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Candid Frank Live Maple Leaf & Canadian NHL Team Talk
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Apr 9, 2025
Candid Frank Stanisci and Aaron William Freeland talk about the Toronto Maple Leafs and the other Canadian Teams in the National Hockey League. The players, the lines, the Coaches, the GM and the fans are all included in the topic of discussion. Is this the year a Canadian Team will not just make it the Stanley Cup but win it?
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0:00
ah there we go yeah hi everyone hey and welcome to the candid frank live maple leaf talk show
0:08
uh we talk about the canadian teams in the national hockey as well as we concentrate on
0:12
the maple leaves of course if you'd like to see or or you enjoy what you watch you can always join
0:17
us uh and subscribe at uh youtube channel candid frank's the issue 10 30 and of course he's with
0:22
emily in freeland you can find him on facebook uh you have a twitter handle too but it's it's uh
0:28
Are you still, give me the Twitter handle. I never asked you about it
0:33
Yeah, no, of course. My Twitter handle is actually at L underscore Meathead
0:41
So that is where to find me. It's an old holdover. It's been around for a while
0:46
It's capital E-L underscore, capital M-E-A-T-H-E-A-D. You can also find me as L Meathead on threads.net
0:57
and on Blue Sky. So I am on all three of those
1:02
I am also on Twitch. So you can find me there as well
1:07
if you're truly interested. But yeah, we are everywhere and nowhere all at once
1:15
Is that it? Yeah. That's it? Wait for a couple more there, buddy
1:23
Yeah, you know what? um there there is something to be said for the internet um i guess you know we joke sometimes
1:33
about the fact that you know being a leaf fan means this sometimes you can't say you're sorry
1:39
or you don't want to say you're sorry or you feel like you should say sorry uh right now
1:45
the leafs have been literally literally hot and cold for periods of time and they've they've gone
1:54
like three games losing, three games winning. The unfortunate thing about it is with that
2:01
they're kind of hovering in the standings, which means the other teams in the Atlantic Division
2:09
Detroit, Ottawa, I'm not going to, I guess Detroit and Ottawa are pretty much the two teams
2:17
that have been really improving. Tampa, Boston, Montreal, they're hovering in the wrong zone
2:30
have been hovering like the Leafs have, right, for the most part. They're pretty much where they've been
2:36
And there's a dangerous situation for all those teams. They're all, to my count, there's six teams in the Atlantic Division
2:45
maybe seven if Montreal cleans up its act, that could actually be truly fighting for the five spots max that they can get
2:55
Max because if anybody in the Metropolitan Division, if they play really well, that'll be another Atlantic team that won't be in
3:08
And we've got right now the two wild cards are from the Atlantic Division
3:15
And the Leafs have been in the Lightning Division. It's a rather interesting situation to find yourselves in
3:20
Ottawa has been 7-3-0 in their past 10. Detroit has been 7-2-1
3:26
Tampa Bay has won their last game, but they've been sliding lately. Detroit's on a seven-game win streak
3:31
So, you know, take that with a grain of salt. But, you know, they're currently sitting in the number one wildcard spot
3:37
right in front of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Buffalo has won four in a row, but they're way down the stand with 49 points
3:47
The Flyers and the Penguins are both 4-5-1. The Habs have been distressing lately
3:54
They just managed to win a game to break their, I think it was a four-game losing streak
3:59
It's not been a rosy picture, for sure. For some, it's been very good
4:08
Ottawa is finally becoming the team that you and I both know they could be
4:12
And I got to say, I've been waiting for a few years for this
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And we waited through coaching changes. We waited through player changes. We waited through them bringing in older, more experienced players that have added some, I guess, stability to the franchise
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and there's been no more a stable move than the one that saw the new transition new ownership
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i think you know uh you know aaron i've told you over the years that ownership makes a difference
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and i don't think it's a coincidence this owner's come in and uh the team looks totally different
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yet you would ask yourself what the heck does the owner have to do with it a lot of it is attitude
4:57
man if the if the owner is upbeat about what's going on and isn't a doomsayer and doesn't make
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people feel you know like oh woe is me everything is terrible there is a very good chance that that
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team will do a heck of a lot better so i'm i'm just grateful to see uh grateful to see the new
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ownership is doing what they can to try to help everything along here you know being relentlessly
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positive is a good thing in this particular case. And faithfully adhering to the decisions you make
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There's that too. Yeah. I mean, the fact that he's, he's willing to back up his, his words with actions and
5:37
and he's been as consistent as he has been with this sort of thing is, is very heartening
5:41
An owner can't be involved day to day. But there are times when the owner has to establish, you know
5:50
whatever it is that he thinks is what's important for the team
5:54
In this case, I don't think it's an accident that the Ottawa Senators
6:00
have done something that I think was important, as important as I thought it was for Toronto
6:08
There are two things that are the same here when you talk about the Leafs
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and the Senators. They both had coaches with no experience. Now, with different results, right
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Like Ottawa had their coach, their young coach didn't bring them to the playoffs
6:23
They got them from the Leafs, but they didn't really make the playoffs. So that's not a good thing
6:27
With the Leafs in their case, their young coach couldn't handle the pressure of the playoffs
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And by handling the pressure of the playoffs, I mean have the right players and have the right mentality installed in those players to play in the playoffs
6:41
There's something to be said for experience. So not only, you know, I'm going to give the owner credit in Ottawa
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And when I do that, it seems kind of silly because the Leafs don't have a new owner, but they have a new attitude and who should coach
6:57
They decided to bring experience. You know, Aaron, sometimes we and I'll let you comment to this
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Sometimes we talk about bringing out the old, you know, the old the old coaches, the carousel
7:11
Right. Yeah. And there's something to be said for that carousel gets a little tired, a little rickety
7:18
No, it definitely does. And I think a lot of the issues that we run into here is people want more of the same and they want that familiarity that a certain coach and a certain coaching style brings
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And that unfortunately tends to stifle creativity in the NHL which can cause problems The same coaching carousel while it is comforting to some doesn always work And that the thing that people need to bear in mind
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I think a carousel is a good description because sometimes you've got to check
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where the rust is and either replace those horses, those rides, whatever you want to refer to them as, and bring in a new, more
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a stronger version of that. and the Leafs making the change they made I I was pushing for an experienced coach
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for a long time even after they let go of a very experienced coach in Babcock he just was the wrong
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coach for the for that GM I think that's a fair statement so what are we saying there we're saying
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we've said ownership is important ownership needs to make a decision and stand by the decision and
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not interfere with the decisions that decision makes. So in other words, you got to hire the right GM
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And if you're an owner and you have a president like the Leafs do, you got to hire the right
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president and you got to trust him or her to hire the right GM
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And in turn, everybody has to has to look at that GM and say, OK, we're here to help you
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Any advice you need, we'll talk to you. It doesn't have to be a, you know, a GM that doesn't listen to everybody else because that's
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important too right Aaron you you got to get you got to get advice from the outside the bottom line
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is it's teamwork as opposed to having one person run the show and pretend other people have
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positions we have that issue in Dallas with the Dallas Cowboys where you have an owner who thinks
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he's a GM and the team keeps faltering and it's the fault of the coach and the players no it's not
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It's the fault of the owner who thinks he's a GM. So this is why I think Ottawa is better
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They've got an owner now who didn't change general managers. He's got the same guy that was there, right
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Yeah. And he's changed coaches. And the coach has a different way of doing things
9:40
And he's doing it in a real good way. Tell me about Nylander and his eighth annual hat trick
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so this is a this is one of those things it's actually been a long time coming um years yeah
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you know he goes back to the city of his birth uh which is awesome uh he was born in calgary for
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those of you who don't recall uh he actually notched his second career hat trick on tuesday
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as the leafs beat uh the calgary flames um with nine goals in his last eight games neil under has
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reached the 33 goal mark second in the nhl behind leon dry siddle of the edmonton oilers who has 37
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it was his first hat trick in eight years to the day so you know talk about waiting a long time for
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a repeat of a good thing to happen um but yeah it's for for years it's been since he's gotten
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his second hat trick uh johnny tavares uh bobby mcmahon and maddie nyes also scored for toronto
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They're now within one point of the Atlantic Division-leading Florida Panthers, and they actually have two games in hand
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Austin Matthews had three assists. On the flip side of the coin, Matt Coronado, Jager Sharangovich
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and Joel Farabee with his first as a flame, technically his second
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No, his first. The first one didn't count. The first one didn't count, but it probably should have
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They open the night two points up on the Vancouver Canucks for the second wildcard playoff berth in the Western Conference
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But starting his fourth game in a row and his eighth in the team's last nine
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Joseph Wall made 23 saves to improve to 19-10-0. On the opposite side of the ice, Dustin Wolf had 24 saves
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He fell to 19-10-2. Yeah, weird start, you know, with two goals being disallowed
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It's really interesting out of all of that. But Marner missed another game
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He's fourth in the NHL in scoring, interestingly enough, and has missed his first game of the season
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His absence obviously didn't hurt Toronto's power play. They went two for two with the extra man in Edmonton
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and then scored on the first two chances on the Flames on the way to going two and four on the night
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So, you know, the goals by Coronado and Sharon Govich, it's important to notice, came on extended two-man advantages
12:04
The Leafs managed to pile up penalties, which is never a good thing. They've been a team that, you know, in previous years, they were a team that drew penalties a lot more
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They've been not getting the calls this year that they were getting in previous years
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I guess there's something to be said for being a little more physical
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Demanding, you know, your players to make contact with the opponents, which is what nobody has to stand out front, you know, and have a presser saying
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well the maple leaves this year are more physical i think we can see it and statistically we're
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reminded of it after each game if you look at the stats um the one thing that uh to finish with
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nylander um you know he's a guy who is it fair to say he scores in bunches but it's funny he
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hasn't had many hat tricks like he scores in bunches but not you know not bunches bunches
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He's sort of below the radar bunches. Yeah, it's clumpy or patchy scoring, really, but it's not
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Maybe patchy's a better descriptor. Yeah, because it's like he'll surprise you, you know, and it's awesome
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But at the same time, it's one of those, well, I didn't see that coming
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but at the same time I kind of could feel it. Do you know what I mean? yeah well because for a guy who can score that many goals as he does you know 33 and and he's
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had a couple of goal droughts of like seven and nine games you know and yet he hasn't had like
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anything past two goals he's only this is the first time he's had a hat trick and he's up to 33
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so you know he gets his one two goals a lot of them a lot of them a lot of them a lot of them
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doesn't get the the third one but i gotta tell you he has probably been um the one of the main
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reasons why the Leafs scoring hasn't been a problem because you know how do you make up for
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what I guess Matthews would have had by now he would have had something like 35 just under 40 by
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now and you know he's at half that the way that he's been scoring this past little while he's
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actually on a on a 70 plus goal pace which is absolutely nutty to me obviously he's not going
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to reach that just based on the way his season has fallen out but you know at the same time
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And it's been one of those, he's back and he's on course
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And, you know, it's going to be a nightmare for other teams come to playoffs. Absolutely
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Let's go over to talk about to the Leafs head coach, Barobi
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Are you concerned? I'll be honest with you. I don't think he is
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he's even come out publicly and said you know Marner may be hurt
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but at the same time I'm not really worried about it, he doesn't think it's serious
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I'm hoping he's available the next game that's the way to look at it
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we'll see if he can get on the ice Wednesday we'll see how he reacts
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he was better on Tuesday afternoon so that was a good sign
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and he basically go from there he was spotted at the rink following the game and walking around without any signs Sorry without any aid or you know he wasn limping
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So it doesn't look like he was dealing with any sort of injury, which is positive news. But it looks like they're actually giving him a couple days maintenance
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Speaking of maintenance, Nylander's looking for some. Oh, yeah. He's definitely thinking the best way to celebrate getting a hat trick
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might be to take the day off. I don't necessarily blame him
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I know you're getting into a certain part of the season now where players are getting more banged up
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and the occasional day out of the spotlight and off maybe lying down on the couch with your dog
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isn't necessarily the bad thing. How about Stullers? He's on his way back, Stullers
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He is almost back. He has been seen on the ice. He has been working out with the team
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I don't think he's been taking very heavy reps. but that's okay
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You know, this is bone chips in the knee is never something that you really want to rush anybody back from
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Yarncroke and Hockenpah have both been on the ice as well, not taking contact, but they're at least working with skating coaches
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and looking like they're getting some puck work in. So that's a good point
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Hockenpah has finally bowed out of playing for the Finnish team in the All-Star Festival
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I mean, it was bound to happen at some point. And, you know, it's not like you can just magically come back from what he had
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So, well, hopefully he'll be able to get into some games for the Leafs this season
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because I really would like to see him play. You know, we saw him a couple of games and, you know, he was interesting on the ice
16:58
Yeah. It'd be interesting to see. Like, this guy has not played for the Leafs for any amount of time that's relatively reasonable
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I mean, he's played very little. And, you know, he was good enough to be called by the Finnish team to play for them
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You know, Finland's not a slouch, you know. You know, not just anybody who played for Finland
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They're a team that's pretty dominant in the world of hockey. So, and he's a guy who could make that team
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At least they felt he could have made that team. So there's something to be said for him. I mean, there's only, they've got a player per team
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You've got Nylander, you know, with Sweden. You've got Marner with Canada and Austin Matthews with the U.S
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And Hockenpah makes the fourth Leaf on the four different teams. So, you know, have the Leafs got some good American players
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Absolutely. Have they got some good Canadian players? Absolutely. Have they got some good Swedish players
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Yeah. Yeah. Yes, they do. but Finnish players they're pretty they don't have that many that are that good on their team
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nobody that really stands out so the Leafs come into this now, this all-star break
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with an opportunity to be healthy going into the all-star break what good is that Aaron
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you know make sure you're 100% healthy, maintenance time and then you're going to have those three players
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that are pretty key And, you know, as much as Nylander has done, he knows a little bit about himself
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And he does like that part of him taking time off. He's a different guy
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There's nothing average about that guy. Not the way he scores, not the way he thinks, and not the way he dresses
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No, definitely not. That dude is definitely a fashion plate. I don't know if you were watching the actual broadcast
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but they did actually show some pictures of him in Sugo with his dogs, off-leash, of course
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Dude is fashionable, don't get me wrong. I think it's absolutely great
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I like the fact that he has retained his ability to take a poke at himself
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every once in a while and sort of chuckle at what's going on and what he's going through. Absolutely, and you need that trait to play in Toronto
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100%. Let's go to the rest of the NHL teams that are Canadian
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And Armia had a good game, important game, helped Montreal beat the Sharks
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Yeah, you know, it's something they've been looking to do for a while, especially when they've been mired in the middle of a five-game losing streak
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Armia scored a shorthanded tie-breaking goal late in the third period, and they managed to hang on to beat the Sharks 4-3
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Alex Newhook had a goal and an assist, and Cole Caulfield and Brendan Gallagher also scored for the Canadians
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who were 0-4-1 during their recent skid. Kirby Dock had two assists and Sam Montembo finished with 27 saves
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Macklin Celebrini and Tyler Toffoli each had a goal and an assist, and Colin Graff also scored for the Sharks
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who have now lost two straight and eight of their last nine. Alexander Georgiev made 16 saves on 20 shots
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That is borderline unusable in the NHL. he is it appears living up to his nickname of Alexander Forgiev so we'll have to see what
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happens but yeah it's too bad rough man then you have the Sens playing a team they want to catch
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to make the playoffs in the Tampa Bay Lightning and Tampa floundering a little bit and you
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quite rightly pointed out that you know they could be better you know and and they apparently
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were last night. They were. They had a bit of an advantage
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The Senators were actually coming off the first half of a back-to-back
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when they beat the Preds 5-2 for their fifth straight win on Monday night
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And then Brandon Hagel scored less than two minutes into the third period to give Tampa Bay Lightning the lead for good in a 4-3 win
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over the Ottawa Senators. Glenn Dunning, Kucherov, and McDonough also scored for Tampa Bay
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Vasilevsky finished with 25 saves. Michael Amadio, Claude Giroux, and Drake Matheson scored for Ottawa
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Linus Olmark, making his first start since December 22nd, by the way
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finished with 34 saves. So good to see. Nice, consistent effort, strong effort from the Sens
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But unfortunately, at the end of the day, just too much to ask for them to be able to beat the Lightning
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Jets are back in roll mode. Yeah, seven games in a row
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Geez. They started the season fascinatingly enough by winning as many as
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they did. Eric Comrie finally got a shutout. He made 29 saves
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in the 3-0 victory over the Canes. That extended the team's win streak to seven games
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here. Comrie is now 5-7-1 this season in which his teammates actually have often blamed themselves
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for not being able to help him out as much as they helped out Hellebuck. This was his third shutout and his
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his last shutout before that was March 25th of 2023. How about Brown scoring for the Oilers to win a game
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What a goal. I saw that goal. It was awesome. It was a beauty of a goal
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And, you know, who would ever think that Connor McDavid would be acting as the distraction
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for Connor Brown, like of all people. His first goal in like a month
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Well, well-deserved though. You know, he had consistent play all night. He was good along the boards and down low
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and I'm glad to see he finally had that chance. Demko gets a shutout for Vancouver
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It his first shutout of the season They managed to blank the Avalanche 3 Jake DeBrusque Brock Besser and Drew O scored the goals Dr Demko only had to make 25 saves
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Now, the Canucks find themselves tied with the Calgary Flames in points percentage, but
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are still outside the playoffs due to the tiebreaker. That was one of the best
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home games I think that I've seen Vancouver play this season. I was flipping back and forth between
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this game and the Leafs game. But while the team as a whole played well, Demko was definitely the highlight
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So I'm very happy for him to get that win. Let's close it out with a couple of other Toronto teams
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and we'll start with the Raptors, who apparently, with injuries now behind them, they seem to have a pretty good team after all
23:45
They do. They've put together a bit of a win streak before having it snapped
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have won the last two games. But I think they're still looking to tank
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but in a slightly more ethical fashion than just straight up throwing up their hands and going, we give up
24:03
There is a lot of youth that this team has to work with
24:07
so that's a good thing for them. But yeah, I think they're just looking
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to sort of ease themselves into a lottery, a draft lottery position, just to make sure that they actually have an opportunity
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now the blue jays they brought in max scherzer who didn't really have that good a year last year
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it was two and four but he's making 15.5 what is it 15.5 million um for this one season and he's
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got a lot of bonuses he can earn yeah um everything's used to have checked out just fine i know that
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there were uh some concerns that he might not necessarily pass a physical he has had some
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issues over the past few uh over the past couple of years when it comes to injuries and staying
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healthy. His career regular season record is 216 to 112 with a 316 ERA and 3,407 strikeouts
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Now, some of the milestones that they have for him are, he can get a bonus of $150,000 for winning
25:04
a Cy Young, $125,000 for finishing second, $100,000 for third, $75,000 for fourth, and $50,000
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for fifth. He can also add $50,000 to his total by being named an all-star, $50,000 for a goal
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glove, $50,000 for a World Series MVP, and $25,000 for a League Championship Series MVP
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Yeah, I'd like to think that he's recovered. All the word coming out now is that he has been, for the most part
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We're just hoping he manages to stay healthy for the entire season. He's won two World Series, but he's 40 years old, and they're paying him a lot of money
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And I just, I'm sure there's a chance that he could have a good year, but this seems to be another one of those deals, this tandem that runs the Blue Jays, that makes this deal that, oh, we got to look like we're doing something
26:01
Because this one here doesn't have depth. It's a surface move, in my opinion
26:06
And we'll find out early in the season how factual that statement is
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It's interesting to say the least. Aaron, the biggest news out there, I guess, would you agree, is the provincial election happening in Ontario
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I still haven't received my $200 check from Doug Ford, so I'm currently undecided as to who I'm going to vote for
26:28
Michelle got hers, but I still haven't received my bribe yet. He's kidding
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He won't vote for him if he gives him five grand. Maybe he would
26:38
Well, I'll tell you this much, Frank. thanks to the cuts that Doug Ford has made to healthcare
26:44
My family medical services provider has switched to a subscription model for
26:48
this year for what, for now out of service medical requirements, such as renewing prescriptions
26:55
faxes and other services that he used to offer for free. Thanks to Doug Ford's cuts to Medicare to Ontario healthcare
27:02
which means basically that $200 that he's taking, I'm putting directly back into my doctor's pocket for the subscription
27:08
so if not more yep that is it's it is a little ridiculous um
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i'm i'm i told you a few weeks ago that uh that there'd be both elections and now that
27:23
the ontario one was a snap election because i guess the reason ford was doing it and the reason
27:30
they're doing it aaron is they felt that probably polls told him that he would stand a better chance
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of getting reelected, the worse Trump behaved. And now that Trump has caved
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do you think there might be some second guessing of themselves at the PC party
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that maybe things aren't going to be as easy as we thought? Because I think that's the general thought
27:55
is that they're convinced that Doug Ford has, no matter who the liberals put up or the NDP
28:00
he's the stronger candidate. But if there isn't a way to prove that he's a stronger candidate, does it matter
28:05
In other words, if the tree falls and nobody's in the forest, does anybody really hear it
28:10
Well, I think what sours it for me is the fact that he's backed off on removing American booze from the LCBO store shelves
28:17
That's one thing that's counting against Doug now because it looks like he's back peddling and waffling
28:22
The other thing that's counting against him is the fact that he hasn't he's decided not to cancel the fifty five million dollar contract with Starlink
28:29
had he continued with and followed through on that, I think a lot of Ontarians would be viewing him
28:37
in a more favorable light as well. And Starlink is the Elon Musk internet availability
28:43
It's a very good bit of hardware, though. Oh, admittedly, it's a very good bit of hardware
28:50
But when you look at the fact that Elon and his muskrats
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are trying to pirate social insurance numbers from people in the States, as well as seize control of a lot of the government's payment
29:02
methods and write themselves back doors, that kind of, to me, sours the whole Starlink experience
29:10
Now, don't forget, Starlink was also the same company that tried to trap people that signed
29:15
up for a free month during the most recent hurricane season. With the storms that hit
29:22
States, they were offering Starlink free to individuals who provided their banking information
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That, however, would have locked them into $249 a month contracts once that 30 days was up
29:37
So again, great platform, great technology, unfortunately, really crappy owner. Well, on that note
29:48
Sorry. No, no, no. It's okay. all i all i know is aaron that uh uh there's well anyway we all know everybody everybody
30:02
past whatever age knows that there are businessmen that are up front and honest and then there's the
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other type i'll leave everyone to decide when they're dealing with people which ones those
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people are they can figure it out on their own they don't need my help but no thanks for doing
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this, Aaron. Hey, always glad you're Frank. Have a great night. And you too, folks. Remember, if you want to
30:26
follow us, you can do it on Candid Frank's Nishi YouTube. Thanks for watching, everybody
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