris Tanev gets traded to the stars, gets a second-round pick. The Flames get a second-round pick, a second-round prospect, and a conditional pick. Not great, but not bad. For a rental. It could be worse than a guy who's a defensive defenseman. Now that's one right shot D off the board. Labushan then goes to Toronto late last night. The domino effect of the Chris Tanev trade It's now underway. There's a week left to the deadline. This could not be more perfect for Ken Hughes in his management of the David Savard thing, because now the market is starting to shift. If we take what happened with Monahan as any indicator of what might happen now, which I don't think it's not the same thing because Monahan was a rental, But as soon as the market started to shift, Ken Hughes started to get aggressive. You saw that he put pressure on the Jets to make that deal.

He wanted to execute it. While I don't think the same dynamic exists with David Savard because he's got another year left, and I don't think serves Ken Hughes' purposes to get teams to think he's desperate to trade this guy, it actually serves his purposes if he thinks he'd rather not trade this guy. Those market forces have now aligned where teams are going to start looking around. Teams that were looking for Chris Tana, now another right shot dig went off the board. If Matt Dumber were to get traded tomorrow or Sean Walker were to get traded tomorrow, all of a sudden, some teams will start looking and being like, That guy in Montreal might be our best bet right now, we're going to have to convince Ken Hughes to trade them to us, at which point the price starts to get interesting. So it's interesting. To me, I think this is playing out just like the Lindhome thing played out exactly the way Ken Hughes needed it to play out. I think this is playing out very much the way Ken Hughes would be hoping that it would play out with the right shot defensive defenseman market at the Trade Deadline.

Well, I'm not sure, though, to which extent the market's set by the Tanef Trade-It's not.impacts a player who still has a year to his contract because it's a little bit apples and oranges, right? So There are certain right-handed shot defensemen that are available. Some teams are looking for it, and they could consider Savard as an option. If it fits. We've discussed it at length in our previous episode, if they I consider that he fits there. But to me, I don't see it necessarily as being something that has put the Canadians in a favorable position. If the hole for Tanef had been amazingly high, it would have been even more exciting because you could sell Saval saying, Hey, for a fraction of the price, not only for the end of this season, but for next year, for a comparable salary I'm sorry that would you end up having Tanef for, you'll have our guy, and he's going to be an affordable contract for two playoff runs instead of one. But it's really what made this deal interesting for the Calgary Flames is really that apart from that second-round pick, they seem to value Artem Grishnikoff a great deal.

Yes, exactly. Enough to say that a guy that could be very well considered a B prospect by a lot of other organizations. I think that the way they thought about it is that, okay, if we were given a first-round pick this time and it was 27, 28, 29, and a guy like If Kouchnikow was available, would he be in the range of players that we would draft at that rank this year? They must have thought, yes. Even though he was drafted as a second-round pick by the stars, they probably valued him at a higher rate than that and considered him like a guy that would have been maybe a late first-round pick in their own list for all I know. So for them, it's like having a second-round pick and a guy who could legitimately be a late first-round caliber in their own eyes. But it doesn't help a guy like that, whose evaluation might fluctuate a whole lot from one organization to another, doesn't really help setting the market as much as the understanding of what the second round represents for Tana.

Well, the fact that they're apples and oranges, as you said, is exactly the point I was trying to make, is that the reason why this helps Ken Hughes is because it is apples and oranges. It is a different situation. It is the possibility of having us retain, like having the Maybe, like Ken Hughes talking, saying, You can have this guy for two playoff runs, and we can retain half his salary, but it's going to come with a price. But it's apples and oranges because of those factors. But what happens to prices in general when supply goes down? They go up. So as the supply of these types of defensemen go down, and Ken Hughes is sitting back and saying, Well, I don't have to trade this guy. In In fact, I'd rather not trade this guy. I'd like to keep him. I have a lot of young defensemen. I want him to stay with them and help to develop them. And he's important to the future of our organization for that reason. Plus, he's a guy who wants to play here. He wants to stay. He wants to be here when the Canadians actually get over the hop and play in the playoffs again.

Why would I want to trade that guy? All of this when you're an opposing... All that's sincere. All that's right. All that's true, I should say. But really, the purpose of it is to be like, everything has a price. So my guy has all these pluses to him that I've painted. So I don't have to trade him. I don't want to trade him. You're going to have to make me want to trade him. So that's the scenario that's developing here. If Tanev had gone to the deadline, and this is the only thing I'm trying to say here, if Tanev had stayed, if Conrad decided to wait and held out for a first-round pick for Tana, which arguably he should have done, but he didn't. That has its own risk. He could get hurt, all sorts of things. Had he done that, though, the Canadians would have been... I find it very hard to believe that the Canadians would have been able to trade David Savard at a price that would have convinced them to trade him. Now, with more than a week between Tana being traded and the deadline, another defenseman going, surely other defenceman we'll go.

Conditions are set for teams to have to go to Ken Hughes and be like, Okay, what is it going to take from us to shake him loose? Which is an entirely different dynamic than Ken Conroy calling around the league saying, What are you offering for Chris Tanev? Two completely separate dynamics. If a team is coming to you looking for your player, You've got the leverage. I think it's going to take a price better than what Calgary got for Tanev to shake David Savard loose out of Montreal. I'm convinced of that. No doubt, especially with retention, which I don't think he's going to move without retention. Because of that salary retention for next season, it's going to take a heavier price. Probably considerably heavier, I would think.

Yeah. But You say as supply goes down, the prices go up. That's true. But the demand goes down, too, because there's a finite number of teams that are looking to get better at that specific spot. So now you have already two teams that are off the board, both Dallas and Toronto.

I don't think Toronto is off the board. I'm not convinced Toronto is off the board.

Well, we'll see what Giordano.

Toronto still has their first round pick, and they added less than the league minimum salary with Labushkin. I'm not convinced Toronto is off that. They might still be involved. I don't know. That's not any insider information. Just, logically, you look at them, they managed to get a defenseman. They didn't trade their first. And they barely added any salary. So they could still be around. Okay.

All right. I think we both agreed in the last episode that it was the The circumstances made it probably better for the Canadians to get an interesting return at this trade deadline for Saval rather than risking something equivalent to next. And you're right to point out the fact that those 10 days, the fact that 10F was traded many days before the deadline really helps Canadians instead of being a last minute thing. But that being said, I heard an interesting argument, though, that made me think twice. Even Even if the Canadians were to get a late first for Salah, what's exactly the use for that other first-round pick? Because if they want to get better, they already have the firepower with the first-round picks that they have at hand to convert them and get better immediately by moving those pics. It would be like a late first-round pick and a late first-round pick, if If you choose to move Saval, there's also the effect of having to put more responsibilities in the hand of younger defensemen that might not necessarily be ready for that. So there's an impact of moving Saval now rather than next year.

So to which extent hoarding another late first is really beneficial, isn't it? Isn't it overkill? At this point, basically.

No. You know what I'm sick of hearing about is how late firsts are useless. Second-round picks are useless. Only X percentage of these players ever make the NHL. Third-round picks are useless. I don't know why teams don't just get up from the draft table after the first 15 picks in the first round and say, Well, we might as well not bother because only X % of these players ever make the NHL, so we're just going to give up. I'm so sick of it. It's so dumb. Yes, a late first round pick has a certain value. And you know what it has more value? It's on the draft floor when a certain player has slid down to that spot and another team is in love with that player, then you could do something with it, or if you're in love with that player. I get that there's a value to keeping David Savard, but it's mind boggling to me that people think, what's the point of getting another first-round pick? It's right there. It's It's a first-round pick. It's a pick in the first round of the draft. That's the value of it. You can use it to trade.

You can use it to pick a player because this whole notion of looking at a draft grid and say, the 27th pick only turns into an NHL player, 22% of the time and his top six player, 6% of the time. That all is true, but you have to hit that 6%. That's the whole point of the whole game is, I'm going to be that 6%. I'm going to find that guy. I'm going to take Cory Perry late in the first round. I'm going to take Patrice Bergeron in the second round or Shay Webber or PK Suva. All the exceptions- Kutcheroff. Is what you have to strive to be and do. Otherwise, why bother? Why are you passionate about it? Because it drives me nuts. It's ridiculous. Why do they have seven rounds in the draft? Why not have two? And say, You know what? Screw it. We're done with this. It's such a waste of time. Look at, don't you see the board? Why are we even picking third rounders? There's only a 2% chance they're going to make the NHL. Why do we bother?

Because you believe in your draft people and you believe in your development team.

You bother because that's what sports are. Why do you bother playing against a powerhouse team when you're the last place team? Because you could beat them that night. That's how it works.

I'm glad I asked you that question. It's so bonkers to me.

What's the point? Isn't it overkill? No. I think there are certain circumstances in which it could be overkill. I don't think the Canadians are quite there yet. The Arizona Coyotes are verging on overkill. That's a different situation. Jesus Christ. You look at their board, and still, they only have their own first round pick for the next three years. But they have what? Three, seven? They have 10 second round picks over the next three years. But even that, I'm saying you're gaming the system. You're going to tell me that the 35th pick only has an 8% chance. I don't know what the actual percentages are. I don't have the board in front of me. You're going to tell me the 35th pick only has the 8% chance to make it. Well, you know what? We're going to pick 35th, 42nd, and 43rd, and one of them is going to make it, or we're going to take four pics in the second round, and one of them is going to make it. So you're gaming the system that way. So even Arizona, it's not overkill. But this notion that Don't stop collecting draft pics because they're not going to turn into players anyway.

You're not going to get your top stick. You're not going to get your top line center, which is overwhelmingly true. But that attitude, teams don't have that attitude. That's not an NHL professional sports attitude for sure. Say, Oh, the odds are against us. We might as well give up.

Right. I totally agree with you. The reason I was asking you about it, though, is because there is also, in terms of development, a value to keeping Saval to help develop guys that you already have. And this is not insignificant.

Undoubably. I think the Canadians are very sensitive to that, which is why Why they can credibly say, We don't want to trade him, which is also why they can credibly goose his value if a team wants him bad enough, because I think that until they get the price that they want, and that price might be unreasonably high, they're happy with the outcome. If they don't wind up trading him, I don't think the Canadians are upset. That's the beauty of it, is that they don't have to be... They're not desperate to move him. Because of everything you said. I agree with that. I talked to Caden Gouly about it. I talked to Jacky about it. These guys worship the ground he walks on. They love him. They love him. Every player on that team adores that man. He wants to stay. There's every reason in the world to not trade him unless the price makes it worth it. And I think a first-round pick, no matter how late in the first round it is, if Edminton wants to send their first-round pick over, I say you grab it. Because I don't know the To an extent to which I think David Savard himself, having talked to him a couple of times about this, and he wasn't thrilled about it, and I give him credit.

He was very patient, didn't get upset. But in his mind, he's not playing out his final contract in Montreal. That's the impression I got. That to him, he feels he will be here when this rebuild is complete and that this is a playoff team again. And he's smart enough to know that that's not happening next year. So to me, that means he thinks he's going to sign another contract here. That's probably not the reality of what's going to happen. I think a lot of the young defensemen have gotten what they can get from David Savard in terms of his leadership and his mentorship. There are obviously some younger guys coming later this year. In all likelihood, a Rheinback or a Hudson, they can benefit from him maybe next year. But at the same time, At one point, you shift over like Gugliel be in his third professional season next year. Yeah. Is it not time for him to take on more of those responsibility? That guy's a natural born leader. Natural leader. Has been his whole life. I get what you're saying. I just think that there is a time when market forces dictate it, which I think they are, where you got to say, Okay, this is too much value for this guy for us to say no.

You know how the Sdpn guys cut little videos of us for promotion? I think that your little rent there, where I could see your vein popping out of your neck.

It drives me nuts. It just drives me crazy because And it's also the thing about we're so far from the draft, right? And most people have not dug into the prospects. So right now, the draft pics are these abstract... They're embryos. They're these abstract things that just don't have a form.

Yeah, but in Alabama, there are 54 prospects. I know.

In Alabama, they're very, very, very four third-round draft pics, I understand. And then as we get closer to the draft, all of a sudden, these picks are super valuable. Like, oh, my God, I can't believe you didn't take player X early in the second round. How did you let him go? He's like a future star. It goes completely, the pendulum swings completely to the other side. Look at the player Colorado drafted with the pick the Canadian sent to Colorado for New hook, the Russian defenseman. His name escapes me. There were a lot of people. Goliayev. Goliayev, right? It would have gone higher, were it not for the Russia factor and everything. There were a lot of people They were mind blown, I can't believe the Canadians blew a chance to draft that guy late in the first round. They got an actual NHL player, a legitimate potential top six NHL player in exchange. And there was a portion of people who legitimately felt, I can't believe you passed up the chance to take that kid. And maybe that kid will be great. That's the point I'm trying to make, is that kid might be great.

But you can't say Those pics are worthless and then get upset when you trade one of those pics and you don't get the player that that pick was used to select.

You can't get both. And also, anyway, even though year after year, we hear that after 20, there's a drop. I mean, this is a common refrain. I hear it every year. The truth is, as we get closer and closer to the draft, teams have got a very specific analysis and understanding of each prospect, and they'll put probably more value in the hours and days to each pick because they've got a full grasp of who these kids are rather than in advance. Not to say that they don't have a full grasp because they do. That's what they do for a living all year round. I get that. But I don't think it's not just the fans who will dismiss a little bit the value of a pick prior to the draft and focus on the value of those picks. When it gets to the draft, I think that the behavior of teams suggests that...

Well, it's normal.

It's part of human nature, too, I It's normal.

The junior league have played their playoffs, will have played their playoffs by then. So you will have seen all these kids in playoff environments. There will have been a World U18 Championship. There will have been these high-profile events that tap off the draft cycle that weigh heavily in the final evaluation of these kids. Kids can make or break themselves in the next three months. You have junior league playoffs, European playoffs happening concurrently, World Championships, and then the combine and everything that that entails. So all these evaluation events haven't happened yet.

All right. Speaking of... Yeah, sorry.

I'll let you finish before we get-No, I'm finished. I'm just saying, that's why the phenomenon that you just described happens every year. Because at this point, yeah, it drops off after '20, except you have 12 to 15 kids who shine in the CHL playoffs or what have you, whatever stage you want to give them. And all of a sudden, wow, this thing, this goes into the 30s. There's like 35 players here who are really interesting. So it's true that happens every year. I'm finished ranting about... My rant is over, by the way. I'm done. I'm over it. Okay. I'm good. My vein has gone back in my neck, I think. I think it's not...

You took it off your chest. That's fine. We can Can discuss the merits of a late first round pick, but what do we say also about the very first pick in the second round? Well, all of a sudden, it's got a lot of value because there are so many good players still on the board, and everybody wants a crack at getting the one guy that they want that's still on the board and that's still high on their list. Sure.

All these people who think a late first is useless think that Owen Beck is useless.

Yes, that's it.

That's what it comes down to.

Yeah. In French, we would say, CQFD, ce qu'il fallait démontrer.

All right.

I've never heard that.

That's good.

That's our music. That's the sound of our music.

It's not music. Future Friday, baby. Future Friday. Coming out of Future Friday, That theme song, amazing. Again, just a shout out again, Greg McPherson. Thank you so much for making that Future Friday theme song. This week, we are going to talk about Sean Farrell, but in a specific sense and in a general sense. So I had a chance to talk to Sean Farrell last week, just prior to his first game back from his second major injury of the season. Up until this season, Sean Farrell has been a relatively healthy player. Always a smaller guy, but he had a concussion earlier in the year. That's the reality of playing the AHL as a young kid, as a smaller player. That's going to happen. This time, again, major injury, cost him roughly six weeks. Cut him off at the pass as he was starting to pick things up. So what I talked to him about is what he was doing while he was injured. It was a lower body thing, so he couldn't really skate for Oh, no, it was not for body skate, sorry, with Pharaah. But it was the extra video time that he was getting in while he was behabbing from this injury that I found super interesting.

And again, this actually goes back to the whole Hockey Innovation Department thing. Adam Nicklaus and Scott Pallaran is the Hockey Development Department, is what it's called for the Canadians. I don't know if enough fans realize the extent to which their footprint is felt in Laval. And not only in Laval, but across the entire organization. David Rheinbacker gets weekly text from Adam Nicklaus talking about his games. All these players who are all over the world-They get clips, right? They get clips everywhere. They get comments on their clips. Everybody, every drafted prospect, gets regular interaction with Adam Nicklaus and Scott Pellerin. So Sean Farrell is no different. He was just talking about learning the patterns in the rhythms of the game and just learning the HL game, but from the sidelines. I found that interesting because, listen, he is what he is. He's a smaller player, super talented, super smart, but a later round pick. He's a project. Reilly Kidney, J. F. Full said it, sees him as the same project, even though it was a higher draft pick, but still, slight build. He's learning how to play the hard game that's necessary at the HL level in order for that skill to shine eventually in the NHL level.

He sees Philip Medi-Shire that way. He sees Jared Davidson that way. My point being is that if these guys get hurt or when these guys get hurt, The infrastructure the Canadians have for them to still improve despite being off the ice is there and ties into the whole modernity of the organization, which is exactly what Jeff Corton said he wanted to do when he was hired. First thing he said, he said, I want to modernize the Montreal Canadians. And the way Marty talked today about innovation and everything and then the media and the way Sean Farrell talked about what he did during his injury, I think you're seeing it from At two different levels that the Canadians have taken steps. I'm not going to call them... I'm not going to say they've reached their destination, but they have taken steps in becoming a more modern organization.

It's funny because we just had a discussion about draft pics, and Farrell is a fourth rounder. His kidney is a late second rounder. I feel like in their evaluation, it's the other way around. Yeah. That Farrell would be more like the second rounder.

And Meshar is the late first. And I feel so far in their evaluation, he's like a second. He's a second-round pick. So it's like they shift. The things shift. I mean, Jared Davidson was what, a fifth? I think they looked at a fifth or a fourth. I think a fourth. That's an overager.

Yeah, I think he was his last year of-Oh, yeah, he was definitely an overager.

I think he was a fourth-round pick. And I think DCM is higher than that. Look what he's done in LaVal. It's been impressive. Brandon Gignac gets sent to the Canadians, and Davidson goes on a tear scoring-wise. And he carried us for four or five games. He was providing offense. The offense we lost with Gignac came from this kid, Jared Davidson.

Fifth-round pick.

Yeah, fifth-round pick, overager, project. Frankly, before people start yelling, well, the draft board say, Yeah, he's probably not going to make it. Probably not. But he might.

It's the same path as Raphael, Arvind Pinault.

People are gaga over Lane Hudson. He's a second-round pick, late second-round pick. Just saying.

Farrell, it's unfortunate, though, because even though he's been healthy in previous years, this year, he has not and he hasn't been able to really found his rhythm. He just He came back and played three games, had one assist in those three games. But obviously, being able to learn off the ice is a big thing, but nothing replaces the reps that you'll do on the ice. But would you say... I mean, it's not too shabby that for first year in the pros, he's earned so far 18 points in 27 games.

I think that's pretty darn good. It's not just not so shabby. I think that's good.

Yeah.

And he's a plus one. I mean, plus minus has its limitations, but on that team, he's a plus one. It's not bad. I think he's doing fine, but he's a ways away.

For sure. Yeah. But right now, former Uber Montreal Canadian fan, Logan Stankoven. So he just arrived in the NHL playing for Dallas, and he's a smaller build. And I don't remember-He's shorter than Farrell. Yeah, I know. He's-5'8. Generally listed at 5'8. I don't remember many Dallas stars that were that small. They're just not that team. No. But if he were to have success, it would be interesting if it would broaden the horizons of certain organizations that are traditionally not looking at smaller players to take a peek, eventually, at a player like Farrell, if he has success in the American League because the Canadians have their fair share of smaller players. I don't think you can never draft too many small players, but there's certainly a limit of the number of small players you can have on your roster. At some point, if you're a small player, we'll need to show that he's better than the other small player that's currently on the roster so that he can take his place. But I think that it's going to be... The doors will be hard to open in Montreal for Farrell. But that doesn't mean that in another organization, he would not have his chance.

I think that if he shows well in the AHL, it might help the Canadians, but it might also be a way to showcase himself to the rest of the league.

Hey, you know what organization doesn't think late first and second-round pics are useless?

You're back on that.

Yeah, go away. The Dallas Stars. I mean, the Dallas Stars. Look at this. Jake Ottinger, 26th overall. Jason Robertson, 39th overall. You got Thomas Harley, 18th overall. Maverick Bork, AHL leading scorer at the moment, 30th overall. Logan Stankovan, 47th overall. Wyatt Johnson, 23rd overall. Arnaud Grushnikow, who just got them, Chris Tana, 48th overall. Bischel, 18th overall. Christian Kyru, 50th overall. They have built their entire organization, basically, on these picks.

Yeah. Outside of Heiskenin, it's all- Outside of Heiskenin, they have drafted incredibly well.

Even Jamie Ben, going back to Jamie Benz, was a what? A fifth-round pick or something. It was a very late pick. You look at these players and what they've done with these picks, they've beaten the odds multiple times. There's something to be said for being good at that. You can game the system. I am back on it. I'm sorry. You mentioned the stars. We brought up Stankovan and got me thinking about the stars.

Sorry, I'll stop there. No, no, but that's fair. That's fair because they're incredibly good drafting team. They were in a bind with Seguet and Ben, and it seemed as though... And then... Gosh, I'm drawing a blank here. But anyway, not so long ago, it seemed as though they were an aging team that was about to hit the wall. All of a sudden, in the span of 2-3 draughts, boom, they're really back on track. One draft.

Well, yeah, the 2017 draft.

One draft turned everything around.Yeah, but the 2021 is not too shabby.

No, but your first three picks in 2017, Heisken and Oettinger Robertson. You have your number one scoring winger, your number one goal tender, and your number one defenseman in the same draft, which is the equivalent of the McDonald-Souban-Patcheready draft. It's basically their version of that. Yeah, 2021 is White Johnson, 23rd, Logan Stankhoff in 47, Grushnikov, 48.

Plus some Patrick Bourclove in the midst of all that.

Thomas Harley, who has been outstanding this season. I mean, 18th overall pick in 2019. This team has not picked in the top 10 other than Heiskanen. Well, since Heiskanen, but even past Heiskanen, their previous top 10 pick was Valeriy Natchushkin, and he was 10th in 2013. You want to see how you can build through the draft without picking in the top 10? Look at the DAO stars.

That's it. Yeah, it's good. I hope that Farrell just got to wrap it up on Farrell. I hope that That he finishes on a strong note. The Rocket is on the outside looking in as we speak, and they're really in need of a push. And when he's been healthy, he's been able to... Around November, he was really one of their better offensive players. So if he can get his rhythm back, he's going to help them a ton because it doesn't...

Raphael Harvier-Pénard is on the verge of returning. And I don't know what the Canadians will do. But Joshua Rod does not deserve to go down, but he might have to. So they will get some reinforcement in short order. I don't know when. I doubt Harvey Perrara is going to play tomorrow because the Canadian said he wasn't cleared today, but he might because he practiced fully today. And if he does, as soon as he's taken off IR, they're going to have to remove a body from the roster and Joshua Goa is the only one that can go down without leverage.

Joshua Goa played 8:39 last night in Florida.

Yeah, it wasn't his best game. No, I didn't have an issue with it because he wasn't on it the way the most of his teammates were. Marty actually said after the game, and he didn't know the expression in French, but what he wanted to say is that if you weren't engaged tonight, you stuck out like a sore thumb.

Yeah.

I think that was Joshua Goa, but it's okay. I think he's been excellent up until then. But that could be a nice little boost for Laval if he were to come back, for sure.

All right, cool. Well, thanks a lot, everybody, for listening to this episode of Basu and The Notebook, our next episode will come live from Nashville. I'm going to come and join you there.

Yeah, we should do it together.

We'll be fun.

We'll be together in the same box, together.

Let's Okay, yeah. I'd be curious if people like to drop some comments on YouTube, apart from the fact that you look like your stone-face, Arpen. But that's once again, but that's not because of your joints, it's because of the three and a half hour sleep that you had. But apart from that, I'd be curious to hear people about those episodes where we were in one same box. I don't know if it's something that they like, if they prefer the split screen or whatnot, because we can sometimes try different things. But yeah, we might very well do it. Maybe not live from Broadway Avenue or live from Legends.

No, no, no. We won't do that? It will not be at Legends, no. But we will do it. We'll be together Monday somewhere, recording the podcast. So in the meantime, enjoy the Canadian game against the Lightning on Saturday. Enjoy your weekend, otherwise, and we'll talk to you on Monday. Thank you for listening.