Will The Flames Be Buyers At The Deadline? | The Chris Johnston Show | February 16, 2023

Our last episode, we asked the viewers and the listeners if they were to be able to see. If they would be cool with a few more extra shows as we approach the trade deadline. I believe we're about two weeks away. We're not more than two weeks away, are we? We're two weeks in a day, but two weeks in a day. Two week Friday. Yeah, of course you would know that. And that's why I started this episode being very rude and on my phone just because a lot of action on the Google Pixel these days. I never take offense to you being on the phone. You're doing your job. And if it needs to get to break another trade, like I'm down for that. Let it be said, I'm not scrolling the gram or anything. You know, I'm not like with nice. It's, you know, just keeping keeping the lines, keeping them fresh, keeping them hot. Anyway, we are going to have a podcast on Saturday because there's a lot of news and a lot of opportunities for Siege to check his phone and make sure the NHL, you know, the hot stove continues to deliver. So Saturday, we just, we just found out we get paid a premium for working weekends here. Adam Wild, he's got a little shift bonus there for doing the Saturday show. I will put that in my invoice. Yes. Anyway, that's the big news to start off the show Saturday. We will have a podcast. This coming Saturday, we will have a podcast and yeah, we're going to deal with all the trade stuff. We're going to do some trade stuff today, but we are definitely going to make fat our focus. The very first player I want to mention because there's a handful of players players we're going to mention. Patrick Kane, the Hawks were in Toronto last night. A lot of people wanted to hear from Kane after the game. They did not get their wish. But also people are wondering what if Patrick Kane decides to wear? A Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. What if a deal could be consummated between those two teams or just, you know, at this point, does Patrick Kane even want to be traded? CJ, tell us everything we need to know when it comes to Patrick Kane. Well, I think the question needs to be flipped around. Like did the Toronto Maple Leafs want Patrick Kane? Oh, and this is interesting. And look it, I'm not throwing any shade of Patrick Kane. His career speaks for itself. Probably the greatest American player in NHL history. I don't think you have to add probably. Certainly. Certainly squarely in that conversation. If you want to make a case for Mike Badano or maybe I don't know where Brad Hall, he was born in Canada, does he count? Anyway, point is one of the greatest American players ever to play the game. Three times Stanley Cup winner. But he's not having a great year, man. And you know, to see him play these two games this week in Montreal on Tuesday, Toronto on Wednesday, like the magic isn't there. I know that he's personally tried to downplay that the hip issue he's dealing with, but it's hard not to watch him and just wonder, you know, what percentage he's at. We know about his cap hit. I just I just don't see the fit in Toronto. Like, I don't see them doing it. You know, I don't know what he's going to do just yet. But we're days away. Like, I don't think this is going to go on for too much longer before we have an indication if he's willing to be moved or not. And you know, he and his agent, Pat Prasan are targeting early next week, mid next week to, to I think at least be able to give Chicago management and indication of if he would wave and maybe where he would go and then see if they can work something out. But you know, I think we're facing the possibility he doesn't move at all. You know, we'll have to see it's it's we saw the emotion when he spoke last week after the Terasanko deal went down, you know, I wonder if the Rangers can still get involved. You know, I've seen Puckpedia has put out a couple tweets in the last few days sort of detailing, you know, how they could could fit his cap in. So certainly they can do it from a cap perspective. I think there might be a little bit of hope there that maybe the Rangers is still an option for him, but you know, I don't see the Leafs committing whatever cap space they have to Patrick Kane. I'll eat my words, I'll eat my shoe if I'm wrong on this one because that's that's that's more of a feel thing than than specific information. But I I love the idea of it. Like the idea of pairing him and Matthews like it's not a hard sell, right? It could be. I don't know if you remember years ago, one of my favorite games, I went to a lot of games over the years, but they're the game in Chicago where him and Matthews went back and forth at the end of the game. Do you remember that? Like doing this and it was like a wrestling match. Like it would be stuff like that. Well, it was first of all, it was one of the more dramatic regular season games I've ever been to. I think it ended up six five with all kinds of goals at the end and those guys doing that. And I actually went in the Chicago dress room afterwards and asked Kane about it and he was like legit in the moment. Like kind of like he felt like he was being disrespected by the the young star at the time. I was in the sort of the heat of when it just happened. Like I think over time those guys look back on that and they think it's cool now too. But yeah, so I could see the storyline and the big name. I just I don't know if the fits there. Honestly, it just might not be the right time in Kane's career, the right cap number attached to him and might not be right for the Leafs. I mean, they have a pretty good right winger named Mitch Marner who does a lot of what Patrick Kane did in his prime, but he's doing it today. And so I'm not sure that's the element they need either, especially with Kane's health, you know, being a bit of a question. Also if Patrick Kane joins the charming beliefs, the storyline I would care about the most is who gets to wear number 88? Probably Kane, but like that would be really funny. Well, I don't know what Neil Andrew give that up. Like that's a pretty sure I'm pretty sure he wears it in Ode to Kane. Like I think it's Kane was like his guy as a kid. I mean, Kane was Matt who's guy as a kid too. Like that's it would be kind of cool. Like if you're into sort of the storytelling and the romance of sports, like, like I again, I don't want to be the one with poor cold water here, but I'm just looking at the cold light of day. He's not. I just don't know if he's the difference maker he once was. And again, he might just be limited by his health. Like he had 90 plus point season last year. So it's not it's not like he's totally washed necessarily, but you know, I just don't doesn't feel like this is lining up for for this year. Anyway, maybe maybe he gets healthy, you know, maybe as a free agent. I don't know. I don't know how it's going to go. And there's still no clear indication he wants to leave Chicago either. So I guess we'll see how this develops. But right at this point in time, I think it's not very likely that we see Patrick Kane in a leaf sweater this season. I wonder with his hip, I wonder with the fact that the team that he's on is is very bad if that plays into his motivations because I was making this point on another podcast earlier this week, like the idea, even if he is a little past his prime, like the idea that arguably the greatest American born player is available for could be available for trade. Like that should be a much bigger deal. I get that like Timo Meyer is probably the top prize ahead of the deadline. I get that when Bo Horvat was available, we hyped him up too. But like it's kind of it's just kind of funny that like Patrick Kane has been kind of kind of brought back in terms of the status of players who are available as kind of like sort of a bit of an afterthought. That's just just how I feel about it as somebody who obviously, you know, cares about the deadline and cares about the stories attached to it. But like maybe it was a little bit healthier. Like I think people would be a little, I think, I think fans and I think people would be a little bit more excited about the idea that like, oh, whoa, like a team could try to go for Patrick Kane. Like we talk about trying to drive up excited for the league all the time. Like this is, this is something we would, we would be hyping up more. But like, you know, the injuries, the lack of forecheck is defensive metrics. Like that takes from it. Well, let's imagine a world where he came through Montreal and Toronto and back to back nights and put up like three points at each game. And it's two weeks out from the deadline. And obviously this part of the world, there's a lot of hockey voices and there'd be hype around that like that. It could be totally different. Absolutely. But there is this feeling even from other teams, like other people I speak to another front offices, they're just this notion he's not healthy. And so I recognize for him, he's going to have to satisfy likely if he does wave as no move clause and decide to go somewhere, you know, he's going to have to prove that health or give the team his word. You know, an interesting note actually, I didn't know this of all things, but NHL trades by and large are not subject to a physical. So just in talking with someone in a front office this week, he's explaining that on the trade call, typically the league will say like, is this player healthy? And you know, the assistant GM or the GM whoever's doing the call say yes, and it's kind of at your word. But just because of the logistics of being in season, like there's not an ability to have players do an independent medical review, you know, before announcing a trade. So it's kind of interesting because we saw it in the baseball off season, right? Was it Korea ends up signing for three teams as a free agent? It was Korea went through that Gary Payton the second. Yeah, like weird thing in the NBA too. Right. But in the NHL, it's a bit more of like, you know, you have to give your word on a player. But you know, and teams are reluctant to share the medical file of a player before they've traded them because they might not trade them to that team. And then all of a sudden that team and sort of the marketplace has access to the file and there might be other things going on. So anyway, that's a bit of an aside, but it's just kind of it's relevant, I think, in the cane situation, it's relevant in the Jacob Chickern situation, just given how much injury history Chickern has. And I think honestly, if he hadn't have had the injuries he's had in his career, I'm talking about Chickern now, this deal would have been done a year ago. Like I think there's that's part of what's held this up. I mean, part of it, of course, is the Coyotes have not, you know, moved off a high-ask forum, but it's also that there's concern about, you know, his durability and if you make a big trade for him, like, is he going to be able to play 70 games or is it going to be 40, you know, in a season? So, you know, health does play a factor to deadline too. And so, yeah, I don't know. I got a bad feeling with the cane thing. I don't want to make any. I'll tell you this, when he was upset after the Rangers deal didn't go down, that actually made me start to get like, okay, this guy wants to play. Like this guy wants, he wants the magic, right? He wants one more crack at this. But, you know, I'm not so sure now where his head's at. You know, hopefully we'll get some clarity there. I love the answer, by the way, I don't know if you heard Austin Matthews has asked about cane, you know, before the game in Toronto. And was saying like, you know, he said, yeah, it would be weird to see him in another TV sweater, but he's like, it's also been weird not to see him in the playoffs. So, you know, because it's been a long time. I mean, I know that Chicago made it into the bubble playoffs. Let's just discount that because it's not the same thing. It's just, it's been a long, long time since we've seen these top players of, you know, Chicago get a real chance to win anything. And so, almost selfishly, you kind of like to see both he and Jonathan Taves back, you know, back playing in those big games, but I'm not sure the stars are lining for it. Not sure either. We'll have to wait and see two weeks in a day until the trade deadline. We'll have more updates as we go on with the show. But first, it's time for you to bet that. You can bet that with David Bastol brought to you by sports interaction, get in the action and make a play. 19 plus please play responsibly. Welcome to another edition of you can bet that with David Bastol. Remember hip sports interaction dot com slash SDPN for all of your gaming needs. DB was going down. Not much. So much. Let's talk some trade deadline because I know you guys are all over it and we're about two weeks away from it. We almost forgot that was happening. Yeah. Yeah. You have all people right. Yeah. You have all people. Yeah. Yeah. For the deadline, you are able to make some picks on where some of the bigger names who could be moved ahead the deadline could go. Let's start with a name on a lot of people's minds right now. Well, both names we're going to get to on everyone's minds right now. But let's start with Jacob Chikord. Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's funny because I threw this name out there just because, and you know, CJ's been talking about this for the last little while too, about how the coyotes have actually been holding them out of the game and have told everybody about it that he's not playing because he's being traded, which we really haven't heard too much of in past in past times. There's been times where it's like, yeah, we kind of nudge, nudge, wink, wink, know that this guy is going to be held up. But two weeks in advance. That's that's a lot of time guys. So right now, sports interaction is deeming the Los Angeles Kings as the favorites to land chikron. The Bruins are in that conversation. The flames are in that conversation. But according to the number of CJ, the Kings are the team. I don't know if you agree or disagree with that one. Well, I agree that they should be the favorite. But what's interesting, as you mentioned, the fact he's now what five, six days into being held out, it tells you there's not a deal yet. And you know, that that's, you know, a lot of people we saw last Saturday night when he, you know, he's out for trade related reasons. The coyotes pen that one too. That's a new term that they've they've they've trademarked. You know, you you expect almost a trade is going to happen right away. But so this is a bit of a jump ball for me. And so it's interesting that there's other teams there because I really can't tell you where this one's going to go. I'm not that I know for sure anywhere else, but sure, typically you have a strong inclination or indication, you know, where a player might end up. Chickering. I mean, he's been available for so long. The Kings have had consistent interest, but you know, maybe someone else swoops in and gets them. So we go from Jacob Chickering to Timo Meyer DB. What does he have? You know what? I threw this name in there because it's most lists number one player. 30 goal score has that year that option next year and so forth. And and the devil seem to be the favorites here at Sports interaction. You can put in the conversation, the hurricanes, even the jets are drawing some interest as well, just because there are some connections with the jets team. Like I'm I'm hoping this happens personally because I'd love to see Eelers and Meyer back together again. But the Leafs are in the conversation. The night seemed to be on and everything as you know, CJ. But I'm guessing I'm guessing the price possession of this year's trade deadline could be Timo Meyer. Absolutely. You know, I think just because he's not a rental player, I mean, much like Jacob Chickering and, you know, the season he's having and the fact that all, you know, the teams you're mentioning here, they all make sense because they're all teams trying to win a Stanley Cup right now. And it's not it's not every season that the contenders can add this kind of piece. You know, some some unique circumstances have made him available and I think all those teams should be in on them quite frankly. And this is this is a real difference maker, right? I mean, no, and with respect to the other players that are moved to the deadline often, it's kind of window dressing. I think this fundamentally can shift the team getting Timo Meyer. DB, how do you think the jets could handle that $10 million qualifying offer from a Timo Meyer? Well, that's that's an issue. They do have some money under the cap, as you guys know, and there's a lot of talk that excuse me, Pierre Luke Dubois may not be there next year. So it's it lifts a little off the book. It almost it almost makes sense from, you know, and I know he's not a center iceman, which would be ideal for the jets. One comes in one comes out, but if Dubois leaves, they they come to some sort of an agreement. I'd like to see term more than just that one here kind of thing. Like if it's a if it's a five times eight or something of that nature, five times nine and then keep them in the fold. So many Elers, as you guys know, in the in the queue made magic and I don't have to tell you both of those players are still making magic in the NHL and put them at this level. CJ said it bang on to 26 years old. This guy, this guy here has like eight years ahead of him, maybe a little bit more depending on conditioning and all that kind of thing that happens in the mid 30s. But man, this would this is a showcase piece and that's why you see a lot of people interested and it's going to cost you a lot. But you know what? Is it going to be worth the price time? We'll tell. I will tell indeed and that concludes the inaugural edition of Jets Corner with David Bastol and of course, next week. Yes. And also for you can bet that don't forget to check out sports interaction dot com slash SDP and for all the best odds before game in game, best props against sports interaction dot com slash SDP and we'll talk again soon. Maybe be well. I'm pretty pumped. I mean, it's sort of like a day. I think when you finally get there, it's just like you enjoy it. You know what I mean? There's sort of some anxiety in the build up. I'm getting a little better at that, getting older and not putting as much pressure on myself and just realizing you just do what you do and I don't know, they keep having me back. So it's been all right. I think I did seven or eight trade deadlines at Sportsnet and now this will be my second at TSN. So plus all the July 1st shows, which are kind of the same thing and little different feel on July 1st because you know, vacation starting on the other side of it and it's just not as stressful. You know, quite honestly, we do typically have a handle on where everyone's going to suck. Not everyone, but a lot of the deals are sort of you kind of have a feeling where it's going, whereas you know, sometimes with the trade day, you know, stuff comes out of left field. Do you know how close it is though? I literally just got this email like this is real time from TSN. They're so organized there with with my options for food. Like we have to send it. So for breakfast, there's four options. Breakfast sandwich, home fries and juice, a big breakfast with juice. I'm not sure what's in that. Pancakes with sausage and juice or the slightly healthier option of muffin yogurt parfait, fruit cup and juice. So you get juice with all of these. What if you don't like juice? Well, you don't have to drink it. I guess you just I guess. But keep in mind there's coffee and water there all the time. Yeah. And then lunch. So I'll probably go breakfast sandwich. I feel like you can't really go wrong with a breakfast sandwich. Yeah. I'm going to be going into the studio. So the Leafs play the night before actually in Calgary. And that's a TSN broadcast. So that game probably doesn't start. I'm just going to guess it till nine or nine 30 Eastern time. I could pull up the time right now. So seven PM my time. Yeah. So nine PM Eastern. Correct. So me, Pierre Lebron and Darren Dragger will be in studio for that game just obviously to do hits of anything breaks or what have you. And then so it's a fairly late night. And then I think we're probably back at like six 30 or something the next morning. So I'm going to my point is I'm going to be ready for breakfast hedge. I'm not complaining about that. It's just a fact. I mean, do you know what's really hardcore? My my buddy Mark Masters who works for TSN is going to the game in Calgary. So he's physically on the road there. I think he's flying out at 11 that night. He might not be able to see the end of the game to get to Vancouver so that he can do hits at like five 30 Vancouver time the next morning. So why they have him doing Vancouver hits? What about that's where the Leafs will be at that time. Right. Makes sense. And so it just I'm just saying like there's lots of people that aren't sleeping much those days. That's that's that's my point. I'm you know, Mark Masters. No one works harder than that guy. Yeah, that's true. I've heard a lot about that guy. Yeah. So I'm just saying a breakfast sandwich, you know, I'm going to need a little comfort food is all I'm saying at that moment, I think. And then give us give it give us every picture going to make. Well, and then so the lunch options, you got the pulled beef with kettle chips and coleslaw. Oh, the chicken souvlaki bowl. Yes, the lemon tahini falafel bowl. A Buffalo ranch wrap with either fries or salad. Or you can just get a salad with chicken. This is a boring last option, probably healthier, but like a boring last option. I love that they both times they just put the like the boring healthy option at the bottom. It's like, you know, we know one of you, you know, a few of my colleagues are probably health conscious, but someone's going to do it. Someone has to do it. I mean, let's shoot. We got like some former players. We got I can't even say who's coming on. I don't think yet. I'm not sure it's been announced, but we got we got some we got some good talent in studio. Put it that way. It should be fun. Are we going to have llamas or we're going to have all packas? Is the the the shirt gun coming back? I would imagine some version of that stuff is happening, but you got to get involved in one of those skits this year, man. Last year I was I was I was watching the broadcast and I want I was waiting to see if we're going to be in any of those like, trainee bunch sketches, like, please put yourself in one of them. Boy, I don't get I don't get say on that. Make yourself look like a fool for what you remember. Last year we did like the football like Chris Johnson, Ryerson University or whatever. Yeah, like we did like the football headshot thing. Come on, man. I want you to be more of a central character this year. We were two years into this podcast. You know that I do not take myself too seriously. I would thank God. I would I would do any of those things. Anyway, we're way off. We're way off the mark here, but no, we're talking about trade center. I don't know. That's part of it. I don't know what my lunch option is. Maybe the pulled beef. I don't know. I've got a week. I got a week to submit this so I can think about my choice for a week before sending it in. You should let the you should let the audience pick your pick your bills, like crowdsource each of the options like put them out there and let people pick. You should you should do it. What would what would you do if you were. I will crowd I will crowdsource the lunch. I'm I'm all in the breakfast sandwich. Like I'm already excited for the breakfast sandwich two weeks and one day out. Okay. At the very least lunch like like list out the options and then have people the comments be like, Hey, great idea. I'm going to do a Twitter poll. Yes. Do that. Do that. Let's do that. You don't go anger anyone at TSN by revealing our lunch options or no. Who cares? You didn't say like, yeah, no, not a state secret. Like it's not like I came on this pod and just told you everyone is going to be part of the show because I can't do that yet. Look, I know Bell. I'm a former Bell media employee. I get it. A lot of people don't like Bell. They don't think they're so bad that they would get mad at you for revealing what you want for lunch. No, and they've been great to me. And I'm not just saying that. They've been I loved working there and I'm actually pumped for Trade Center. Like it's it's a fun day. As I say, sometimes it's this buildup point like like yesterday for whatever reason I kind of hit my breaking point a little bit. I just, Oh, really? Not like nothing bad. I'm sorry. This is a cry for helper. I think it's just more like I just got to point is just like so much so many radio hits so much. You know, it's it's a lot. But now I'm even today. I'm already like, okay, two weeks. I can do this. Charge to the finish. Well, well, well, it just at the very least like, you know, we're here for you, buddy. I hope you know that. Oh, yeah, of course. It's just sort of like it's it's it's an exercise in patience kind of because, you know, everyone wants like it's what you're going to ask me after this. We move on from this part of the segment. You're going to say like who's just going to wear and what's at like it's it's you're trying to figure it all out. But sometimes the truth is you're just not going to know for two weeks. Well, we have to at least act like we know what we're talking about. Wow, we do do a certain degree, but there's there's mystery out there, right? And the truth is, you know, we might think this player is going to some team, but then there could be an offer we don't see coming. There could still be an injury, right? There could still be something that changes a team's circumstances that that maybe a team that isn't on the radar for some of these top players, all of a sudden has more cap space. I mean, that's what happened in Vegas with the Mark Stone injury. Certainly don't wish that on any players or organizations, but that kind of thing can come up in the next two weeks. And then all of a sudden we got all these players being held out for trade related reasons. Like these guys just going to sit for two weeks. I don't know how that's going to go. Imagine if San Jose starts doing that with T. Bobire because we already have a flatislav gaffricov and Columbus doing it. Jacob Chikrin, obviously everyone knows that. Well, how long until San Jose does it? Right. Or you have other players too, like James Van Reem's. Just all these veteran players on teams that are kind of playing games that don't matter a lot in the standings for them. These players are big assets, especially the guys near the top of the trade boards. They're going to get decent returns by and large. I wonder about the cane return. It's one thing we didn't touch on in the opening, but I don't know that Chicago is in a position, even as big a name as he is and all that sort of stuff. His actual salary is quite low too, so that actually makes it palatable. But I just wonder if with him basically controlling where he goes, if he gives him one place and there's no real bidding, I wonder if the return on him will be much lower than what you'd expect. Like I could sound strange, but I could see the return on him being lower than the Terasenko return just because St. Louis could have traded Terasenko. I mean, he had no trade clause, but I think there was more teams he was probably willing to go to, and so there's more of a market there. It's an interesting dynamic. I'll put it that way with the Cane and Taves. Because of what they mean to that franchise, because of their cap hits, because of their no-moment clauses, it's not a true bidding war. We didn't even really touch off on... We didn't at all with Jonathan Taves in the opening segment, who his name, I mean, once about a time, he may have been the best forward in the game. And that's another name that's seriously quiet, right? Obviously the production's not there, but two of the best players in the last decade. And I don't want to say they're washed, but they're available and they're obviously not the primary names to care about. Well, and they both... Do they just want to be career Blackhawks? I mean, it could be in their mind. They've had so much success. I mean, they're going to put statues of those guys out front of the United Center, as well they should. They've completely changed the face of a franchise. One three Stanley Cups together, came into the league together. Like, they're sort of inextricably linked. And here they are sort of at what appears to be the end of the road. I mean, who knows? Maybe Patrick King gets healthy and plays three or four more years. That guy seems to love the game. I don't see any reason why that couldn't. As long as health is there, I can't see him going away. I don't know where Taves is at. He hasn't been with the team for the last week. He hasn't played. He hasn't played. He said a non-COVID related illness. He's on IR right now. I don't know where his mind's at. And remember, he already sat out one full season. So I don't know how much gas is left in the tank. I mean, we had DV on. Wouldn't he look good and win a bag? His hometown? Wouldn't that be... That was a great cycle with DV. If we're into the romance stuff, like the Kane and Matthew's idea, what about... John and Taves playing playoff games and Winnipeg? I don't think it's going to happen, but if we wanted to dream up kind of a fairy tale ending, there's one. I wonder about Colorado's certainly had some interest in Taves. Is that a place he'd wave for? I don't know. But we're going to know within days. I don't think this goes on. I doubt we're doing the pod the day before the deadline. We're still saying, what's going to happen with these guys? I think it's going to be clear one way or the other. What direction they're going. What about with Tebo Meyer? Is he a guy who we are probably going to wait until the very end for? Where do you see that going? I think it's going to be done sooner, actually. There's a fair amount of interest in him. This is a dynamic I haven't seen many people talking about, but you have two of the best teams in the Metro Division, Carolina and New Jersey, as I would say the teams with principal interests that have the assets able to make that kind of deal work. Of course, Toronto is there with interest. I've heard some notion that Vegas might be around this situation too. Those teams are highly incentivized not only to add them to their current team, but to not see them go to the Division rival. Keep in mind, the Metro is all of a sudden pretty spicy because you've got Terasenko with the Rangers now. That's a hotly competed for Division. I think that probably gets done sooner. I know there's a little bit of frustration. We're in the stages where these GMs are speaking to Mike Greer almost on a daily basis, and you're grinding over details. I guess there's a world that goes on and on and on. I think there's enough interest to suggest that that deal gets done maybe even soon, like not going right to the March 3rd deadline. I wonder the same about Chikron. Someone who works in other front office was telling me, he thinks the mire and Chikron situations are holding up the rest of the league because obviously any of these top teams say that once a team umire, well, if they don't get them, they get to pivot and go for maybe some lesser lights on the market, similar on the D-End of things. If we get trades with Friday, those players, it might break open the dam and James Duffy will be crying in his sleep because all of a sudden, you're getting to it. Again, there's just the possibility. I know we started this sort of thing every year, but there is a possibility a lot of the big action has happened before March 3rd. You already have players, Chikron and Gavrakob are both on the top 10. I think of any trade list you might see out there, whether it's the one I do at Northstar Bats or TSN's trade bait or Frank's their Valleys list, the daily face off. Those are already two of the top 10 players. Yeah, but it has one too. Sorry, I'm not purposely excluding anyone. All I'm saying is I bet if you go look at any of those lists, these are both top 10 pieces on any of one's list and they're already not playing games two weeks out. As I already said, mire probably is on top of all those lists. I know the top of my big board at Northstar Bats right now. He can move early. We've already had Horvat move. We've already had Terasenko move. Those guys were top 10 top five on those lists. So yeah, the dominoes are falling a little bit too early for those that have 10 hours of live TV booked on March 3rd. But at least we're going to have good snacks and good food. But at the very least with Gavrakob and Chikron, them being held out for games for trade related reasons, at least for a week. We should be inclined. I mean, you're saying mire should be soon. Like, Chikron and Gavrakob should be sooner than mire, if anything, right? Oh no, I mean, this is- Who knows? Well, you would think, yes. But like the Chikron situation has gone on so long. How do we- Yeah. Were we even handicapping it at this point? You know, it sounded like there was a deal that was pretty close with LA and it didn't happen again. I was told as of Wednesday, we're recording this Thursday morning, that there just was nothing there. It's not- Again, they're not just pushing this across the line. And then, you know, there's obviously other teams that are hanging around to see what they might do. I do think there's legitimate interest from LA's end in Vomelka as well. And so that's- If that happens where they were getting Chikron and Vomelka, you know, we're looking at probably at a pretty large deal with moving pieces. So that might take some time. So I could see that dragging on. You know, Gavricov, the question for me is, is anyone really going to step up and pay those prices for a rental? I'm not saying they won't. You know, I know there's a lot of teams that like him. It's a lot to wrap your mind around for, you know, second-bearing defensemen who's probably walking away at the end of the season. You know, it would be a bold call by whichever team ends up doing that if they do. And then so who knows? Maybe Meyer- The Meyer-Domenal might drop before those two D. I don't think it's impossible. Trying to find the- Trying to remember the specific return that's been out there for her Vadislava, Gavricov. I reported Tuesday on insider trading at first a third and a fourth as the ask. Like that's so much. It's so much. No, I'm glad. But like that's a lot. It's- Look, the market is driven by demand. How many players are like him? Like there's not a lot of him out there. And I just think there are contending teams. Look, obviously no one stepped up to pay it or I think the deal would be done today. So maybe it's a grind down. Maybe it ends up being a first and a third. Like you get one of the picks shaved off. You know, obviously I think a first, a third and a fourth is getting him with 50% retention. So one of those picks is probably attached to the fact that they're keeping salary back. Let's see what happens, bud. This is- I mean, it's like if you've ever negotiated on everything, you got to ask for a lot. If they don't ask for a first, a third and a fourth, they're never getting a first, a third and a fourth. That's fair. Any other things we should keep in mind with regards to anyone who could be available for trade, anyone else that- any other nugget in your head that you want to let the people know? There's nothing right now, but I'm excited that we're back on Saturday because everything moves so fast. This is like the funny thing. Like every day you wake up and I don't know where the stories are going to go kind of thing or like where the conversations are going to go. Like there's a lot out there now and you know, it's getting fun. Honestly, this last week has been pretty fun. I said, I acknowledge that I hit a bit of a breaking point on Wednesday night, but other than that, it's just there's a lot more talk and the market- the deadline does force movement, right? It forces decisions. Like six or seven weeks ago when you're asking people what their plans are, it's like, wow, we got to wait, we got to see now. It's like, okay, now we got to actually make decisions. I'm curious to see what's going to happen in Calgary, Julian. I think that it's an intriguing- You and me both. You and me both. Like, I think the biggest thing about the deadline, like my sense is that the front office is not sold that they should be giving up assets to be big buyers right now. Like I think there's a lot of questions, concern, whatever you want to call it about the team. Like whether it's just smart to do that or, you know, look at Nashville. They're in a similar spot. I mean, even worse, I'd say given that there's some distance between them in the playoff spot, I don't necessarily think they're selling, but maybe they just punt on this year, you know what I mean? And regroup, I think Washington is another team that they would like a D, but is it worth it? They've had terrible injury luck this year. So there's a lot of teams that are now going to be forced to make decisions in which way they fall or which side of the ledger they end up on could help move the market too. I haven't really intrigued, especially in Calgary, obviously, as someone who was in that market. Like I've been thinking like, okay, they probably don't offload the massive assets to get like a high end player that's available at the deadline, but I just don't see them not doing anything. Right? Like I get it. Like you don't want to sacrifice assets at the same time. Like if you're right there, like in the periphery of the playoff picture and your goal is to make the playoffs, like do you not at least try to make like a small move? Do you? I mean, I know, yeah, like you try to get a player who maybe isn't necessarily a top six guy, maybe he's a top nine guy. You push him in that top six role, like something. The debate is how big is the font going to be on the announcement? Like, is it like are we talking? Like are we talking one of like the real headliners like flames get this guy or is it going to be more like, well, flames made a minor move depth? I think it'll be more closer to that. Right. And it probably should be. Honestly, like that team is just not played well enough to to justify pushing more chips in. I don't think I know it's hard to put your mind around because, you know, we talked about it even before the season began, right? Like we had this idea that maybe they're it's going to be a tougher regular season and they're more playoff ready. Like I think that's what you're really gauging. It's not just looking at the standings. I think it's like where we write about these players is having, you know, cadre in the lineup. I know it's been a really tough year for Hubertow, but maybe like there's some element there that when it flips back to zero and if they make the playoffs, like can they can they have a run in them? Like that's entirely possible. I think that that's what you got to gauge if you're Brad tree living. It's not so much. They need to be at this specific spot in the standings. It's more like do you believe in the group? And also to that point, like if if you're thinking about it from that point, do you is it wise to just let them be and they just like, all right, we'll see what it is. Do you not at least give them something to, you know, go, okay, let's see if they figure it out. You make this edition that could help, right? Like, I don't know. It's a very this one. You make the situation for to you. Yeah, they don't. I don't think they know either. I don't think they know either. They don't. I mean, and that's that's the issue. And so like that's fascinating because for them, they're maybe don't like that that that lights in two weeks because two weeks, I know the schedule is busy. They're going to see, you know, whatever, five, six more games, but it's not that much time before you're you got to make some some big calls. And that's, you know, that's, that's the pressure on every jam right now is there's big decisions and it's not always a clear answer. What the best path forward is, by the way, they played Detroit tonight. They play the New York Rangers again on Saturday. Next week, they're on a three game road trip in Arizona, Vegas, and then Colorado. And then in the days before the deadline, the two games they have before, Boston and Toronto. And their first game out is against out of that deadline is against Minnesota. So like, I think it's less of like, Oh, no, the trade deadlines in two weeks is, Oh, no, we have all these tough teams to go up and play against in the two weeks that could either push them out or we really see what the flames are made of. That's great, though, in a way, like you couldn't ask for better if you're Brad true leaving because you really get to see them tested against teams that you potentially you're going to have to go through in the playoffs, whether it's a Colorado or Vegas. You're going to see how they react in those environments with, you know, like clearly there's a lot on a line too, like this is in October anymore. Like we're, we're seeing some pretty competitive games around the league right now. And so yeah, anyway, we didn't have the flames, but I do think that they're one of the teams for me that it's like, which way does it go? And as I said, Nashville is kind of intriguing to me. Washington the same, like those teams that half in half out, like which, which, which direction do they go? And then, you know, we'll see what the bossons can do. I mean, if you're Boston, like, what are you? How do you get a chicken? Big man. If you get a chicken chicken this year or some other high impact player, like, what are we doing? Well, they still got to still got to play the games. But yeah, it's it would be hard to see them being the underdog heading into any series. It's already going to be hard. If they don't make one edition, you know, they're still going to be they're going to be the favorite in whoever they play in the wild card seedings. Then you know, let's assume they win that they're going to play their Toronto or Tampa, like they're probably the favorite again. Yeah. What a what a J word they are. Didn't quite say it though. CJ. CJ. Let's wrap this up before I get myself in trouble. Stick taps time for stick taps. Want a bet? Then get in on the action at sports interaction. Whatever your sports sports interaction has you covered that pregame in game on one of our many unique prop bets at the sports interaction dot com slash SDPN or in Ontario, download the app now by using the QR code at the bottom of the screen. Nineteen and over. Please play responsibly. Do you have a stick tap? I do. I'm going to add a new wrinkle just for this week and I'm going to give a hockey hug. Not a stick tap. Alex Olvechkin, you know, terrible news this week that he lost his father. You know, there's something beautiful about our sport that like no one plays it by accident, right? You need someone there to put on your equipment or tie up your skates when you're young and usually for many years. And so one of my favorite times if you permit this sort of roundabout way I'm getting to this is the night that the cup is one and you're on the ice and you're there with the families and seeing all the emotion that spills out. And I think, you know, obviously anyone who has any success in life usually does so with the backing of strong mentors or parents. But you really see, I think there's something unique in hockey that there's a lot of close bonds there. And obviously Alex had that with his father, Mikhail was a huge part of his life. You know, kind of full circle. Erie almost just seeing him having his own son, Sergei, at the all star weekend. And you know, the news this week that he's lost his dad is difficult. So I just want to give him a hockey hug. You know, obviously a lot of people in the sport are thinking about him and, you know, losing a parent at any age is difficult. And I think especially one that had such an impact on his life and his career. Oh, yeah, I think that's very well said and it's just, yeah, my condolences to Alexander of Etc. And his family going through this tough time. I guess for my stick top, this is a little bit more recent. I just saw you do retweet as we were doing the show and I'm honestly, I'm trying to just make sure I have this all right as well. But a long time NHL assistant and one of the few people of color behind an HL bench at Paul Gerard has passed away, unfortunately, after a battle of battle with cancer. So I extend a hockey hug to his family as well. This is this is literally just coming from from the team he was with with the University of Nebraska Omaha hockey program just making the announcement. But yeah, we we've seen only a handful of black coaches behind a bench, whether it's a Fred Brathwaite, a award with what he's been doing in the HL as well. French John Tampa Bay as well. And Paul Gerard, who spent some time he was with the Calgary Flames actually as an assistant once upon a time, is also coaching for a handful of teams. So I just want to express my condolences to his family after this sudden loss. This is a bit of a bit of a sad way to end the podcast, but yeah, it's really important that we were able to acknowledge that. Yeah, gone far too soon, man, 56. Just just not fair. So it's too bad. Absolutely. That's going to do it for our show today. We will be back on Saturday with a podcast. I don't know if we're going to do we might just keep asking CJ for Monday. That being said, if you want to get your questions in by all means, please do so. Whether I'm Discord, whether on Twitter, I'm at JK McKenzie, Chris is that reported Chris, get those questions in just make sure you use the hashtag ask CJ. On Saturday, trade stuff, more trade stuff. Look, look, and you spend your week on this. Spader, we come to the podcast. You know what you signed up for. You're getting trade stuff, especially from one big siege. Carve out a nice little walk. Maybe we'll do a quicker show and a half hour walk. Come spend some time with us and yeah, I'm pumped. We'll probably do an extra show the next couple of weeks. I mean, this is this is the time of year. We got to strike well the iron's hot. I know everyone's busy, but we'll strike with the iron's hot mix in a water while you can for CJ. I'm Julian saying so long. The Chris Johnson show. Howard by sports interaction. One of that inside the game twice a week. Follow Chris on Twitter at reporter Chris and follow Julian McKenzie at JK McKenzie. The Chris Justin show. You