May have had a 7-up or two that night as we discussed all things. I also remember the day before Todd McClellan was fired and you and me were hanging out, John, at, I think we were at Ruth Chris that night. John Shannon's appearances are brought to you by Legacy Heating and Cooling, home of no payments and no interest for a year. That's how you build a legacy, Legacy Heating and Cooling. Hello, John, how are you? I'm great, Bob, how are you? Good, what do you think of all of this with the Vegas Golden Knights and their... Actually, you know what? We're going to replay the clip again one more time here. This is Kelly McCrimmon after he met with the commissioner in the morning doing his media availability last night as the head coach and GMs do before the start of the conference finals. Here is Kelly McCrimmon providing us with an update on the status of Bruce Cassidy. Secondly, regarding Bruce Cassidy, teams have asked for permission to speak with Bruce. We've been consistent that our focus currently is on the Stanley Cup playoffs and the teams have respected that. I've spoken with Bruce. He understands this as well. There you go. What's your take on all this? Gamesmanship. Now, even though he has been dismissed as the coach of the hockey club, he is still under contract for another 13 months with Vegas. They're paying him a hefty bit of coin to stay at home and not be involved with the hockey club. So they still do control him in so many ways. And when he signed his contract, that was what was supposed to happen. Do I think it's wrong? I think it's wrong that he should be able to go and interview and negotiate a new deal and then work out the compensation, you know, insofact that if it's more or less of what the Golden Knights pay, but the Golden Knights don't want to be distracted with those discussions right now. They want to be involved in the Stanley Cup playoffs. And at a certain point, even though I don't agree with it, you'd have to respect what they're doing, particularly if they've explained it to Bruce. All right, so what do you think is going to happen when Vegas' season ends? I think that they will grant every team that requests talking to Bruce Cassidy. And then whether it's Los Angeles or Edmonton or Toronto or whomever, because I think there will be more teams, believe it or not, by the time the regular season, the playoff season ends, then at that point, we will be able to sit down and discuss the compensation and how much does the Golden Knights still pay and how much does Bruce's new team pay. John Shannon for our friends Bobby and Steve over at Legacy Heating and Cooling. Do you believe Bruce Cassidy is a top tier coach in the National Hockey League? Yeah, I do. Absolutely. I think when you get teams to the Stanley Cup final, when you win the Stanley Cup, you have that ability to make players in front of you better. I think he's an excellent communicator. I think he's tough. And I think that, just like everything else, though, I mean, coaches have shelf lives. He had a shelf life with the Boston Bruins. He had a shelf life in Vegas. And, you know, Kelly did exactly what he thought was best for the organization late in the season, and it's proved to be correct based on the wins and losses of the Golden Knights in the playoffs. And we'll just have to wait and see where Bruce ends up. Ryan Rashkog was on the show on Friday and said that if the Edmonton Oilers, and I'm paraphrasing here, but, you know, he's like, you know, if Connor McDavid had picked up a couple of points in Game 7, I believe, was that the quote? Something to that effect. If the Oilers had won Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final, Chris Knobloch would still be coaching the team. Do you believe that to be the case? I think it would have been difficult to fire a Stanley Cup champion coach. Quite frankly, Bob, I still think it's difficult to fire the coach after two times to the Stanley Cup final without winning. You know, did he have some faults this year? Yeah, and he wasn't alone on this squad, whether it be on the coaching staff or... Management. Management or players. Chris was the one that, in the end, paid the price. And he paid the price knowing full well that he's gonna get paid for three years. I think Chris understands that. You know Chris well, I think I know Chris well enough to know that when you sign up to be a head coach in the National Hockey League, this is one of the liabilities. You get hired to be fired, and then you work your way through it again. I have no doubt in my mind in the next 12 months, Chris Knobloch will be behind an NHL bench. I agree. So, there you go. We're joined right now by John Shannon. So is Bruce Cassidy the best coach not currently coaching in an NHL team, John? Good question. I would suggest that he would be near the top of the list. You know, I think that there are, and I wanna use this word correctly, I mean, when you talk about retreads, a guy like Peter Laviolette, I just don't see him fitting in in Edmonton. From that perspective, I've read a couple things from people about Mike Babcock. I'd be disappointed if the team hired Mike Babcock. Why? Because I think the game is different now. I think the game is... The pendulum has shifted to having the players have an active role in a lot of the decision-making process. You don't think Babcock could have evolved? No. No, I don't. Have you evolved? I have, but I'm also not banked $75 million. Now, that is fair, but I mean, I broke into this business 35 years ago, John. You were a hard-ass producer. Yeah. I never got the privilege of working for you directly, but I love guys like that because I wanted to be pushed and I wanted to be good. So I love that, right? The question becomes, Bob, it's not bad to push, but there has to be give and take in the push. Right. Yes. And I'm still not... And listen, I'm fully transparent. I had arguments with people in Columbus about the hiring of Babcock at that point. You were well-connected at that time to the people in Columbus. And I told them it was a terrible mistake and they're gonna rue the day. And he didn't even get to the regular season. Yeah. So, you know, it's tough to cast aspersions on people. I just don't think in 2026 that's the way coaches go. You know, when you look at the Ryan Warsawskis, you look at the Spencer Carberries, you even look at the, you know, Marties, San Luis with his subtle nature, I think that's the modern-day coach. You know, we've heard a ton about David Carl. I don't know David Carl at all. I've watched his college teams play. I've watched his World Junior teams play. I don't know if that translates at all to professional hockey. He seems to get a hell of a lot out of his players. Yeah, but 20-year-olds are different than 30-year-olds. Yes. And particularly, you know, the question becomes, can you get more out of Connor? Can you get more out of Leon and still get more out of everybody else? And that's a huge challenge in this day and age. And you have it. You're gonna have to, Bob. So you don't like... So just going through it, you don't see Laviolette as a fit? For you, Babcock's a non-starter? Yeah. I will be honest with you. I don't know Berube well. You know, and there is one other thing we need... Just back to Knobloch for a second here. Glenn Gullitson. Is there any way to underscore how significant his contributions were to this and Chris's first two years? I think, you know, when you look back on it and you listen to Glenn, he talks about how much he learned from Chris Knobloch. I would suspect that if Chris Knobloch had a Molson Canadian and sat and told you some stories, he'd say he learned just as much from Glenn Gullitson. You know, Glenn Gullitson is a heck of a coach. He deserved a chance to be a head coach again. And he wasn't gonna get the coaching job in Edmonton based on two years into the Stanley Cup final and then Chris getting an extension. So he had to go and find one in another city. How many times did they pass by him? Like, they passed by him with bringing Hitchcock in as an interim coach. They passed by him when they hired Tippett. They passed by him when they brought up Woodcroft. And they passed by him when they brought in Knobloch. And so, you know, sometimes, you know, maybe there needed to be greater appreciation for... And he had... He clearly had a good relationship with Connor and Leon. There's no debate about that. Well, when you look at the success of, you know, the power play, you know as well as anybody that, you know, a lot of that was through the mind of Glenn Gullitson. So who... Okay, let's just say you can't get... You're never gonna get permission. Even though you do think at some point Vegas will relent and the Oilers will get a permission. I do. I do think they will relent. John, I gotta tell you, I think like you. Okay? And part of the reason why I think like you is this is a slippery slope here. Like, do the other