And welcome to this other edition of The Notebook on this Friday, April fifth. I'm Marc-Antoine Galin with Arpen Basu. Arpen, Canadians have a day off today. I hope that this is going to be enough for Caden Gouly to figure things out physically and be ready to go on Saturday against Toronto.

Yeah, listen, the last time Caden Gouly got hurt, we thought he was going to be out for a while. He wasn't. So he actually didn't miss any time at all, or barely any. So let's hope for his sake, rather, that that's the case here. But I think we saw Well, first of all, I want to talk about the hit he took from Kuturov because I seem to be in the minority of people who thought that hit wasn't that bad. And maybe a two for boarding, but I don't even think it merited that. And I really thought it was Gouly who should have been more prepared to take that hit than Kuturov was wrong to deliver it. I felt it's a hit that you see very often, even though Kuturov clearly saw Gouly's numbers and saw them for a while. You see that hit 8 to 10 times in the game, I think, typically. It's just finishing a hit, which just turned out badly. But I don't know. I'd like to get your take on it because I feel like I got a lot of pushback on that.

Right. I don't have much issue against that hit. I thought that there was a boarding call against Evans that should have been called a lot more than that hit. There's also Strubal that I think he was speared by Cirelli during a Scrum in front of the net. That was not a great night of officiating by any stretch. No. This call in particular... No, I think there's a... Gouly is on the receiving He's getting ahead of a lot of hits, and I think that he needs to figure out ways to better protect himself. There's no doubt about it because there's been numerous occasions where you feel as though, whether it's the head, whether it's the shoulders or whatnot. He seems to be in vulnerable positions. And I wonder to which extent his body frame has something to do with it, because he's a tall guy. He wants to play a rather physical brand of hockey when he can, but he has not filled up physically. And I wonder to which extent this might make him injury prone until He fills up and he's totally mature physically. It may be in the mid to late 20s. But for the time being, in the shorter term, sometimes I look at him thinking, I don't know if he wants to stay lean because he wants to make sure that he keeps all of his agility or that's the decision that he makes based on the ice time that he gets.

I don't know. But he's certainly not the type of guy that has chosen to bulk up, really. So since he's tall, I feel like his upper body sometimes is getting hit a lot and it puts him, I wouldn't say injury prone, but it puts him at risk, though.

Yeah, I don't know, but I don't necessarily agree with that. I think what he grew accustomed to in junior was being able to take those hits and to keep on going. Listen, it's not as if he was hit by Matt Rempe or even Austin Watson. I mean, he was hit by Nikita Kutcherov. I think part of that, I think I pin on awareness. Maybe if it was Austin Watson bearing down on him, he would have been more prepared for that hit. Maybe he just didn't expect Kutcherov to finish that hit, even though he should because Kutcherov regularly does stuff like that. So yeah, I think it's like we were talking about with Slav last year, how he didn't have the same level of awareness because he just didn't have that element of the game in Europe and wasn't accustomed to it. Now, Gouli did have that in the Western Hockey League, and I think he's getting better at it in the NHL level. But I think last night was just an instance of him lacking a bit of awareness and just knowing that he's about to get hit. I feel like if he did that, he probably would have come out of that hit just fine.

It just seemed like the possibility of being hit in that situation didn't seem to register with Boolean. I can get the argument from people that Kutrow sees numbers all the way and still hits him, and that's warning. I get that, but I just feel like that's... Even though that's technically true, that's a hit we see very, very commonly in NHL games. Josh Anderson laid a hit just like that, not long after. It's finishing hit. I don't see it as a typical boarding situation where I feel like Kutrav just rubbed him out against the boards as opposed to boarding him. But yeah, I think Gouly does need to up his awareness, and maybe there's something to the physical maturity part of it as well. But one thing for sure is that as soon as Gouly left that game, the Canadians got completely discombobulated, had their worst period we've seen in weeks. This was something the Canadians were doing quite regularly earlier in the season is putting together a good 40 minutes and having a bad 20 minutes custom games. We hadn't seen that in a while. So that's what I think made it somewhat jarring. And I remember speaking to Joel Armeya after the game, who we'll get to in a bit here.

But he was really upset about that. We haven't played a period like in such a long time. We felt we had put that behind us. So it's just really disappointing that we played that second period the way we did. And honestly, before, it was not only just a period of the game, it was often the second period of a game that the Canadians did this in. So it was disappointing that we did that again and just reverted back to what we were doing in the past. And Martin Saint-Louis, after the game, said, I think it's a one-off. We haven't done that in a while, but I don't think it's a coincidence that That bad second period coincided with losing Caden Gouly late in the first period.

That was actually early in the first.

Or early in the first. Yeah, that's right. But still, his absence, I feel, was extremely noticeable and had a trickle-down effect on a lot of guys who were playing out of their element because Gouly's minutes needed to be taken up and So in a way, I think we got a sneaky look at how important Gouly is to this team already at his age.

Yeah. Well, he missed a Obviously, he missed a game earlier, a few days before because of his one-game suspension. He was replaced by Kovalevich in the lineup, so they were playing 6D. Yesterday, once he was gone, they were down to 5Ds. It was really Jordan Harris, that was the main beneficiary of that. He played north of 24 minutes in a game where David Savard, I would suppose, did not hit the 20 minute mark. Maybe that has got something to do with the fact that the Canadians were playing catch-up hockey. But in the morning, Martin St. Louis was asked about the fact that he was scratching Kovaleevitch repetitive, and he acknowledged the fact that Strubel and Harris really had taken positive steps and are really now... They've separated themselves.

Separated themselves, yeah.

Yeah, on the depth chart. So it's interesting. And I think that seeing the vote of confidence that Harris got yesterday after Gouly was out of the game was really a testament of that. But you're right. I mean, Gouly, I don't know if we can call him a quarterback, a general, or even a top-pairing defenseman at this point, but he's a crucial part of what the Canadian's blue line is today and what it will be in the future. There's such a nice balance, I find in his play and such maturity that he has gained even over the course of this second season. There's been some lows at times, but I find that the level of consistency that he's That he's showing and poised to is very interesting and very compelling for the future. Missing him, it did put some pressure on the other guys. Matheson obviously played a ton, 28 minutes, and it was really not one of his best games he thought with the popular.

Not very clean.

No. But you're right. I mean, what do you think? Let's say, Okay. We cannot speculate on how long... If Gugli has got anything at all or not. We don't know.

Last time we did that, we were completely wrong. We were.

Yeah, we were. But how would you characterize the plays that he holds on this blue line right now?

Well, I just feel he's a stabilizing influence. Matheson's the one who eats all the minutes, but still plays a bit of a wild game. He's really the opposite of a calming influence. And Keaton Gouly, I feel, is that calming influence. And really just the steadiness in his game really helps. And the fact that he's so... It's what Daven Savard brings, But Savard brings it without the mobility. Gouly adds the mobility. So Jacky is the opposite. Again, he's not a calming influence. He's all over the place. And some nights Last night, I think, was another example where you're not really sure what you're going to get from him in the defensive zone, but he makes things happen. He's physical, he lays big hits. He has some offensive tools that he can use. But Gouly is really that all-around steady guy who can just... He's a stabilizer. The more I watch him this season, playing on the right side, which I know the circumstances have made it, so that has to happen, and it's a good feather in Gouie's cap going forward that he's able to do it. But I just feel like it's It's not ideal, and I'm against it, really, that he's played so much on the right side this season.

You're against it?

I am. I think it was fine for 10 games, 15 games, but it's been so long. It's been nearly half the season where he's been on the right side. I don't feel he's going to play the right on going forward. He should be playing the side he's going to play. But again, it doesn't bother Gouly. In fact, he likes having this tool. He doesn't see it as a hindrance, so maybe I shouldn't either. But I just feel like sometimes the player is not the best. Kim Gouly is not going to complain about playing in the... He's playing in the NHL. He's happy to be playing in the NHL, and that's it. Anyhow, it's not a huge issue, but I just feel in an ideal world, you'd have him back on the left side. But the stabilizing impact of him is really, I think, going to be his number one trait going forward and just got me thinking, is Caden Gouly in his prime a lock to be a top pair to defend? I'm not sure. Maybe. I think he will be. But I see him in the Jay Bowmister way. Jay Bowmister was obviously an excellent skater, didn't produce that much offensively despite having seemingly all the tools to be an offensive difference maker, was really solid defensively, and was that stabilizing influence and impacted games with that mobility?

And I think Caden Gouly, in a best case scenario, would probably be like him, and Keynes, I think, would be thrilled if he was like that. I mean, J. Bowmister was An excellent defenseman for a very long time. But I don't know if either him or David Reinbacker or any of the other multitude of defensive prospects that Caines have in their stable, even Lane Hudson. I don't think there's anyone that you can look at and say that guy is a surefire top pair defender. It's no doubt a top pair defenseman.

No. I think There's a couple of things I'd like to say about that. First, when you compare... First, going back on the left-side, right-side thing. I mean, unless Rheinbacker and Logan Mayu play in Montreal next year, the Canadians would have to acquire a right-handed defenseman to avoid playing goalie on the right side again. So this is really a decision that they'll have to make. So I don't I don't know for a fact that they're going to go after a veteran defenseman, but I would not presume that Rheinbacker and Mayu will both play in Montreal from day one next year. So I think we're going to continue to see Gouly on the right side, most likely for the next little while.

I think Harris is becoming basically a right deal at this point.

Yeah, but that would be... Yeah, That would be probably your third pair guy. Do you want to have Mayu or Ryan Backer as top four right from the get-go? I'm not sure. But it's tricky because The short-term depth is on the left and the long-term depth is on the right to a certain extent. But they're going to be stacked on both sides. Let's not kid ourselves. I guess that transitions to that second point. You're totally right. I'm not sure that there's any surefire first-pairing defensemen in their current group. I would picture Gouly as a guy who would be a top-pairing guy depending on who's the guy that plays with him. But in terms of being able to log a ton of minutes and being, again, the stabilizing guy on the duo, let's say, it would be he was to play on the right side and Lane Hudson he platforms into this offensive defenseman that everybody dreams he can become. Well, down the road, that's a potential first pair, possibly. I mean, if you put Lane Hudson to the absolute... If he reaches its ceiling at the NHL level. But there are doubts on all of those guys in terms of what they can be as first-pairing material.

But they have such a There's interesting depth among their blue-line prospects that I wouldn't be surprised if they say, Okay, we might not have the high-end guy, but we could certainly have The equivalent of three second pairs. And you look at a team like Carolina. They've got Burns, they got Bradley Shay, they got Jacob Slaven, they got Brett Pesci. Or Love. Or Love. So everybody plays pretty Pretty much the same. Nobody plays 22 minutes. Oralov is playing 17 minutes, which is a luxury on the third pair. So they've got five guys that are playing between roughly 17 and 21 minutes. And I think this is down the road, burying the fact that you've got one of those young guys that really stands out and becomes that bonafide number one defenseman, at least the potential of those different guys and the fact that when you put together Gouly, Jacky, Reinbacker, Mayu, and Hudson, those five guys in particular have very, very different skill sets, very complementary, and no two defensemen really fit the same profile. So it's really interesting. Maybe that you could say that Gouly and Ryan Backer, maybe they'll have something in common in terms of the all-around smooth poised play.

That's probably the biggest comparison that put that I would make. But I feel like there's a variety there that makes it very convenient to really establish a top six on defense where you spread out the goods, you spread out the minutes, and you're well-served no matter which pair is on the ice.

Yeah. It comes back to the StrongLink weekly theory.

We never get out of it.

Yeah. So I mean, I think the Carolina example is a good one. I think generally, if you have six second-pairing defensemen, six top four defensemen, basically, on your defense, That's a pretty good defense group. And so, yeah, I think it begs to question, do you need that top minute munching guy who plays 26, 27 minutes a night when you can have a third pair You could throw out for 18 minutes and put them out against anyone and feel perfectly comfortable? Frankly, it probably helps you come playoff time to be able to do that. First of all, you avoid the wear and tear of the regular season. Second of all, matchups become far less of an issue. If you have full confidence in all three of your D pairs, I mean, look at the situation now. Basically, the Canadians can't put their fourth line out on the road, at least, without Matheson and Gouy behind them. They don't do it. At home, it's obviously a little different. You get to see what the other team puts out there. But on the road, when you're throwing the fourth line out, you know that chances are, actually, Tampa was a great example of this when the Canadians were in Tampa recently.

I don't know if that Colin White wine played a shift without Mathes and Gouly behind them because John Cooper invariably put out Point Kucharov, and at the time it was Stamkos. They didn't have DeClerc yet. So That's what having those D gives you. But if you have six of those, you don't have to do that. You don't have to consistently put those two out behind your fourth and your first lines to do double duty. And so, yeah, for those who don't know the strong link and weak link theory, it's basically a game theory that was developed in soccer, football, European football, where it's the notion that certain sports, you're a better team, if your worst player is better than the other team's worst player. Whereas in other sports, like in basketball, for instance, you're a better team if your best player is better than the other team's best player. That's what we're talking about. But yeah, I think that just on Rheinbacker, he's still such a raw product. I think this is a conversation I can share. I went to go see him, his debut in Laval last week, and that was his fifth game, I think, for the Rocket in eight days.

Wanda playing six and nine the next day. I talked to a couple of scouts who saw him that night, saw him play in Belleville earlier that week. And one of them said, I think he could probably use some more time in the AHL, but we'll probably play in the NHL at some point next season. I had another one who just was like, No, this guy could play in the NHL right now. I asked him, I was writing about Rheinbacker's skillset combined with with some of the high pressure teams the Canadians had faced of late, Carolina being the most recent one. I asked the scout about it and he's like, Oh, Rheinbacker? And then his eyes lit up. He just went, bing, bing, bing with his hands. He's making just a little passing motion with his hands. He's like, Man, that guy, that guy, picks out a guy and the fuck is on his stick and it's off. And that is just like, it just has massive value value, and I would have no problem with him starting the year in the end. That guy is ready from that point of view, from a fuck moving standpoint.

And really, that's something you saw all of Rheinbacker's draft year, even this year, playing on a team that never had the Puck. His ability to identify, quickly identify who should get the fuck next and deliver that fuck to that player on his tape is a really, really strong attribute of this kid. I don't want to call it elite yet because we haven't really seen it at the NHL level. But I feel like he's one of those guys that's going to adapt well to playing with NHL players because he knows where people are supposed to be on the ice. And I think a lot of times in Switzerland, they just weren't there. And so he had to hold on to the buck a little longer. But once he has very predictable routes to play with, he's the guy who's going to find those players skating those routes.

So But he might be one of those guys who plays better with better players. Yeah, I think so. And for whom the NHL will be an easier league to play in.

Yeah, probably because everyone describes the NHL as scrambling. And that's like those two scouts I spoke with. That was my line of questioning was, how do you account for the fact that a player has a very high hockey IQ, but he's playing in an environment where the hockey IQ is lower and how that impacts his ability to play in that environment. And one of them just turned to me and said, well, that's exactly what he said. That's a really good question. And it's hard to account for, but you have to. It's just hard to see that, and you won't see that until you put that player in an NHL environment. And I asked Marty St. Louis the same question. He brought up Jaden Strubel, and he said, you won't face pressure like this until you face it here, because there's nowhere else in the world where you play under this pressure. I'm talking about forechecking pressure, not media pressure or whatever other pressure you can think of, like actual hockey pressure on the park. And he was like, Jaden Struble, we didn't know how he was going to do. And then he got here and he performed remarkably well and better than we thought.

And so I think It's going to be an interesting training camp. But as far as Ryanbacker's first-pairing potential, yes, he has first-pair potential. Is he a lock to be a really good top-pairing defenseman? I don't know if he is. He could just be a really high-end, as we were saying before, top four defenseman. And if you have six of them, then you're looking good.

Can you hear that? Can you hear this is the sound? Oh, yeah, I hear it. This is the sound of all those fans who are saying, You don't spend a top five pick on a second-pairing defenseman.

Yes. Yeah.

But I don't think Well, I guess that could...

The question, this does beg the question, right? I mean, if do you need top pair defenseman if you have six second pair defenseman? If the Canadians have an opportunity to draft a top pair defenseman, which I'm not sure they will, a surefire top pair defenseman, I don't think that that player will be available to them when they draft, unless they win the lottery, obviously.

I'm not sure if there's a clear-cut guy. There's plenty of good defensemen available in this year's draft. But the list from one team to another in their assessment of who the best defenseman will greatly change.

Oh, for sure. It's a total wild card this year.

So it's not like you can pinpoint, Oh, yeah, that guy is Kael McCart. It's really a matter... It's very subjective and open to questioning. You mentioned Strubel. It's interesting because I thought that Tampa played a rather abrasive type of hockey yesterday and the Panthers on Tuesday, even more so. And I'm thinking, if Struble is still around in a few years and he holds a spot on that blue line, with Struble, Jack Akai, Gouly, and Mayu, who really has a lot of FU in his game, again, potentially down the road, I think that it's a blue line also that could match up against the more sandpaper teams, and they could initiate the sandpaper aspect in the game. So that's really a part of that blue line that really draws my attention and my hopes for the future, too.

Yeah, especially the combination of Jack and Myu who, on top of having an FU attitude, seem to relish being together in Laval and just yapping at guys, just really chirping guys because knowing that they can back it up. Honestly, it makes for a big group on defense. If you have all those screw bullets, it's hard to see where he would fit unless he transitions to the right side, which he could do in theory, but if you have-Reinbacker is He's big, too.

Well, that's it.

Reinbacker is big. If you have Jacky, Myu, Reinbacker, Gouly, and I don't know who else, but it really insulates Hudson, right?

No matter who it is, whether it's Nathanya, we shouldn't completely write off Justin Baron.

I mean, he hasn't even been brought up here. Although I think he needs to show something pretty soon. He's waiver eligible next year, and Those scouts I spoke to were not very impressed with how he's been doing in La Valence. He needs to take a step here pretty soon to reestablish himself in this group. But it's definitely a big, mobile, balanced group. I don't know if the Canadians necessarily need a clear-cut top-pairing guy, a guy who stands above the rest if your group has such a high floor. That's really it.

But what is a number one defenseman, really? Do you qualify it by the number of points that he makes? Is it just by sheer talent or the number of minutes that he plays? Because right now, Mike Matheson is by default the number one defenseman because of how much he plays. Yeah, that's it. But among that group, depending on the opponent, depending on how they fare at a certain time, any of those kids could be the one taking the lion's share and be the one playing more and reaching 24, 25, 26 minutes on any given night. It could move from one guy to the other.

Well, that's the beauty of having a group like that. It could change whoever's fielding it that night gets the lion's share of the minutes.

Yeah, because there's There's not 20 Miro Iscanan and 20 Adam Fox in the league. Those types of defensemen, they're 10 or 12 that are really an upper echelon. And after that, It's tricky to get there, but it's certainly not an area of concern because even though some of those guys might not hit, they've got enough in that pool to make sure So that they can fill that top six and probably move one or two guys more.

Yeah, definitely. They have to move one or two guys more. They really don't have a choice. They have too many... Because if you say that there's 12 guys who could show up at training camp next year and think they have a chance of making the team, that's already too many because you're not going to fill Laval with six young guys on defense. And you're not going to have six young guys on defense. Well, actually, no. Because that 12 would include Matheson and Savard. So you're not going to send the six young guys who get cut and say, Okay, you're a defense group in La Val. It doesn't work that way. You need some veteran presence on defense in La Val as well. So then you have too many. Then you have some run off there. So, yeah, they're going to need to... I think the Canadians have every intention of doing that this is using some of their depth on defense to go address their depth upfront. And I don't think Ken Hughes has made any effort to hide that. I think it's clear. It's obvious when you look at the organizational depth chart that you need to take a little bit from Pile B and address Pile A with it.

But it's an interesting debate because you look at what Quinn Hughes is doing in Vancouver. You look at the top defensemen around the league, and You would hope to have a guy like that driving the bus. Of course. The Norris Trophy vote this year is becoming complicated. Makar is having a bit of an off here, but Roman Yosey has almost single-handedly dragged the Predators into the playoffs over the last 25 or so games. It's really probably more of a heart trophy argument than a Norris. I think Quinn Hughes is... But I just don't feel the Canadiens have a guy like that.

Kael Mekar gets 82 points in 71 games. If that is an off year, I'll take an off year every year.

Oh, yeah. He's definitely generating points. I think defensively, he's had some issues. His penalty killing has been a little off, I think. But yeah, he's obviously... He's Kael Mekar. He still has his feet. He's going to make things happen. For sure. I don't think it's out of the question. I actually think it's going to happen. Lane Hudson is going to produce a lot of points in this league. I'm pretty convinced of it. I don't think... The body of work is too much at this point, and every time he's elevated a level, it has not stopped him. Everyone's still waiting for the level that's going to stop Lane Hudson, and it hasn't happened yet. It's very similar to Cole Caulfield in the sense that everyone always thought, Oh, he'll go there. That's when he'll stop scoring. Oh, no. Look, he set the US NTDP scoring record. Oh, he'll go to the AHL and he's going to get roughed up. No, he's scoring goals at Willow, and he barely spends any time there, and he goes to the NHL. Oh, the NHL is not going to be that. Well, no. Sorry. He's going to score, although he's...

His down year this year, he scored his 22nd goal last night. He's 22 years old. And he's number 22. And he likes that Taylor Swift song for that reason. But anyhow, that's his down year. It's a pretty good down year. Yes, it's not 35, 40 goals. And I think that's what he envisions. Actually, he envisions himself scoring way more than that. But it's still a good down year for Cole Caulfield. It's not the number he wants. So in any case, all I'll have to say that I think their defense can be made up of a lot of high floor guys, and even Lane Hudson. And I think I'm convinced that he might not be right away, but at some point, he's going to produce a lot of points in this league, and he's going to be good enough defensively and will be surrounded by good players defensively that he can hold his own on that end of the ice and figure out, as he has his whole life, to figure out how to defend at his size. He's a strong kid despite his size. But yeah, I think we'll see. And maybe he'll become that play driving number one-ish defenseman With all the power play minutes he'll get and what have you, maybe he'll get up to 24, 25 minutes a night eventually.

But I think I'm with you that maybe the Canadians don't necessarily need that guy with the group that they have.

No. But again, it's a few years down the road because for now, Mathieson is still around. I think that until the end of the season, Strubel and Harris are really under the spotlight, and it's their time to showcase themselves and say, Don't scratch us off in favor of those up and coming defensemen. We're very much part of the equation here. I think this is That's the chance that they're being given. So it's going to be interesting to see in the last 10 games or so if they're going to be able to seize that opportunity. But it could be a very well balanced blue You mentioned Quinn Hughes. In Vancouver, Quinn Hughes plays close to 25 minutes, but the number six defenseman is playing less than 15 minutes a night, and that's Noah Jolson. Noah Jolson is a former One of the former Montreal Canadian's prospect, is one of the candidates for the Masterton Trophy this year. Yes. There is also Michael McCarron, another name from the National Predators, another former Canadian who's a Masterton nominy, Jonathan Drouin, former Montreal Canadian. And we voted for Yoel Armia. We went at length about what he went through and what he's been able to overcome.

So let's try not to really repeat ourselves too much. But I think that it was really fitting knowing that this would be announced in the morning, that he He scored two goals against the Lightning, matched his career high for goals. And he's really a deserving candidate for that award. There are super Interesting cases league-wide. I don't think that Eramia has a real chance of winning that award. But it's a nice tip of the cap, a tip of the cap to him because among the Montreal Canadians, he's clearly the story that stands out in terms of perseverance to his craft. Yeah, he seems like a logical choice for a Masterton nomination.

Yeah. It's funny. Actually, our colleague Eric Engels made a good point last night is that we didn't vote for Sean Monahan because he didn't spend enough time here. Our colleagues in Winnipeg didn't vote for Sean Monahan because he didn't spend enough time there. But really, had he been on the list of candidates, I think Sean Monahan would have a good chance of winning the award. It's really come back from some devastating physical injuries. I always had our former colleague, François Le Manu. I sat next to him at the Bell Center Press Box. We've covered the Canadians for a long time for that presque anadzian, venerable colleague, wise.

Venerable The goal is definitely the right thing.

Yes, absolutely. And so I remember talking to him once about the Master 10 Trophy, and he said, I don't understand why we give it to guys who are coming back from injuries, because what are these guys going to do? What are they going to do other than come back? What else do they know? Why would they just leave the game they love and they've worked their entire lives to make? What other option do they have? And so I always try to think of that when I vote for the Master 10 Trophy and not only the local candidate, but the actual trophy itself, is what option did these guys have? I look at Armia, and when he was sent to LaVal, he's going to get paid anyway. He had two years left on his contract at that point, this one and next one. Could have gone to LaVal and said, You know what? Screw it. I'll go through the motions here. I'll collect my paycheck, and then when I'm done, I'm done. That was It was a real option for him. But he did the opposite of that. What's really commendable is just the rave reviews he got for his attitude when sent to Laval, not once, but twice.

I always have that Le Manu bar in my head. What else was this guy supposed to do? In Monaghan's case, it applies, but it's because he wasn't just going to end his career, just because he had hip surgery on both hips and he was still in his He's like, There was no reason for him to quit playing hockey. No. I guess to some extent, Hilaria also did never reason to quit playing hockey, but he could have taken that emotional aval much differently than what he actually did.

So When you look at a guy, for example, without the idea of collecting your paycheck, I think of Karl Alsner when he was sent down to Laval, back in a few years ago. He did not take the attitude of saying, I'll just collect my paycheck. And he very much wanted and hoped to be called up and have another crack at it on the Montreal Blue Line.

Also had an excellent attitude about it.

Yeah, exactly. But I think that the approach or the epiphany that came to Yoel Armia to finally unlock his potential really stands out. To me, it's a type of story that I'm not sure I've seen since I started covering the Montreal Canadiens, in terms of a guy who's 30 years old and figures something out psychologically, overcomes that hurdle, and it seems to all of a unlock the toolbox that is pretty enticing. But we've seen guys that reach different levels for one reason or another. But at such a late stage in his career, he's an eight-year NHL veteran, and it's not a matter of points. He's not going to reach his career high in points this year. Maybe in terms of goals, but probably not in terms of points. He would really He has to go on serious.

He has no assistance here.

Yeah. But you look, it's just the impact that he's got on the game night after night after night for the past three months. He's clearly figured something out. And the way that he's figured it out, I have not seen that in Montreal since I've started covering that team.

Yeah, me too. I actually told him that last night after the game. I said, I don't think I've covered a season as interesting as yours. And I've been covering this team for a very long time. And he's giggled, he chuckled. He's like, Yeah, it has been. It's been pretty interesting. But yeah, I think it's You were mentioning off-air or whatever prior to the show, how there's a lot of... Yulharmia has not been shy to say that he's spoken to off-air or whatever prior to the show, how there's a lot of... Yulormi has not been shy to say that he's spoken to off-air The mental side of his performance and how that's been the big thing that he's unlocked here is not allowing the sports psychology side to hamper his performance. It's a real benefit of the Canadian bringing Minard aboard. I think the Toronto chapter selected Ilyas Samsonov as their candidate. It probably went through a similar type of thing earlier this season where he just completely lost on the ice, got sent down, didn't actually go to the Marlies just got to take a time out, basically, and then came back and it's been great for them.

But there's a number of candidates this year who went through actual mental health issues, which is a totally separate thing. It's different and more serious, obviously. It impacts your real life and not just how you perform on a sheet of ice. We mentioned Jouet, McCarron, Oliver Shillington in Calgary, Connor Ingram Connor Ingram. In Arizona, which was a real- That guy's a survivor. Absolutely. And so I think that's a real nice nod to how attitudes toward these kinds of Things are changing.

Yeah. I'll share because we've got little bios because we get to vote on the Masterton, and each chapter, they vote on their own candidate, each group of There's 32 candidates. That's it. And then we receive little bios to just indicate if you want to further explore someone's nomination and investigate further. There's a little blurb that comes with it. I'll read the one on Conor Ingram because I think that I'm pretty good at nailing the Masterton. Every year, I think I pick the one who's going to get it. That's not right? Okay. Oh, yeah. That's my superpower. I can name the Masterton in advance. Because I knew that Christoffer Lata would win it before, after, what, his third or fourth nomination? Anyway. So Conor Ingram. Ingram's career was nearly derailed by undiagnosed obsessive compulsive disorder. A A condition that led him to drink heavily and obsess over the possibility of contamination from physical contact with other people or even everyday objects. Four years after entering the NHL, NHLPA Player Assistance Program and undergoing intense therapy. And seven years after he turned pro, Ingram has learned to cope with and manage his condition. He has also locked down a regular NHL spot while becoming one of the NHL better and gold tenders.

He's been unfailingly open when discussing his condition. He almost took the number one job in Arizona this year from Velmelka. He's been a great story.

He's been a great story. Absolutely. And I think Jonathan Drouin has also been very open talking about what he went through during the Canadian's run to the final, which he didn't participate in because he was dealing with some mental health issues. And it really has served to remove the stigma around mental health. And I hopefully inspired more people to try and recognize it in themselves and reach out for help when they need it. And I thought, obviously, Cary Price did that when he spoke about his issues with alcohol, so as openly as he did, Michael McCarron, same thing in Nashville. He's been talking about his journey since entering the program, also for alcohol. So it's really nice to see. It's nice to see that this element of all of our lives, but can be reflected through people with such visible platforms and can send that message to people that if there's nothing wrong with asking for help, and it can change your life for the better. And these are all examples where that happened. And so that's a very separate thing from Armeya and Samsonon. That's mental performance. When it comes to mental health, it's obviously a lot more serious.

And I think it's a great sign that we have all these people who are coming out the other side of it at the NHL level and are able to show people that you, too, can come out the other side of it if you choose to seek the help that might be necessary.

Yeah. And it's good that the Masterton is not the greatest come back from injury the way it was before. Sometimes it's also like the journeyman, minor leagre who figures out a way to crack an NHL lineup at 29 or 30 years old. Alex Belzill was there last week.

Alex Belzill, yeah. Then there's the Pittsburgh chapter nominating Cindy Crosby. And I don't know, can you find anyone who is more dedicated to hockey than Cindy Crosby? I don't think so. But again, it's not... His injury issues are long behind him. He is a great candidate for this trophy as well. If you look at the literal definition In addition of what we're supposed to be judging these guys on, it's perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. And Cydney Crosby is all those things. The master Austin is one I often find it difficult to vote for because all 32 of these guys, and as mentioned, Sean Monahan is not even one of those 32, so he could be one of those injury comeback story candidates. But they all have their own stories that are worth celebrating. And I'm glad that the PHWA announced his All 32, so that in a way, they are celebrated. They were recognized by their local chapters for doing what they did this season.

I love voting for that award. It's a lot more fun and involving for me to vote for that than to vote for the Lady Bing, for example.

Well, for sure, the Lady Bing. But what I hate about it is not voting for people, is that when people are left off my ballot. That's the part I don't like. Yes, I love the fact that we're choosing to recognize player one, two, and three. It's player four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 that are not on the ballot. That bothers me about it. But there's nothing you could do about it. It's a trophy, and you have to pick someone. So Yilarmia is our candidate in Montreal. Congratulations to him. I wrote about this last night, and actually this morning. But you look at Yilarmia and Sorry, that's my dog. You look at Yilarmia, and he's been judged based on his contract for a while. And his contract has been what's been problematic for him. If he was playing at a league minimum salary, No one would have really cared the last couple of years when he didn't have the consistency he needed and sometimes looked like he was going through the motions. And what we now learn is actually the opposite of that, that those times he thought he was going through the motions, he was actually so wracked with stress about his own performance that it was actually making him look that way when it was actually the opposite reason.

But the Canadiens have three other players whose contracts are really determining how they get judged. And I wonder if Christian Dvorak, Josh Anderson, and Brettna Gallagher can see Yol Armia and what he's done and been like, We can do that, too. Why don't we grab that narrative and make it ours next season?

Yeah, but Isn't it apple and oranges, though? Because really, when it comes to Armia, there was a bit of a mental block that he managed to overcome. I don't know I don't know enough about Christian Dvorak to really comment, but it seems to me like the challenge facing Anderson and Gallagher is very much physical and hockey-related in the sense that we have to figure out ways to adapt our style of play to how the game is played and how our coach wants us to play. And in that sense, I feel like Gallagher has done progress that way. He's never going to be a 30 goal scorer anymore. I think everybody understands that, but he's got to find ways to prolong his career. And lately, I find that he's been playing decent hockey. I've got no issue with the level of effort that he's showing, the fact the intensity in the offensive zone. He's impactful in the offensive zone. He He gave things again. So it's really a matter of price tag next to him and say, well, for that amount of money, you should be performing more. But to a certain extent, that ship has sailed and there's nothing that he can do about it.

It's like that old Roberto Luongo saying, My contract sucks. Well, Gallagher contract sucks. At the same time, he has to find ways around it. And I feel as though if he can adapt and he's in the process of doing it, there could be a place for him in the lineup for a few years. The question is, that new definition of Brandon Gallagher, could he maintain that even if the bar is lowered and the expectations are lowered, can he sustain that level for three or four years? Can he be Like a guy that contributes, even if it's on the fourth line, for 11 minutes, it can still be a guy that could be maybe on PP2 who could chip in 15 goals, A year? I don't know. Because this is where the bar is now. But could he maintain that rhythm, especially with the league getting faster and evolving into something new and something gets better every year. If he just remains the same, he'll be affected by the fact that the rest of the league gets better. So I don't know. Do you think that there's a chance for him?

Well, look at the last two games. Last night, Gallagher had two assists. The game before, I thought his passing was actually better. Unfortunately for him, the guy on the receiving end of those passes was invariably Josh Anderson. He He wasn't able to put the fuck in the net. He could have had three assists in that game against Panthers the way Gallagher played.

Did you say in the net or on the net?

He couldn't put the fuck in the net. Yeah, or on... Right. I think that's true. He probably didn't put the fuck on the net in several of those cases. But yeah, so it's... And I think I've said it on this podcast, I've long had this theory with Gallagher that he could be Dustin Brown. I finally talked to him about that this week, how he could be Dustin Brown. When Dustin Brown signed an eight-year contract, I think it was worth 5.75 million or 5.875 or something in that range, his percentage of the cap at the time was actually higher than Brenda Gallegher's is now. So the contract was richer, even though in monetary terms, it's less than what Gallegher makes. He, after signing that contract, that contract kicked in the year after he won the Messier Leadership Award, Dustin Brown. It was in many ways a reward for what Dustin Brown had done. Two Stanley Cups, captain of the team, named Captain at age 23. It really was a thank you contract as opposed to a show me contract, which is exactly what Brenda Gallagher got, right? Immediately, as soon as that contract kicked in, he signed it the year prior, but as soon as that contract kicked in, Brown's production started to tank, and he was quickly viewed as having one of the worst contracts in the NHL.

Then suddenly, at age 31, I believe, he figured something out, and he started producing, and he had a 28 goal season out of nowhere. I went back and... Actually, I reached out to Dustin Brown. He didn't get back to me, unfortunately. But I looked back at some quotes from that season and how, first of all, he came into camp lighter than he had in previous years. So he made a physical adjustment to the way the game was being played. And there were a lot of commonalities that didn't get into my piece, but he was talking about how the game had changed and stylistically had changed, how he had to adapt to that. And then Gallagher said the same thing, and again, this wasn't in my piece, but you talked how when he was having success, team cycled a lot in the offensive zone. And that's something that he and Denun and Tatar did a lot. They cycled the puck, cycled the puck, cycled the puck, and produced chances and funneled to the net. Teams don't play in the offensive zone like that anymore. You look at Just from the Canadian standpoint, when Suzuki, Caulfield, and Slavkowski are on the ice, they never cycle the puck.

They actually spread out as much as they can, and they try to create space and balance on the ice that Marty St. Louis always talks about. Well, cycling the park is not balanced. It's actually entirely focused on one area of the offensive zone, and now there's a shift away from that. So Gallagher is trying to find ways to succeed in that reality when the former trend of cycling pucks really suited his game. He's never been a particularly good passer. He's never been a particularly good shooter. He's a guy who scores goals much the way he almost scored against Florida. That That play that was reviewed, him jamming away. And that can still be the way he scores goals. I mean, that's never going to change. No matter what stylistic changes happen in hockey, there's always going to be guys that you want who go to the net and score greasy goals the way he has his whole career. So he can still do that, but he needs to complement that because there's only so many of those opportunities you get in a game. He needs to complement that with understanding the way the hockey is played now and fitting into that.

And I think he's doing that, but more so showing a capacity to do it and showing a willingness to do it. Marty talked about how the one thing you have to do to extend your career is accept your new reality. It's clear talking to Brandon that he's accepted his new reality. He believes he can still be productive, but he also recognizes that if he never gets back to those, even close to those prior levels of production, He needs to diversify his game and make himself valuable in other ways. So he's accepted that. And then when you look at Anderson, it's funny. Marty was asked about Anderson and Gallagher on the same day, almost back to back questions. And Marty, with Anderson, it wasn't the same thing. It was like, we know there's goals in him. There's things in him that will lead to him scoring again. But I think Yes, Anderson needs to make an adjustment, but I think, and I've said it before, I think the Canadians, and I think in particular, Marty, needs to make an adjustment with Anderson and just be like, You know what? Go out and play the way you want to play.

He said about Anderson that this season was likely to be a one-off.

Yeah, but I think in order for that to happen, there needs to be some give from both sides and not give Anderson too much information. I think he's bogged down by too much information right now. Listen, when I talked to him at the beginning of this month, or actually, sorry, about a month ago now, he said how when he's sitting in the dressing room before games, there's a lot of things going through his head. I'm just thinking about a lot of things, and it was really he emphasized a lot. It was really something that seemed to bog him down, situational plays, where do you have to go when this happens? Where do I have to go when that happens? This, that. And you could see it on the ice. At times, he's confused. He doesn't know what to do. Whereas before, and he said this himself, before, I never thought in the dressing room before a game because I knew exactly what I was going to go out there and do. I was going to skate up and down the ice as fast as I can and hit guys and score goals. That was my job, and I did that well.

And you look at the NHL Edge stats, Josh Anderson is still one of the fastest skaters in the league. He's top 10 in, I think it's 22-mile-an-hour the bursts this season. So he's a guy who can do that still. I don't know if it's necessary, but it feels necessary to me that maybe this is one where Marty can be like, You know what? What he is is just fine. We don't need to evolve his game. Let's just take what we have with him and live with that. And I think that's what he's done most of this season. He stayed off of Josh Anderson a lot because he's going through so much, and he's admitted that trying to give him space and room to breathe and all that stuff, maybe that's something they could look at and be like, not everyone can be taught Hockey Sense. You remember when Marty came on, we talked to him the first time after he was hired. This was the big thing that he thinks everyone can be taught OccuSense. Well, maybe not everyone can.

No, but I mean, just as much as it's true that you have to have 23 different ways to coach your team and you have to individualize to a certain extent, although John Torterello probably would not agree to that. At the same time, there's one way. There are concepts that you're teaching so that ultimately the team all plays the same way. You instill a way of playing that no matter who you put in the lineup, they all figure it out and they all follow the same way. If you exclude one player saying, It's not for him, and you just do your thing, can it remain cohesive? Can he still, despite the fact that he would be playing his game, bring Bringing it in the game, like Martin used to say. But if the game that is being encouraged by Martin Saint-Louis and it's applied by the rest of the team, if it doesn't apply to Anderson, well, can it work?

Well, I did a lot of research on this whole Gallagher thing. When Martin Saint-Louis mentioned Jason Spets as an example of a guy who accepted a lesser role, it doesn't really apply to Gallagher because Spets has accepted that role on a league minimum salary when he signed with the lease as a free agent. But he was in Dallas. He signed a four-year deal at 7.5 a year at 31 or 32. And by year two of that deal, Ken Hitchcock was in Dallas, and it just went south. At one point was healthy scratch. It was a big thing. And so in looking at that, I was reading some of the quotes from back then, and Ken Hitchcock mentioned how, Well, this line is more of a rush line, and this line is more of a cycle line, and so we don't know where to... But he gave roles to lines and had lines that would play a certain way. I'm not saying that that's what has to happen here. I don't even know if Marty would believe in doing that, but they already have the components of a line that could do that. Frankly, we saw it the other night.

If they had a third line of Anderson, New Hook, and Gallagher, and had that be just a straight line, speed, and forechecking line, I don't know. I feel like there's just some give. There needs to be some give on both sides here. Josh Anderson needs to learn some of the things that the Canadians are trying to do with him, and the Canadians need to acknowledge that there are certain things he can't do and that he got bogged down in those things this year. I need to avoid that happening again. So does that mean he's an exceptional case? I don't know, but I think there's a way to find a happy medium here where you can get the most out of this player that you're paying 5.5 million dollars a year and who has a skill set that is proven to work in the NHL and build up his value again, hopefully to the point where they could trade him. It's really because there are teams that Josh Anderson would fit in well on. I think he'd be great on the Panthers. I think he'd be great on the Hurricans. I think he'd be great on the Knux, actually.

There's a lot of teams where- Oh, he fits so well with the Panthers. You're right.

Yeah.

There are a lot of teams who are a better stylistic fit for Josh Anderson. The Canadians just need to get them back to a level where those teams can look at him and say, yes, we want that at that dollar figure in our lineup. And with the cap going up, I don't think it's impossible, but they need to build them back up so that he can get to that level where he can get to a team that's better suited to his skillset.

Well, Gallagher and Anderson are not necessarily at the same point in their career because Gallagher needs to manage the regression to a certain extent, where I don't think that Anderson is at that point yet. But when you mentioned coaching, when it comes to Anderson, I think that that's where it It connects the two because you were comparing Gallagher to Dustin Brown. The main difference with Dustin Brown and his resurgents in LA was that at some point Darryl Sutter was fired. And a change in coaching made a huge difference to the fact that all of a sudden, he found it pleasant to go to the rink again. But it was years of being bogged down by the coach. And all of a sudden, I think it was, Well, I think first it was John Stevens that came back behind the bench. Yeah.

Well, his resurgent here, Stevens was the coach. Yeah, for sure. But it's just the similarity is that you look at the quotes from that season, like Kopitar saying, Brownie lives around the net. You always need a guy like that. Stevens, guy who goes hard to the net, who goes to the dirty areas, always need guys like that. That's Gallagher. You know what I mean? So yes, Gallagher doesn't have a coach that's holding him back. Well, No, it doesn't have a coach. I don't think so.

I think that there's a buy-in there that's- Yeah, there's a buy-in. They figured it out. Yeah.

But like, Brown went through... I mean, Brown had... The stripping of the captaincy with Brown was a real nasty episode. He did not appreciate how that all happened. There are stories that came out. There are stories off the conference call he gave after that decision, and his comment Once, he was coming back from a place where he just felt the whole organization had turned its back on him. It wasn't against anything against Andre Cotatard, but that was another key element for him was removing that pressure and allowing him to focus on himself a little more than he did as captain, where he was focused on the whole team, was another factor in him being able to have that resurgence. So there's obviously details in each story that are going to be different.

It's just-Just looking for comparisons and inspirations, too. Say, Okay, well, if the guy did it, well, maybe I can do it on my side. You need to find points where It's relatable to your situation, and you can get motivation out of that.

Yeah. Hey, let's go to Future Friday, just because I want to hear the Future Friday jiggle. Future Friday. Okay, so Future We decided today, we decided that we would talk a little bit about the situation with the Lyon de Trois-Luvia, the Trois-Luvia Alliance, who are owned by the same man and same company who also own the Newfoundland Ground, Growers, sorry, who were recently disbanded and ceased operations in the middle of the season. So why don't you... Trois Rivières got another lease on life. So why don't you bring everyone up to date on what's going on there?

Yeah. Well, first off, I think that the project of having an ECHL in Trois Rivières was very interesting for the Canadians to have that second affiliate there. It's good news that they managed at least to finish the season and potentially to survive in Trois Rivières. They've been there since the '21, '22 season in a brand new building, the Vidéotranca Museum in Trois Rivières. You had this guy from Deacon Sports and Entertainment called Dean McDonald. As you said, you had both of these franchises, the Growers and the Lions. And he ran into death pretty quickly. And basically, there was unpaid rent, unpaid lease to the city. And he ran into debt. So either he had to pay off his debt or the League was ready to just basically shut down the team on April second. There were discussions with different entities so that Dean McDonald would be able to sell the Alliance to a new property. You remember there's this company, we see the ads on TV, Fix Auto. Well, Fix Auto seems to be this big company that has a sports branch, and that sports entertainment branch was in negotiations to buy the lions. And it fell through for one reason or another with the Caisse de Dépôt.

Anyway, so there's this... Late last week, there was this American investor that showed up and said, I'm interested. I'm going to buy the team. So the guy paid the city $600,000 out of the close to million dollars that the lines owed to the city of Trois-Rivières. For that unpaid rent. And now he's in the process. The transaction is not completed yet.

He needs legal approval, right?

Yeah. So the transaction doesn't have full control yet. For now, the lions are under the ECHL's guardianship. But eventually, the understanding is that he's going to become the principal owner of the lions. The city wants to attract local investors to support that new owner. And the feeling in Trois Rivières is that that new owner will keep, despite the fact that he's American, he's going to He's not going to keep the team where it is, and he's not going to move it somewhere else. The growlers in Newfoundland were not so lucky because the fact that it's so far, it's so remote from everywhere, There are expenses that come with operating the growlers that have come to bite Mr. Mcdonald in the bum and any potential owner at this point. And I talked to Alex Newhook about that a couple of days ago, obviously being one of the few Newfoundlanders in the NHL. And he grew up at a time where he saw three different teams leave Newfoundland one after the other. In the queue, there used to be the Fog Devils. There was an American League that was briefly the Canadian's affiliate, the Icecaps. And now you got the Growlers.

So three levels of hockey that bolted one after the other because it's just too expensive to operate.

Well, you have to travel by plane. You have no choice but to travel by plane.

Exactly. And the rest of the league won't send you any rescue mission because there's expenses for them, too, to just go to you.

Yeah, exactly.

So the growlers basically had to fold because there was no option to keep them alive. But Trois Rivières, luckily, is able to continue its operations. And it hasn't been a huge success. At the gate, the lions have the second to last worst average when it comes to attendance in the whole of ECHL. I was surprised to see that. Granted, it's not a huge building. I think it's 4,500, something like that. But they're under 3,000 on average per game. And you got other teams, like in Jacksonville, for example, that are close to 8,000. So there's big disparity. So there's still a lot of building up and building solid foundations for that team. I thought that maybe the Montreal that Canadians would be involved financially. I checked with Jeff Molson, and he said that before it was disclosed that it was this American investor, I bumped into Jeff and I asked him, Are you the one who's paying the 600,000? He said, No, it's some dude from the US. But I think that originally the ECHL, the idea was to say, Well, if every five years, we could come up with a David Dernet type, a guy that basically is found money, is a guy that fell in the cracks and through the ECHL, can become a legitimate prospect for the Montreal Canadian organization and eventually become a Montreal Canadian player.

I named Dernet, but a guy like Brett Kulak also went through the ECHL. There's a bunch of those guys. There's a lot of them.

Alex Buros.

Exactly. Great example. If one Every five years, you can find one of those players. In itself, it justifies investing in a product that otherwise can serve as a funnel to all those players that graduate from the queue that are like, Quebec players that can use the ECHL as a starting point. But so far, it doesn't suggest as though it has gone that way. But again, it's a team that's only three years old, so it needs a bit more runway to come to to fruition?

Well, I think what needs to be made clear here, and what the 12VF organization needs to understand is that, yes, they are a Canadian's affiliate, but they are an independent hockey club. The Canadians own and operate the Laval Rocket. They're going to treat that differently than they do the ECHL. They have an affiliation agreement with the ECHL team. It's not their team. I think there was a lot of disappointment from some of the early management, coaching staff. The organization in Touaibian, I think, expected the Canadians to be more involved than they were. The Canadians looked at it as you're an affiliate, but you are in charge of running the team. We will send you players here and there, but we're not...

We're not going to get weaker to get you stronger.

Well, exactly. Yeah. There was a belief that maybe if Laval is out of it and we're trying to get a playoff spot that you'll send us some players and help us and whatever. And that was never the case. From the outset, that was never going to be the case. It does benefit the Canadians to have a pool of players available so close by. Laval obviously goes through 40 players a year, roughly. Instead of having to sign these guys last minute or full goal, scouring the ECHL, looking for them, it's good to have them right there. Like John Parker Jones, for instance, who's a perfect tweener guy who can play in the AHL, is better suited for the ECHL. We have him right there. If you need him, he's a two-hour drive away. So it's beneficial in that respect. And what you mentioned, obviously, is that if you get one guy... And the least of often... The least under Kyle Dubis, the whole existence of the Growlers comes as a result of the Lefs trying to build a baseball-style, vertically integrated development platform, basically, or a development system where you have the equivalent of AA, by MLB for Hockey.

And so they put a lot of resources into building that team. And they were a lot more involved, I think, in the growlers than the Canadians were with alliance, and maybe that's where that expectation came from. But for the alliance to succeed, I think that that's why I applaud them looking for local investors, because it needs to be its own thing. They can't expect the Canadians don't seem all that interested in being the father figure of the organization. Yes, they will serve as an affiliate. Yes, they benefit from it, but it needs to be its own thing, market it as its own thing and operate it as its own thing in order for it to succeed.

Yeah, that's true. They have to be able to. I don't know if there's an English I'm not the most equivalent for that expression.

There is. It just escapes me right now. But yeah, there is. But my mind is not ready to come up with it.

Yeah, but that success has to be in independent, and it's got to be a local success, too.

It's got to be-Well, you talk about the attendance. That's an issue, and that's an issue I think that's solvable. If you make that team... And it'll take time, too. But generally, the first three years of any professional sports franchise, you benefit from the newness of that team and the curiosity factor. But the challenge is to bring those people back and look at what's happening in Winnipeg right now. The newness is gone, the team's competitive, and they're struggling at the gate. It's really a constant battle to Keep yourself relevant in your own market in such a gay-driven league. So Trois Guiars needs to make sure that they make themselves a viable, competitive entertainment option in Trois Guiars and not think that the Canadians are going to come and rescue them every time they need some help. They have to operate on their..., which I don't know why I can't come up with the English I don't know.

I don't know. You're the end of it between the two of us.

I'm sure there will be 25 million comments on the YouTube page telling me exactly the expression I can't think of right now, but that's what needs to happen. All caps, please. Yeah, all caps. Give all caps, lots of... And feel free to I swear.

Also, the one thing I'd like to just in wrapping on that topic is that when you try to attract players, even at such a low level as the ECHL, you have to offer a path forward, a path up for these players. So if you want to have a good team, you have to draw good players, and the good players for that level have to see a way up for themselves. And the challenge for the Lion is that When you look at the Canadians and then the Rocket, they're both very young teams. So the Rocket is full of young players that are going to be there for a while. They're just working their craft in order to become bona fide NHL players in some cases. So if you're an ECHL player and the way up is the Laval Rocket, finding a spot to showcase yourselves and force your way in It's probably more difficult than on a more seasoned American League team, where there will be a look for some new blood for younger players. So I think that adds to the challenge. And so far, I think to a certain extent, because there are guys that have been going up and down from the lines to the rocket and the other way around, Nolen Yeremko, Strauss-Man, the goalie.

I think the ECHL is a good place for goalies. It's a good starting point for goalies. But it's hard, even if you're performing in the ECHL level, to showcase yourself in an environment where there's so many prospects in the AHA?

So to that, I would say this in conclusion. So this is apropos of nothing, but when I was in Vancouver, I was talking to a Pro Scout about a bunch of things, and that was right around the time that Rheinbacher was arriving in Laval, and I mentioned it to him, and we got to talking about the Laval rocket. This guy had seen a bunch of rocket games. He was like, You know who I have time for on that team that really surprised me? But the more I saw him, the more I liked him, is that Bisson guy. He's talking about Tobi Bisson, who is David Rheinbacker's partner in Laval. So Tobi Bisson, after playing the full complement, the full limit of years in the QMJHL, went to the Cincinnati cyclones out of the QMJHL in 2018, '19, played 70 games for the cyclones, got one game with the Rochester Americans that year, obviously undrafted in the CNHL, went back to the Cincinnati cyclones in 2019, '20, played 62 games, got 22 points, and was signed by the Laval Rocket the following year, 2020, '21, and has been there, well, not actually, ever since. Played two seasons in Laval, one season in Ontario, the King's affiliate in the NHL, back in Laval this year, and has caught the eye of at least this one NHL Pro scale.

So there is a path from the ECHL, maybe to the fringes of the NHL, but to becoming a solid AHL veteran player. And if Bissol continues on this path, maybe he won't become an NHL player, even if he is attracting some attention from NHLs kids. But if you become a solid NHL veteran, you can make a pretty good living doing that in the NHL. So yeah, I would say you do need to- The point is about getting...

The point is getting a two-way contract, an NHL-AHL contract. That's Bissau's goal. But The Montreal-Canadian in their situation, I don't know if they're going to be in a position to offer him that.

Yeah, but they've offered him a platform to get noticed enough to get that deal. It's my point. It's definitely... The thing The thing is that when you have a team full of prospects, the one thing that your team gets is scouted. You have a lot of scouts watching those prospects, and that's where you can get seen. So it's obvious, it's apparently true for Bissau. Good for him that he's had a great season, and every AHL team needs guys like that. And if he plans a two-way contract somewhere, probably not in Montreal, you're right, but somewhere, then that's a path from the ECHL to at least an AHL contract, which oftentimes, those two-way deals come with the AHL minimums that are pretty high. So like, Belzal's AHL minimum right now with the Rangers is 500K, if I'm not mistaken. And so that's... And plus, I think his contract shifts to a one-way next year, which is why the Canadians couldn't, or I should say, chose not to compete with the Rangers to sign him. So there is a path.

Yeah, for sure. Bissant, if he manages to get a two-way deal, I think we discussed his case, you and I, before, and I said, why couldn't he be like a Cory Schunemann, where he gets a few NHL games, potentially.

Well, you need the right situation. Cory Schunemann would never get a Canadian game with the Canadians now. There's too many young defensemen. There's more coming. Probably for Bissau to take the next step in his career, he will probably have to leave the organization, but they've given him a window and a platform to do that.

There's one guy who graduated from the Lyons to the La Vallée Rocket. It's Rael McKay, a rugged forward. So he played two years ago. Well, he split the year last year between Trois Rivières and Laval. And this year, he's been playing solely with the Rocket. All right. I never thought I would talk about Raleigh McKay on this podcast, but here we are. I didn't either. That's it. That's what happens when we decide to talk about the Trois Rivières Alliance. But it had to be brought up. It was in the news this week. I think it was warranted to be just a-Yeah.

It's also what happens when you ramble on for an hour and a half like we just did. That's what happens. But thanks for listening, for those of you who made the end.

That's right. We'll be back on Monday after Saturday's game. The Canadians have a double header. They play Toronto on Saturday and in New York on Sunday, so that's going to be quite a challenge. Big, big weekend coming up, and we're going to talk to you on Monday, so don't hesitate to send us your questions on our for our mailbag. You can reach us on x@basuandgodin, or write longer, more detailed emails at basuengaden@gmail. Com..