Is The Market For Boeser, Schenn Heating up? | February 23, 2023

CJ, Patrick Kane has turned himself into the most fascinating name at the trade deadline. And I get it off name only, he should be. But his last four games, seven goals, 10 points. And that includes a buzzer beater that was robbed from him the other night against Vegas. What a story. Yeah, I mean, we can no longer say he's having his least productive season either, just because this this hot week has actually gotten his numbers back to, you know, not not fully where we're used to seeing them, but well on the way there to being almost a point per game player. And this one's going to overtime. I think what's really interesting to me is that we're recording this the afternoon of Thursday, February 23rd. And by now we expected to have clarity on Patrick Kane's intentions. I think that all along was was, you know, his hope, his agent's hope, Chicago management's hope. And you know, I don't sense any, anything negative. The fact he hasn't made up his mind, but I think it's quite notable and shows maybe the weight of the decision that he's facing that he's had this amazing week, which I refuse to believe as a coincidence, by the way, I think I think we're looking at a pretty proud athlete, a gamer, someone who's brought it. And you know, now he's working through what he's going to do. And he's, he's passing his own deadlines. And so, you know, ultimately, I think what's going to get delivered is one team likely to Chicago management that he's willing to wave for if he is ultimately willing to wave. And so perhaps it's a straightforward process from there. But you know, as the Blackhawks set out to California for, you know, a couple games this weekend, you know, we're still on Patrick Kane watch. Oh, even though that one team that Patrick Kane wants to go for is still out there and that being the New York Rangers. Have you heard from, you know, just in talking to other people, if any other teams have just kind of taken notice of Patrick's play, if that matters at all? Well, there's certainly a number of teams I think that are interested here. You know, the Oilers have continued to monitor the situation. You know, I think the Dallas stars have a natural fit, you know, they've run into some goal scoring troubles in Dallas of late. The team struggled a little bit. They've been looking for a forward all year long. I think that Patrick Kane fills an obvious need for them. You know, the Carolina Hurricanes are thought to be on the periphery here. And there may be others, you know, but but ultimately, this is the crazy thing is we can, you know, speculate or discuss all this interest, but ultimately comes down to what Patrick himself wants. And you know, I would think the Rangers are the most appealing the fact that they at least appear to have the door open. But, you know, they have to do some work to make this, this kind of trade work just financially, even even with Patrick Kane's contract, the 25% of its value filtered through another team, even if, you know, Vitali Krabsov goes the other way, which, you know, I think would be part of the return given that Krabsov has not been happy with his opportunity with the Rangers has requested a trade from that team. You know, there's still more cap machinations that would have to go into this. There's a way to make it work, but the point is it's not necessarily easy for New York. And I think if you're any of those other sort of teams I mentioned and Pat Prasan, the agent for Patrick Kane comes to you or he goes to Kyle Davidson, the, you know, Black Hawk's general manager and says, Hey, Patrick's interested in coming there. I think I think anyone would jump through those hoops to make it happen. And this becomes so much more dramatic because of what we see in the last week. And it seems almost crazy to say that about a player that's played, you know, nearly 1,300 NHL games to this point that that something he does in any four game stretch changes the complexion. But I just think that there was so much conjecture about his hip injury, about his level of engagement, you know, just wondering if all the losing and being on the team he's been on this year and had sort of made him a lesser version of himself. And, you know, I talked to someone today that that has been at a couple of the recent games came as played. And he said, guys scoring at Will now, like he's like, it's uncanny. And, you know, we just know him to be that type of player. I feel like if you're a playoff team and he wants to come to you, you find a way to make it work, you find a way to have your roster bend in his direction rather than the other way around. And so, you know, I don't know if it's going to be on Friday. I think it's possible we answer Friday. If not, you know, they play Saturday and San Jose. So, you know, we're we really are at the very end here, I think, in terms of, you know, Patrick Kane having to signal one way or another, which way is going. But, you know, everybody waits. Chicago front office is waiting and all those teams that may or may not be able to make this deal are waiting. Well, you know, Patrick Kane weighs a pretty big decision for him and his family. In terms of, I know we were kind of talking about it with regards to mentioning Vitali Kraftsoft. What exactly does what exactly is the ask for Patrick Kane from the Blackhawks? Well, if I don't they haven't really got around asking yet because they haven't been able to shop them, I think the fact that it's likely to be one team if there's any team at all really hinders what the Blackhawks can get in a trade here. You know, maybe you're talking a second round pick on a prospect. I think that's what from a when we're talking about what makes sense, you know, if it ends up being a team like Dallas, I mean, Dallas has so many for a top team, they've got a really nice prospect pool. You know, I think they'd be willing to give up a second round pick. I think that there's a lot of interest from the stars and to make this happen. But, you know, they can't really go too far down that road until they find out what Patrick Kane wants. But, you know, it wouldn't surprise me if we end up saying this deal doesn't include a first rounder. Just just because it's not a true negotiation, there's not a lot of leveraging that can be done in this case. I mean, some of the teams that might be in these talks, you know, the Rangers, for example, even if it ends up being the Rangers, they now have just their own first round pick. I don't think they want to give that up in 2023. You know, maybe they can be course to give up a future first round or 24 or 24 or 25. But, you know, I'm not sure that Chicago is going to be, you know, having enough leverage to get that yet. So, you know, if the trade goes down here, I think maybe casual fans or people not tuned into the situation might be surprised by the return. You might say, hey, wait, you know, on what world is Terasenko worth more as a rental or, you know, Bo or that. But, you know, I just think the circumstances are a little bit different. In this case, where you have a player really dictating where he goes himself. And so, you know, we'll see where that winds up. But I think something like a second in a prospect is sort of loosely what I've heard. I just don't know that Chicago can even really be going too far down that road until they get an indication for Patrick Kane is willing to be moved. Siege, we have a lot to get to today. We have to talk about Luke Shen Brock Baster is going to come up. Bradshaw living is going to come up amongst some other stuff in our headline segment. Of course, we have to get to sports interaction. So before we move on, is there anything else? Anything else you want to mention about Patrick Kane? Stay tuned. Oh, that's what we call this business. A teaser. Let's get to sports interaction and you can bet that. You can bet that with David Bastol brought to you by sports interaction, getting the action and make a play. 19 plus please play responsibly. Welcome to you can bet that. Remember to hit up sports interaction dot com slash SDPN for all of your gaming needs. We've talked a lot about trades. We're going to talk a lot about trades. Let's talk about Connor Baddard for just a brief moment. Just wanted to refresh everyone on the Connor Baddard sweepstakes. Sports interaction has Chicago as the betting favorite not too far behind though. Anaheim Columbus is in third, Arizona and San Jose round out the top five Vancouver and Montreal the top two Canadian teams both in sixth and seventh. Bastol is in the Connor Baddard sweepstakes. That is according to sports interaction. Siege. How do you think it stacks up? Well, man, I mean, six points for Baddard on Wednesday night. Like this guy is a video game numbers being put up in the Western hockey league. And it's been kind of interesting in the bill hard for Baddard sweepstakes. I mean, Arizona has been hot of late Chicago riding Patrick Kane's heroics has been winning more games. You know, Anaheim actually is recording this has fallen into that final spot. And so, you know, look, we don't know how the lottery balls are going to bounce, but certainly I think there'll be more focus here in the next six weeks about which team ends up with the best odds because that's that's all you can do if you're a franchise at this point in time. And we recognize the players aren't thinking that way that have to play the games, but it's hard to imagine the front offices of these teams. There's scouting departments. You know, amateur scouts aren't watching what Baddard is doing and just hoping and praying he falls into to their orbit because, you know, I think really since the world juniors, he separated himself with how he's performed and the number he's putting up and bad. I mean, this is this is a special talent. And he changes the complexion for any of those seven teams you just mentioned. Philadelphia, St. Louis, Ottawa, Washington, and Detroit round up the rest of the teams who shots at Conner Baddard range from plus 1000 to 2100. So still some teams definitely in the running, but some chances a lot better for the first few teams I mentioned than the others. Remember to hit up Sportsinteraction.com slash SDPN for all the best odds before game in game best props Sportsinteraction.com slash SD PF this episode of the Chris Johnston show is brought to you by athletic greens. I gave a G one to try because I want a better gut health sustained energy, a better immune system. Really just between you and me man, like taking pills and vitamins every single day gets very annoying. I like the idea of just taking a little powder, pulling in my water. You know, we all talk about we talk about mixing in waters here on the CJ show. So why not do that and add in some some a G one while we are at it. It's just again, the idea that like, you know, we can help with sustaining energy, a better immune system, better gut health as well. I like that personally as someone who you know, is trying to try to do a little bit better by my body nowadays. You know what I'm saying? It's good to have that going. All great athletes have one thing in common. They take care of their bodies. I'm not an athlete. I wish I was an athlete, but still, you know, it'd be nice to think of myself as one one day. Never. It doesn't matter because a G one will help you get those vitamins in just like what athletes would try to do. And they have 75 high quality ingredients that give daily nutrients and long term gut health support. It's a micro habit that delivers macro benefits and helps almost everybody take great care of their health. If a comprehensive solution is what you need from your supplement routine, athletic greens is giving you a free one year supply of vitamin D and five free travel packs with your first purchase. Go to athletic greens.com slash Johnston. That's athletic greens.com slash Johnston and check it out a free one year supply of vitamin D and five free travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is go to athletic greens.com slash Johnston. Check it out. A couple nights ago, we noticed the Vancouver Canucks were holding Luke Shen out of the lineup. Thomas Drance from the athletic confirmed that it is in fact for trade related reasons. I think Patrick Johnston of the province as well is saying the same thing. Yeah, then we're trying to figure out where this guy could go. Cheap defenseman could be a teams number six as one those cups and Tampa Bay. Does a reunion to Toronto make sense for Luke Shen? What do you think? Well, for starters, I think Luke Shen himself would like to know where he's going to go. You know, he was he was thought he was going to play in that game in Nashville on Tuesday was approached during the day by Patrick Halloween, the Canucks general manager and informed he wasn't going to play between now and March 3rd, you know, for the trade related reasons. And you know, at that point, he requested to fly back to Vancouver as wife is, you know, in the late stages of a pregnancy. And so if he wasn't going to play, didn't want to stay on the road with the team, you know, waiting for for more clarity there. And you know, so he's now back in Vancouver. I think he doesn't really know what's going to happen. And he's just skating on his own. You know, here's the thing with Shen. I do think he is on the list of places or people that the Leafs have interest in. And really when we look at Toronto's next move after the O'Reilly, a chari deal, I do expect them to try pretty hard here to make an upgrade on their blue line. But you know, it's such a big potential market here for defencemen. I mean, we're seeing new teams like Washington and St. Louis enter the picture in the last week or so with some defencemen on the market. You know, plus you have all the names that we've been talking about for months, whether it's Jake McCabe, Gavrakov. I mean, you go down the list. There's a lot of potential defencemen available out there. I mean, even the Nashville guys is with T.S. at-home, you know, a movable piece. Is that something that could fit for the Leafs? And so I think the Leafs are at a point where they're going to survey the market in this last week and a bit before the deadline and then make a decision. I think Luke Shen is certainly on their radar. He would come at a cost on the cap that they can easily accommodate. You know, the acquisition cost, I think, has scared some teams off. You know, Tampa, for example, was definitely interested in Shen, you know, having won those two cups with them knowing what he's all about and how he fit in. Then I just don't see them giving up a third round pick or maybe even a second round pick to get them. And so, you know, they've backed off. And so, you know, Luke Shen is just the latest guy in limbo. You know, it's amazing these three players with Vladislav, Gavrakov, and Columbus, and Jacob Chiger in Arizona. There's a possibility none of them are moved. I mean, I think it's likely they're going to be moved. But when you hold a player out and now gets into weeks in the multiple weeks in the case of Gavrakov and Chikren without a trade, you know, I think that there's some frustration building up to some degree about, you know, what's going to happen here. You know, I saw Bill Armstrong, the coyote general manager did an interview with Craig Morgan where he acknowledged, you know, maybe they don't move Chikren at all by the deadline. You know, you would think Gavrakov and Shannon move both because their rental players are in a different situation than Chikren. You know, but this rumor deal to Boston for Gavrakov, you just wonder is it going to happen? You know, it's kind of been hanging there on the vine for quite some time now and, you know, it's kind of strange. I think with Shannon, it's quite possible we're not talking until March 2nd or 3rd about where he's going. And, you know, if it gets to that point and the Leafs haven't been able to find something else that makes sense, it would not completely surprise me to see them pull the trigger and, you know, be kind of a bookend story, the former fifth overall pick by Toronto way back when early in my career, the first entry draft I ever went to was in Ottawa in 2008, and Luke Shannon was the fifth overall pick by the Leafs. And so not to make it about me, but I'm just saying it's been that long ago, nearly 900 and whatever games Luke's played. You know, he might find himself back in Toronto, but I do think there's certainly our other contenders keeping tabs there, especially if the price goes down a little bit. I think that's what a lot of teams are waiting for. Who in Toronto is most likely if Luke Shannon were to go to Toronto to use the headline, The Prodigal Son Returns. The son, I would think. They might do more of a punny one, like good Luke or good luck. I don't want to try and think something like, but yeah, look, they would be a story that would be feel good. You know, it makes sense to me to some degree. I know there's a little debate out there. I mean, look, what the Leafs need, like whatever D they get, I'm willing to admit, or I'm willing to sort of batter or wager that it's going to be someone who has a little bit of a physical component to them. I think that that's still something they're missing heading into the playoffs is just a little bit more edge back there. You know, we can look at, you know, how certain players move the puck in this and that, you know, the Leafs have lots of good puck moving defencemen, frankly, that's a strength of their team. I think that there's room to add a little bit of another element, even if, you know, perhaps if it's someone like Luke Shen, you're not even acquiring him with the mind of playing him in every game in the playoffs. I mean, if you look at Tampa's Cup runs, both of them, he was a scratch at times, he played in the big games, he had a fight in a conference final, I believe in the bubble. You know, but would maybe just bring an element that they need. Now, there's other players out there that might do the same. I mean, at home, I mentioned in Nashville, like, that's, that to me is an ideal type of fit for the Leafs. I just don't know how you fit the cap in, right? It's a $6.25 million contract with three more years on it. But I mean, when you're talking about purely trying to replace Jake Muzzin, you know, that that is a player that that ticks all the boxes can play mean, you know, box out in front of the net. I think that's the ideal type of guy. But you know, I just don't know, first of all, they asked from Nashville, from what I heard, might be as much as two first round picks for him, for teams making that call, you know, it's sort of similar to the Jacob Chickens situation. He's under, if teams really like him, I know he's an older player, so that's what's different from Chickering. But you know, you're buying him for multiple years. You know, I just don't see that Toronto could make that work. But let's see, let's see where the price is going the next week. Like this is, we're finally at the point where the real negotiations are mostly going on, right? It's no longer just ask a crazy price and then ask a really put in a really low offer if your team try to buy. Now, now everyone has to start moving in the direction. And so, you know, the Leafs are keeping their cards pretty close to the best. But you know, I do think that they're going to be in the market for a defenceman here and, you know, to answer your original point, I think Shen's on the radar if they can't get something bigger done. Okay, what about his current Canucks teammate Brock Besser? What's the market looking like for him right now? Well, the Canucks are trying to move Besser. And you know, I know that they've maybe made some public remarks to, you know, to the contrary. But behind the scenes, the word I'm getting from other teams is that they've been pretty aggressive in, you know, seeking out a market for him. I think that they, you know, they've made no secret to the fact they're looking to, you know, try to remove some money from their payroll, free up their cap to make other moves, moving forward. And, you know, in Brock Besser's case, I think it's time where he's open to, you know, his own sort of fresh start. It makes so much sense for him to be in Minnesota, except for the fact that while just they're really capstrapped the next two years, that's where they're feeling most of the pain from the buyouts that they executed on Ryan Souter and Zach Priese. So I don't see how that works unless Vancouver's retaining some money or taking some kind of contract back, something to make the dollars and cents match up. But keep an eye on that situation. It's still a possibility, I would say. You know, a few other teams like Besser as well, but you know, just a shade under 7 million. It's a big one to endeavor. So I think the Canucks are going to make a real concerted effort here in the last week of before the deadline to explore those markets and find somewhere for them because I do think that they would like a fresh start for him. He's played well since Rick Tockett took over getting, you know, more favorable minarets playing alongside Patterson in a fair bit and put up some points. And so, you know, there's going to be a push, I think, in this next week to get him moved. But one team I thought maybe not necessarily that they would get him, but I know a couple months ago, the idea had been floated around that potentially that Calgary flames would be in on Brock Besser. I thought I'd seen some reports on that. Obviously just it feels as if with their situation in flocks every day with how this team looks, we don't really know what they're going to be doing at the deadline. Actually, earlier this week, Brad's reliving spoke with a fellow colleague, West Gilbertson of post media and said he hasn't given much thought to moving a first round pick while also mentioning that, you know, hey, we'll have to wait and see with what's going to happen with them at the deadline. What do you think about Brad's reliving comments and what they could be doing at the trade deadline next week? Well, the word I've heard around the flames is just don't expect the buying spree. You know, it's a funny line to walk because obviously they're right on the edges of the playoff picture. At this point in time, I don't see that drastically changing in a positive or negative direction. There's just aren't enough games left between now and March 3rd to really swing it where it looks like they're definitely out of it or definitely in it. And so, you know, you want the playoff gates, any owner in the league does. You know, I think clearly they're built to be a playoff team, even if they haven't performed up to the level everyone expected. I mean, if you get in, you just always hope maybe something will come together, maybe, you know, playoff Nazm cadre takes over or, you know, some of the things that have impeded their success so far as a team, those barriers come down when everyone's pulling the same direction trying to win a Stanley Cup. And so, you know, I think that they will probably add, I would expect that they're going to add it forward at minimum. I could still see them getting a forward and a defense man. I just don't see them, you know, playing in the in the splashy pools. I don't think that they're going to give you a big headline to write about Julian between now and March 3rd, just because the team hasn't really warranted it, right? They don't look like they're one big move away from going on a crazy run. It's not to say it can't happen. I mean, stranger things have happened. Darryl Sutter has coached the team that was the eighth seed in the Western Conference. I want to Stanley Cup. You know, it's it's it's happened before. But, you know, at this point in time, I think that they're still want to get in the playoffs. You know, Brad for living in his front office want to help the team get there with whatever ways they can. Just seems to me they're shopping in the bargain aisle more than the big splash zone at this point in time. Yeah, that's my sense of it. Like we wouldn't surprise me at all if like Brad true living shop for a forward who's like a middle six guy or a bottom six forward and maybe you're able to plug him into that middle second or third line whenever need be because he's been seeking a top nine forward pretty much since training camp. So that pretty much falls in line with what I've I guess what I've either heard or also just my sense of things in talking to him and also just other people around the organization. Anyway, we've gone through the Leafs. We've gone through Besser. We've gone through Brad true living. What about to meet your all off in Washington? This is an interesting one because, you know, Washington for me, like, like if go call up their their their cap situation. They've got one NHL defense been signed next year. It's John Carlson. You know, obviously some some of those players are you know, they have restricted free agents to consider and to possibly extend. But you know, they don't they don't have a lot of guarantees and Dimitri Orlov plays 23 minutes a night for this team. He's been a top pairing defenseman and on top of that, this is not a look ahead to the UFA class. This is not a year where it's going to be easy to get a top end defenseman. I mean, you have players potentially like Orlov, Matt Dumba, you know, John Klingberg, you know, it's it's not a it's not what I would class, you know, Gavrakov will see if he signs an extension if he's dealt. You know, there's there's not a big pool of UFA's. And so if you're Washington, you wonder how do you move on from this guy? But here we are eight days from the deadline. And it does not seem like there's been much progress made towards getting him signed to a contract. You know, it sounds as though they've maybe started at least engaging on, you know, five and six year terms on a potential extension, which, you know, is an improvement because there had been, in my understanding, a pretty big gap in the term the player wanted and what the team was willing to extend until, you know, earlier this week. And so this is this is going to maybe go down to the wire could be a game of chicken, because I think it makes a lot of sense for Washington to retain a player that's had a lot of success there that I think by and large would stay as long as the money and the contract is right. And I see a team that, you know, has Alex Ovechkin wants to remain competitive in the years that Ovechkin has left. And I don't know if it's all going to line up just right. And so in the midst of this, Julian, I, you know, I've started to hear Orlov's name out there and trade chatter, certainly teams are looking at him. You know, the capitals by no means have ruled out trying to sign him and trying to find a way to make this work. But, you know, this is this is one that, you know, with a week left, like, can they even risk, you know, keeping him because, you know, Washington's fallen further and further out of the, you know, they're fading kind of from the wildcard chase in the Eastern Conference. They've had tons of injuries and the like. And, you know, it's a pretty good player at a time when they don't have a lot of security at that position. So, I mean, it's flexibility in their cat pictures and one way to look at it. But it's also, you know, if, if not Orlov, who are they going to, you know, play next year as the, you know, this year has been a disappointment. But I think that there's some mitigating circumstances as to why they are where they are. I think if you're them, you could expect to be healthier next year, you know, maybe make a few moves and refresh things a little bit and come back with hope for next year. But, you know, right now they don't have a lot of certainty on that blue line. And, you know, it's not just Orlov. I mean, they have Nick Jensen, who's a pending UFA who's, you know, someone who's named out on the trade market. They have a Trevor Van Reimsdijk who's a pending UFA. I think that there's a chance to actually keep him. I think there's been some overtures about trying to sign him. Eric Gustafson's, depending on UFA, I think there's been overtures to try to sign him. But they got a lot of moving. They got a lot of balls in there, I guess we'll put it. And none of them are more important than the discussions with Orlov and his camp. You mentioned Trevor Van Reimsdijk. How about his brother James, who plays for the Philadelphia Flyers? What about him? What could be his future destination at the trade deadline, if he moves at all? Well, there's strong interest in them. And I do expect them to move now. I mean, there was a time talking with James and Reimsdijk. I just wondered with a $7 million cap hit and the league being such as it is, would that be a moveable contract? But it sounds like there's five or six teams anyway that are keeping pretty close tabs on them. You know, the Flyers are willing to retain salary in a trade. And so I do think he'll be moved. And you know, one of the interesting things to me is that there's a lot of crossover here with the teams interested in Team Umayar that are, you know, just keeping him as sort of a secondary item that someone they could pivot to if they don't, you know, hit on Meyer, you know, teams like Winnipeg, you know, Carolina, even Vegas, I think has some interest in James Van Reimsdijk. And so, you know, there's that plus, you know, I think Minnesota has looked at him. I wonder about Colorado as well as a potential destination. And so, you know, there was a point this season, I wondered, you know, where he'd be at when we got to the deadline. Well, you know, now it seems that all signs are pointing towards him being moved and potentially to one of the big contenders. I mean, it probably happens after the Meyer Domino falls. You know, it still seems like Team Umayar's future will be determined before we get to March 3rd. I think San Jose will, you know, have figured out, you know, what's going to become of him by then. And then, you know, some of those teams that whoever doesn't get them, whether it's Carolina or New Jersey or Vegas or Winnipeg, you know, those teams are going to have to look elsewhere to try to augment their forward groups if they don't, if they don't land the biggest fish. What about teams ahead of the deadline who have, you know, a lot of cap space available to them? Kind of, I like the term you used in our little rundown before the show called Banker Teams. The obviously a team that comes to mind as a team like Arizona, obviously the trade that they made with Vegas yesterday for Shea Weber, I obviously come into mind with how they're able to use their cap space and take on contracts. And yeah, I know there's a situation they're trying to get to the cap floor. But what about more of these so-called Banker teams? How could they play a role ahead of the deadline? Well, they're popular right now. And you know, depending on what you talk to, it sounds like there's anywhere from three to five of them out there, you know, that have sort of let it be known they're willing to be part of deals as as as needed. And let's face it, look at all the trades that have made all the big name players. You know, some contract was retained. We saw in the case of the Rhino Riley deal, the Toronto Minnesota, you know, was a third party banker in that case and got a fourth round pick for taking on about $75,000 in actual money plus the cap hit for Rhino Riley on his way to Toronto. You know, even the Shea Weber gets his contract out there, Arizona. We see Nikita Zaitev basically get his contract. There's a player attached to a two Delta Chicago as Ottawa clears out space. I mean, you're seeing this as such a trend around a league. And you know, one team I'd say to keep an eye on is I think the Montreal Canadiens, you know, we talked with them in our last episode. I don't know how much selling they're going to be able to do. They're going to try on dad knob. They're going to try on Monahan. We'll see Joel Edmondson. This sounds like there's good injury news on him. Maybe there's still a chance he's moved before the deadline. But you know, whether whatever they do there, I do think that they've they've indicated to teams that, you know, they're willing to be a third party banker as well, if the money lines up and if the situation works. And so, you know, those teams are going to be pretty popular and pretty necessary because all these cap toe teams, whether the range of getting Patrick Kane, you know, with a $10.5 million cap hit at full value or even some of these smaller contracts that are going to move hands in the next eight days, you know, money money is tight, cap room is tight. And you know, some of the teams that are buying or at least can pick up some assets to help make these trades happen. Anything else you want to bring up before we get to stick taps. That's all I got for now. My head is swirling. I'll be honest, I've been on the phone most of the last couple days texting, calling, pestering. And I think I've emptied most of my notebook, at least the stuff I can share on the mic right now. Okay, you can relax. You can lay down and take a breath. No relaxing until March five minutes, buddy. Take them five. No relaxing until March fourth. Okay. All right. Well, sign for stick taps. Anyway, should I go first? Do you want to go first? You should I actually forgot it was Thursday. I didn't even prepare a stick to have. So I'm scrambling. It's okay. It's okay. Like, anyway, for mine, I'm just going to say to the fans at Mullah arena in Arizona. Yesterday I give them a stick to yesterday was the very first time I got to watch a game at the arena. And it was kind of cool. Like, it's clearly like a, you know, like a novelty kind of thing. Like, this is something that we can look back in a few years and be like, Hey, do you remember that time Arizona played in a 5000 seat arena? But like, I enjoyed the experience. Like, it's a very sleek looking arena. There's definitely some quirks to it. Like, I find it really weird that like, if you're doing media availabilities and you're going from the arena into the locker room, you have to like walk down this hallway, then go outside and then go back inside. But like, the media row where you're pretty much on top of the fans, I was worried about it at first. But like, in a really good game, when the pace is going back and forth, just like that Arizona flames game the other night, just getting to kind of be so close to the fans and feel all their emotions like that almost makes it worth it. There's definitely, it's not a perfect arena. There's some things about it that are really weird. But I'm glad I had the experience of going to cover that game because it was cool. I can say I've been to Mala Arena. So, shout out to all the fans, shout out to all the people who enjoyed that flames coyotes game the other night. Well, mark my words. This is one of my hottest takes. But I think in our lifetime, we're going to see Arizona become a destination for NHL players. I think with with a new arena, just catching fire. Jesus with a new arena with the ownership team. They have in place there with all these draft picks that they've stockpiled, you know, at some point leading to a better team with favorable tax situation with the weather. I think it becomes like what we've seen in Tampa. I'm old enough to remember when the lightning were a joke in the league. They were a punchline. They had crappy ownership. At one point, they played in a baseball stadium. They just didn't have a lot of fan support. And now it's it's the creme de la creme of the NHL. Similarly, Nashville was once a punching bag. Now it's a top five stop, you know, as a road city to go visit. I think a lot of players love playing there. I see that in Arizona's future. And I know your jokes. I know what I know the history. I've experienced a lot of that history. I was in the courtroom when they were doing those those, you know, bankruptcy filings back in the day with Jim Balsalie. But anyway, that's that's my hot take. And just a quick one, I will give my stick tap to the Twitter followers of mine who have helped determine my trade center lunch. Julian, I took I took your advice. I put it out to the wheel of the people. We had several thousand people vote in the poll. And it appears that I'm going to have the chicken slu laki on trade center on Friday. So I put my order in with the staff at TSN and I'm looking forward to a good lunch that day and a great deadline day in general. I was hoping for pulled beef with kettle chips. But you know what? The end of the day, it's not my stomach. It's your stomach. Yeah. I mean, pulled beef might be a bit of aggressive too. Because you know, without getting into details, we're kind of like tied into the set for like the whole day. So yeah, you know, you got to you got to choose wisely. Okay, I'll let you get back to your phone siege. Thank you for emptying your your your notebook for all of us on the latest edition of the Chris Johnston show. Please, if you're listening to the show and you're on Twitter or on discord, get your questions in for our Monday show. Because of course, you know, it's ask CJ Monday. So get those in. Just use the hashtag ask CJ and we'll try to get to your question. As so long as CJ is not passed out from fatigue. By that. Oh no, I'm still feeling strong, bud. But it's it's you got a power to the finish. And we'll see maybe there's a bonus weekend episode. We'll see what develops here in the next days. I know you're on the road in Vegas right now following the flames producer next busy. So we'll see if we can pull something together. And if the news warrants, and if not, we'll see you Monday. Hey, I loved my podcast equipment around for a reason. So if we do have a surprise episode, I will be ready for it. Love that. We'll we'll do our best. And we want to we want to give the people all the content they need. For CJ, I'm Julian. So long. And stay tuned. You never know when a bonus episode of the Chris Johnston show might drop onto your Spotify or Apple podcast or wherever you listen to podcast. Faith. The Chris Johnston show. Powered by sports interaction. One of that. Inside the game. Twice a week. Follow Chris on Twitter. At reporter Chris. And follow Julian Mackenzie. At JK Mackenzie. The Chris Johnston show.