Dec 30, 2025
The Ali Moosa Show — Ali + Claude Feig – Transcript
00:12:40
Aliasgar Moosa: Good afternoon. Today is Tuesday, December 30th, 2025. Welcome to a Tuesday show. I we are going to talk leafs in NHL and uh I’ve got Claude Fay is here to discuss all of this with me today. Claude, I really appreciate you taking some time on this Tuesday afternoon to join me.
claude feig: Ally, my pleasure. Nice to be back with
Aliasgar Moosa: Absolutely.
claude feig: you.
Aliasgar Moosa: It’s always a pleasure to have you um back here and it’s always good to chat some always good to chat sports in general, isn’t
claude feig: Absolutely.
Aliasgar Moosa: it?
claude feig: It’s it’s a great pastime. uh you got to you got to have the passion and you know a lot of lot of passionate sports fans certainly in Toronto and all around the world but sports is a great uh I want to call it the great equalizer when it comes to dealing with day-to-day stuff in life. It’s a nice uh it’s a nice getaway to, you know, try to forget maybe some other things that aren’t going so well in the world until, of course, your team starts to lose.
00:13:53
claude feig: And then it then it gets worse.
Aliasgar Moosa: Oh, exactly. Yeah, that’s uh generally that that’s exactly it. Yep. And um now I want to start with the I want to start with the whole um um Mark Sevard piece. He was ultimately last week dismissed as head coach uh
claude feig: Mhm.
Aliasgar Moosa: sorry assistant coach. Um,
claude feig: Yeah.
Aliasgar Moosa: was the writing sort of there um on the wall, do you feel, or was this something because this guy, because he was certainly Bub’s sort of his
claude feig: Yeah. I don’t think this was not Craig’s decision to get rid of Mark.
Aliasgar Moosa: guy,
claude feig: Um, and Mark was clearly very upset about the way the whole thing was handled. Um, you know, he took to social media, you know, a few days after it all sort of settled down to sort of, um, you know, to give his side of the equation. And you know, the fact is, and rightfully so, an assistant coach is not going to make or break a team’s success.
00:15:06
claude feig: Now, he he was in charge of the power play, which was great last year, but I don’t care who the assistant coach is. I don’t care who the head coach is. You lose a 100point guy like Mitch Martner, and every power play is going to suffer. And they’ve also had other injuries that they’ve had to contend with. So, while not making excuses for the team, the fact is that’s a huge hole that they haven’t been able to plug since last year when Mitch walked away and went to Vegas. And so, it doesn’t matter if it had been Mark Sevard, if it was if it was Craig Barubi who got fired, you could always make the, you know, you could always point to the fact that it’s easier to fire a coach than it is to get rid of players. But you certainly cannot blame Mark Sevard solely for everything that went wrong and has gone wrong for the Maple Leafs this
Aliasgar Moosa: No. and and you just brought up Mitch Mner there and we sort of talked a little bit about it off air that
00:15:59
claude feig: year.
Aliasgar Moosa: um I have sort of felt that with the way that this season has gone that it that with him gone it’s sort of it’s it’s left a bit of a hole on the team.
claude feig: Oh, that that goes without saying, uh, Ally. I mean, they they thought they had enough without Mitch. And you know, for all the naysayers and all the doubters that wanted to run Mitch out of town after the Boston series a few years ago, and again, uh, granted, he didn’t have the production in the playoffs that he had during the regular season. You can say that about Austin Matthews as well. So, uh, there was plenty of blame to go around for the playoff losses the last few years, including last year. And yeah, you could point the finger a little bit at Mitch, but he certainly wasn’t the lone culprit. And they lost to the Stanley Cup champs. Let’s remember this. They lost to the uh the best team in the NHL over the past three years. So, um you know, it’s not like they got beaten out by Columbus during the bubble year.
00:17:20
claude feig: You know, that was uh even though it was the bubble year, and I don’t really count that year as a playoff year because it was the bubble. It wasn’t a regular playoff season, but when they lost to Columbus, that was a a major low, you know, that was a low point for the franchise, but um again, Mitch, you know, he didn’t do his share in the playoffs. I know he was pretty disappointed like they all were, but uh again, they haven’t had anybody step up. So, you know, obviously Austin’s been hurt. He’s he’s hurt again. He may not play tonight against uh New Jersey. Uh they’ve got Willie, you know, William Knander’s hurt again and he may not play tonight. Um so and now Chris Tanov’s gone back on uh on injured. I I I don’t know for how long he’s out, but he’s got a lower body situation he’s dealing with. So they’ve been definitely snake bit with a lot of injuries this year and that does that certainly doesn’t help any momentum. And of course the goalending situation as well, Ally, I mean, uh, Stolars, nobody seems to know when he’s coming back.
00:18:27
claude feig: Uh, there’s a guess that maybe in the first week of January, he’s been out for a while now. Uh, of course, Wall’s also been hurt. And, uh, so they’ve had a lot of things go against them almost as to say, you know, this n this isn’t this isn’t your year, at least not to this point. And certainly not like what they did last year in the regular season. where they won their division and they had a lot of good players step up. But um again, I go back to uh not having Mitch Marner around and that is a huge hole that they certainly have them
Aliasgar Moosa: No,
claude feig: filled.
Aliasgar Moosa: but do you think Hild but um but I I think Hildabby has done has looked okay. I think he’s done what he’s been asked to do, you know, kind of filling in that goalender
claude feig: Yeah,
Aliasgar Moosa: role.
claude feig: he kind of got pushed into it. I don’t think there was any expectation this year that he, you know, the consensus was he was going to be the starting goalie for the Marlies and, you know, through injury.
00:19:28
claude feig: He did have a taste of NHL hockey last year and by his own admittance, he he wasn’t great. I don’t think he was prepared for it. It certainly didn’t look like it at times. He’s had some good spurts this year for the team and u you know he was good early on and then he’s kind of hit a wall a little bit uh where can’t seem to buy a win but um you know he might be part of their future. He’s still young. He’s big 6’7 goalie. Those are not easy to find. and um you know he’s he’s given them some you know he’s given them some chance in some of the games but they need a lot more than that. They can’t be relying on a on a young goalie to get them through and up, you know, above and over some of the other teams that they’re competing against. They need the whole team to be playing well, to be in a groove, to not be injured. All these things have just kind of worked against them.
00:20:31
claude feig: uh it looks like so far this year. And so of course that doesn’t help
Aliasgar Moosa: What about the performance uh the performances of Steven Lawrence and Dakota Joshua?
claude feig: either.
Aliasgar Moosa: Um um do you like what you’ve seen from them so far?
claude feig: Well, Lorenz is a you know, he’s not going to score a ton of goals. He’s a big body, but he’s a he’s a checking forward, and that’s why they they brought him in. they didn’t bring him in to score 30 goals a year. And so it’s, you know, it’s hard to judge what you get from a third or fourth liner as far as uh I mean, it’s it’s funny how everybody breaks down players and lines and then whatever the expectation, well, a third lineer supposed to do this. Well, you know, every team’s got different levels of third and fourth line players. And again, just look at Tampa when they went when they had their heyday and they went to the cup final three years in a row and won twice. And look at Florida.
00:21:35
claude feig: So you could have third or fourth liners that are probably second liners on some other teams if you’re a deep team like Florida is and has been. And Florida was deep enough that they were that they were able to let Lorent go uh and he came here of course uh to Toronto. So, I think he’s done okay, but I don’t think there were ever any high expectations of him to be a goal scorer. He just has to kind of try to be a good forcheing center uh forward and just try to keep the other guys from scoring a lot on your team and then, you know, then his job is uh is considered acceptable. Uh Dakota Joshua, new face this year. Unfortunately, it looks like he’s he’s hurt now and he’s he may be out for a while. He’s got some kind of an a kidney issue. Uh he took a shot, I guess, in the game Sunday against Detroit. So, another guy that, you know, has tried to pick up the slack for other players and it looked like he had a bit of a roll going at times, but now now he’s hurt.
00:22:44
claude feig: So, there’s another guy you’re down. So, it just makes it really difficult for any coach, which again brings me back to Mark Sevard or anybody else. It doesn’t matter who you have behind the bench. If the players aren’t there, if they’re not playing up to standards, or in this case, if they’re all banged up, there’s not much you can do uh anything short of having Craig Baru put on the uniform and get back out there like he did 30 years ago when he played for the Leafs. I don’t know what else you could do. It’s it’s just a tough situation for the organization and clearly the depth on this team isn’t great where they can lose all these guys and continue to win. They haven’t been able to do
Aliasgar Moosa: No, because they don’t have really any backups either.
claude feig: that.
Aliasgar Moosa: Like they don’t have like I mean the only one that really that was supposed to be a star was Eastston Cohen.
claude feig: Right. Well, Eastston Cowan, I mean, this kid looks like he’s the real deal.
00:23:45
claude feig: He’s just going to need a little bit more time. The expectation shouldn’t be that your first year in the NHL and you’re still a teenager that you’re supposed to light it up. Not too many guys have done that and their career. There have been a few, but everybody can see that this kid’s got a lot of talent and then it’s just a matter of, you know, letting him develop. Um, I mean, they took a look at him last year and they sent him back to London and that was the best move they could have made and now it looks like it’s paying off. the kids a little bit more mature, but again, you got to remember he’s still a teenager. And Connor Bdard and C Mlin Celibbrini, you know, there’s there aren’t too many guys that can make that move right out of junior right into the NHL. Even the dard had struggles last year in his first year, even though the expectations were a lot higher. But, uh, Eastston Cowan doesn’t have to be the guy in Toronto.
00:24:49
claude feig: He just has to be one of the guys and I think he’s definitely got a bright future with this team. He certainly looks like he’s got the skill set and so I don’t think there’s any concern about him. You just got to let him you got to let him develop. You got just got to give him time to to grow into his body to get used to playing at the NHL level. It’s not junior hockey anymore. So once he gets all that down with time, like anything else in life, when you have more experience, you’re going to be better at your craft. And that’s and that’s what’s going to happen here. But you know what? Even for the short term, he’s looked pretty good at times. He’s got great hands. Uh the kid’s got a bright future.
Aliasgar Moosa: And I mean, even if you circle to the Winnipeg Jets, they haven’t done very well. They haven’t been doing very well this year
claude feig: No,
Aliasgar Moosa: either.
claude feig: I’d say the two biggest disappointments in the NHL this year are the two Canadian teams, Winnipeg and Toronto.
00:25:48
claude feig: Obviously, we know what Winnipeg did last year. They had a great regular season and uh tough playoff exit, but they had a really good team last year and for some reason and again they’ve had injuries as well, including Connor Hella. lose the best goalie in the world and your team’s going to suffer because their backup situation apparently is not great. So, you know, losing Hellbuck didn’t help. Uh they’ve had a couple of other guys banged up, but again, uh Winnipeg like Toronto just no consistency except the only consistency has been that they’ve lost more than they’ve won. And it’s just not it wasn’t it wasn’t something anybody expected this year. By contrast, you see what Montreal’s done and nobody saw Montreal being this good this early into the year. Uh so it’s the beauty of the game. You can talk about it all you want and everybody can have their prognostications and everybody can yeah all these so-called insiders, everybody can have their opinion on who’s going to do what. But until you get on the ice and you actually start doing it, that’s when you find out what you got.
00:26:56
claude feig: And I got to give credit to Martan Eloise. That is a great coaching job he’s doing this year with a very young team and they’re doing really well. So, uh they have to be the the surprise Canadian team. Calgary’s come on of late. They put a nice streak together after a really bad start, but uh to me Montreal is the biggest surprise out of all the Canadian teams this year.
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah. I mean, even like the Oilers as well, like they were pretty good the last couple of years.
claude feig: The Oilers were great the last couple of years and they went to the cup final and they lost in seven games both times.
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah.
claude feig: But, uh, I think maybe there was a little bit, even though they didn’t win, there may have been a little bit of a Stanley Cup hangover for them starting this year. And again, their goalending situation became the hot topic because uh, and of course, they didn’t have Zack Heyman. I mean, Zack Heyman, if Leaf fans can tell you, uh, if people don’t know about Zack Heyman, that they that was a one of the worst, um, mistakes this franchise ever made was allowing him to walk away.
00:28:02
Aliasgar Moosa: I would agree.
claude feig: I don’t know why they I don’t know why they thought that he was expendable because I think he would
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah.
claude feig: be he would make a big difference on this team. You see what he’s doing in Edmonton now. Of course, he’s got Dry Cidle to McDavid with him. That’s a little bit better upgrade than what he would have had here, even though he would have had Matthews here, which is still pretty good. But, uh, when you see a guy like him, he was hurt. So, and of course, he got hurt in the playoffs last year. That hurt the team. That hurt the Oilers last year. and and since he’s been back um even though there’s their their goalie situation they thought they had figured out with uh trading for their goalie but uh then he gets hurt again Tristan Jarry so now they’ve gone back to Pickard and I think they’ve got Ingram there who’s who has a bit of history in the NHL with Vegas so they figured out how to score more than they gave up uh and not relying on their goalending and now they’re what they’re fourth place in the Western Conference.
00:29:05
claude feig: So, they’ve definitely made a big jump, but you see the Oilers were expected to be doing these kinds of things. Uh some of the other teams that we’ve talked about weren’t expected to be either bad or as good as they’ve been. Look at the Buffalo Sabres. Nine wins in a row. I mean, that’s crazy.
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah.
claude feig: This is a team that nobody was talking about and rightfully so. Just haven’t had any success over the last number of years. And here they are with an old new coach and Lindy Ruff and and he’s got them playing really good hockey right now and they’ve strung together nine wins in a row. I mean, that’s just the beauty of sports and the NHL. The the unpredictability of which teams might get hot and which teams are going to tank. Uh there is no certainty like in any sport of who’s going to win and who’s going to lose. That’s, as they say, that’s why they play the games because you can talk about it all you want on on podcasts, on TV, radio, uh, and you can put down your best lineups and say who’s going to do what, but until you get out there, then you, like I said, then you find out what you’ve got.
00:30:14
claude feig: And so, there have been some surprises this year in the NHL for sure, good ones and bad ones.
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah. And I mean the senators have I mean I’m I’m I’m impressed with what they’ve done. The senators have done and even the Penguins. I mean they weren’t they’re see they seem to be doing okay. They weren’t expected to do anything.
claude feig: No, the Penguins uh to their credit, they got off to a good start and they’ve kind of fallen back in the pack now. They lost Benny Malin. Uh he’s he’s hurt. Uh that doesn’t help. Uh you can’t expect expect Sydney Crosby to carry the load on this team. Uh he’s been amazing in the NHL his whole tenure and of course he just became the franchise’s all-time points leader uh what like a week ago. Um couple of weeks ago, whatever it was. Um so he he’s done what he can, but that’s an aging team. Uh again, their goalending was an issue and if people thought that uh they had issues before.
00:31:19
claude feig: Uh it looks like they’re having issues now. So Pittsburgh got off to a really good start, but they’ve kind of come back into the middle where they probably should be given that the expectations weren’t too high for that team going in this year, especially with a new coach. you know, Mike Sullivan left um and he’s now in New York and the Rangers are doing well. Uh but you know, you you can go up and down the list of teams to say who’s, you know, who’s doing well, who isn’t. San Jose is had a nice year considering how bad they’ve been the last few years. And obviously, Mlin, Celibbrini is a part of that. Um and you can look at some of the other teams. Detroit, Detroit’s having a solid season. uh they’ve got a you know they were also floundering for a few years there after being pretty dominant team in the 90s and the early 2000s. So uh some teams have finally sort of turned the corner. Some teams are just struggling like they have.
00:32:22
claude feig: Uh you know it’s just that’s the unpredictability of the NHL. Uh and certainly uh one of my pet peeves uh from the league and there’s a few but for me one of the biggest pet peeves is the uh how they award points. And so the fact that they’re keeping a lot of teams in the mix because they award what the a lot of people refer to as loser points. If you lose, you get a point. But the winning team doesn’t get rewarded for winning. They get the they get the usual two points. And what you’re seeing now, for example, at the at the WIHF World Championship, the winning team in the round robin gets three points. If you win overtime, you get two points. So, if the NHL adapted that policy where the winning team got three points in regulation, I guarantee you there would be even more teams in the mix because even the teams that were near the bottom would believe that they still had a chance if they won games in regulation because you’d be getting three points instead of two and you could really make gains on teams that you’re trailing.
00:33:29
claude feig: And you wouldn’t be rewarding teams that were are willing to take a game into overtime and whether they win or lose, they got a point, they’re happy. Like uh that’s one thing I would and I know it’s been talked about the last couple of years, but that would be one thing for sure that I’d like to see change and I think it would keep actually more teams in the the NHL wants parody. Three points for a regulation win would keep more teams in the mix right down to the end of the season. And so, uh, I think that would be a big boost for the league. Uh, but anyway, teams are still teams that weren’t expected to do well, they’re still up there. They’ve got points. Um, and so, you know, a lot of people are pointing to this year as a as a year of uh sort of uh, you know, evenness and balance as far as teams being in the mix. Uh, which is not something you’ve always seen in the NHL.
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah.
00:34:28
Aliasgar Moosa: And I mean the and um speaking of the World Junior Hockey Champion, it’s been a it’s been a good tournament this year for
claude feig: Well, it’s been for Canada certainly based on what happened the last couple of years.
Aliasgar Moosa: Canada. Yes.
claude feig: Um, you know, a lot of people said that this was some kind of a redemption tournament for Canada. And let me tell you something, one thing I know is that Mark Hunter, sorry, Mark and Dale Hunter, but the Hunter brothers have a great program in London with the London Knights. But Dale Hunter isn’t really interested in redemption. He wants to win. And so this redemption thing,
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah.
claude feig: that’s fine if people want to talk about it because they need uh some kind of a by line to to justify the, you know, the Canadian team playing games. But the fact is, uh this Canadian team looks like they’re built to win. They’ve got a lot of talent. They’ve got a lot of skill up front and obviously uh you know, McKenna is right at the forefront of that.
00:35:28
claude feig: And um yeah, they’ve looked great. I mean, they escaped the victory over Latapia, but you know, as a lot of people have pointed out, and I I felt the same way, that the days of Canada getting on the ice internationally and blowing out a team don’t exist anymore. Very seldom does it happen. Yeah, Denmark wasn’t quite on the same level as Canada the last two times they’ve played each other. But look at Latvia. They nobody ever looks at Latia and says that’s a team that can win. And they took Canada to overtime before Canada won that game. Uh the Czech Republic, uh obviously they knocked Canada out the last couple of years. And you know, Canada was loaded for bear, I think, a little bit for that game. The returning players for this year’s tournament, they did not want to lose to them again. So they found another gear and they and they outscored them. Um, and so tomorrow night will be a really good test because they’re playing Finland and Finland’s right there with Canada at top their standing and Finland’s a good team and so that’s going to be a really good test for Canada.
00:36:37
claude feig: But Dale Hunter is about winning and about letting his teams get out on the ice and and letting them loose and letting them do their thing. And so in some ways I’m not surprised that Canada’s doing well this year. Yeah, they didn’t meddle the last couple years, but I also I had a pretty good hunch that with Dale Hunter behind the bench, the things were going to be a little different. And so far, they have
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah.
claude feig: been.
Aliasgar Moosa: And I think this is a this is an under this is an under 20 tournament I think it
claude feig: Yes,
Aliasgar Moosa: is
claude feig: it’s a U20. Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s it’s amazing like the talent level.
Aliasgar Moosa: which
claude feig: You know, Gavin McKenna is what 17, 18. I mean, he’s in his first year of university at Penn State. Uh, of course he played in the Western Hockey League last year, but a lot of these kids, and they are kids, and we got to remember that they’re teenagers, and anybody who’s older now remembers their time as a teenager.
00:37:33
claude feig: We certainly didn’t have this kind of talent and ability at that age like these guys do. Uh, we maybe we thought we were good at whatever sport we played, but these guys are on another level. And of course, a few of the players on this team are NHL players. They’ve been loaned back to the juniors by their NHL clubs. So, that’s how good a team they have that they have NHL caliber players on their squad. And it only it can only enhance the game, the the product for them to try to go back and and get a gold medal, which is obviously the the goal for the team. Their goal is to win a gold medal. I I think Canadians would be proud of them if they can get on the podium. But as you know, Ally, there’s this expectation in Canada because it’s hockey and it’s because it’s our game that if you don’t win gold,
Aliasgar Moosa: Yep.
claude feig: somehow it was a major disappointment. Well, if not winning gold’s a major disappointment, then what happened the last two years where they didn’t even get a medal?
00:38:35
claude feig: That was that was way more than disappointment. So, uh, but I think they’re on track. I think they look good to be in the medal round for
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah.
claude feig: sure.
Aliasgar Moosa: And um it’s kind of um a short um I think it’s barely the tournament I think is barely two weeks I
claude feig: Yeah,
Aliasgar Moosa: think.
claude feig: there it usually ends in the first week of the new year. So, uh they’re they’re finishing up the uh the round robin this this uh this current week and then they get into the middle round and so it seems to move pretty fast from the time that they they start the tournament. You know, teams have a pre-ournament game like Canada did. They had a couple, right? they played Sweden and then they played uh Denmark and then you go and then it’s like it almost seems like it’s every day or every other day that there’s I mean there’s a game every day but you’re playing every other day and uh and it just seems to move really quick and uh so now we’re already into game four tomorrow night, right?
00:39:45
claude feig: Canada’s already played three games. So it’s been really quick since since Boxing Day they’ve already played three games.
Aliasgar Moosa: Yep.
claude feig: So, it moves pretty quick. It’s pretty exciting. It’s a great brand of hockey and uh yeah, the talent level on a lot of the teams is really
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah. And I’ve the I I’ve I’ve enjoyed the broadcast this year.
claude feig: impressive.
Aliasgar Moosa: I’ve enjoyed the the broadcast the the on the audio side this year. The broadcasts have been
claude feig: Well, that’s always important, right? I mean,
Aliasgar Moosa: good.
claude feig: um, and and a lot of us obviously take it for granted that, uh, you know, we can watch the games and if you’re, uh, if you can’t watch the games, you want to be able to hear the games. And even even if it’s on radio, you want to hear or if it’s being streamed, you want audio is a just a huge component of anything you do uh, broadcastwise. So,
Aliasgar Moosa: Yep.
claude feig: obviously, they have more mics now.
00:40:46
claude feig: ice level. They have uh the the referees are miked. Uh the officials are miked. Uh they do different things to really try to enhance the audio in every way, shape, or form. And uh I think it’s important that uh everybody get a chance to feel like they’re part of that game, whether you can watch it or whether you can only listen to it. I I think it’s uh it’s just so important to make sure everybody’s included so that everybody can get that same
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah.
claude feig: experience,
Aliasgar Moosa: And it’s easy to access the, you know, and um and uh and of course David Bowen on the playbyplay this year.
claude feig: right? Joe’s kid. Yeah. Uh so they’ve got,
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah.
claude feig: you know, it’s it runs in the family, I guess, for hockey the way the Showman’s do it for baseball.
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah.
claude feig: And so that’s great.
Aliasgar Moosa: I was just about to say
claude feig: Yeah. And it’s great. It’s great, you know, if you’re the dad and I’m a dad.
00:41:44
claude feig: I mean,
Aliasgar Moosa: that.
claude feig: if you’re a dad and your son is in the same field that you are and doing it at the same level or close to it, like the Showman’s both did it at the major league level and they both got to call World Series games. That’s pretty cool. That doesn’t happen every day. I you probably have to go back to maybe Joe Buck uh and uh and his dad and uh there’s a couple I know there’s been a couple of tandemss in broadcast in different sports. It doesn’t happen very often, but with Joe and his kid, I mean, Joe’s such a great uh broadcaster and uh I’m not surprised that his son has also followed dad’s footsteps uh in trying to do the same. Uh, great
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah.
claude feig: inspiration.
Aliasgar Moosa: And uh Jim Tatty on the pre and postgame show. I I I like um the work that he
claude feig: Yeah, he’s okay.
Aliasgar Moosa: does.
claude feig: Okay, I can say that because he used to be my boss at one time.
00:42:43
claude feig: So, uh, he’s all right. Uh, no, I’m just kidding. Yeah. Yeah, he’s Hey, Jimmer’s got a lot of experience. A lot of experience. I mean, you’re going back to the 80s with Jim, uh, when he was on a show called Sports Line on Global that I was very lucky to work on for a couple of years. That was the first highlight show of its kind in Canada. So, long before TSN came along and long before Sportset came along, we were the only show at the time that was doing a halfhour show with highlights and Jim was the anchor. what he was the host and um he had some sidekicks along the way including Mark Hebshire, uh Jean Principe, uh Don Martin. So,
Aliasgar Moosa: Don Martin. Is he still in Is he still in
claude feig: uh I don’t think so. No,
Aliasgar Moosa: broadcasting?
claude feig: I know I know at one time when he stopped broadcasting that he went and started playing golf and he’s apparently pretty good golfer and he went to um I think it was one of the senior tours in Canada.
00:43:47
claude feig: Uh, but he apparently was an excellent golfer and I think that’s where he went. Um, so yeah, Jim Jim does a great job. Jim was one of the guys. So he and I, so I worked for Jim in the 80s, early 90s at Global at Sports Line and then we were part of the launch of TSN Radio in 2011. They brought Jim in. He was um I was doing updates. I was the senior update guy at TSN radio in Toronto and Jim was hosting uh one of the shows there and um so we got to work together again for a while. Um but he’s been around a long time and so he’s been pretty good at hosting uh Leaf games and Raptor games on on the radio the last few years. But, uh, there’s a guy with a ton of experience and experience is a very good thing to have no matter what field you’re in, but certainly in
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah.
claude feig: broadcasting,
Aliasgar Moosa: And um Yeah, certainly. Yes. And um and Anthony Stewart as
00:44:56
claude feig: right?
Aliasgar Moosa: well.
claude feig: Anthony Stewart. Yeah. Former NHLer. Uh, so they’ve got, you know, that all, you know, to me that’s that’s a given. like when you have uh somebody who’s doing analysis of a sport, it should be somebody that actually played the game and knows exactly what’s going on, right? And for the most part, that’s what you see on TV and what you hear on radio. The people involved all experience that at some point in their life, so they have the best insight. Um, some people do it a little better than others. It’s just like a flare that you have and everybody’s personality is different. No two people are going to sound the same. Um and so but I that also adds to the broadcast whether again it’s TV or radio or streaming whatever it is. Um you’ve got somebody with knowledge that’s been there done that it’s certainly going to make the uh broadcast sound a lot better.
Aliasgar Moosa: Yep. Absolutely. Yeah.
00:45:57
Aliasgar Moosa: And it’s hard to believe TSN uh TSN 1050 has been around over 10 years
claude feig: Well, yeah. We launched in uh in April of 2011,
Aliasgar Moosa: now.
claude feig: so they’re coming up on 15 years this coming April. So, hard to believe it’s been 15 years already.
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah.
claude feig: Um,
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah.
claude feig: you know, the fan, I was also part of the fan when, uh, not long after it became an all sports station, uh, which was in 1990, I want to say 92, I believe, is when they started as the as an all sports station. And I went and I started working with them uh, on the side. I was doing updates for them in 1993. So, they had some pretty good people go through uh that station over the years, including Dan Schulman and of course Bob McAuen. And I mean, we go down the list of people. George Strombolopoulos at one time worked there behind the scenes as a as a producer and a board tech. Uh there were a lot of people.
00:46:58
claude feig: Dan Dunle, who’s now the play-by-play voice of the Buffalo Sabres, he worked there as an update guy. He’s the guy that actually trained me when I started there to do the updates. Um, so they had a lot of quality people that came through there. Um, Barb the Julio, I mean, uh, I can go up and down the list of people I got to work with. Stormman Norm Rumac, uh, Howard Burgerer, uh, it’s a long list. It’s a long list,
Aliasgar Moosa: garage.
claude feig: but absolutely.
Aliasgar Moosa: Oh,
claude feig: Roger Loa.
Aliasgar Moosa: he’s still there.
claude feig: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
Aliasgar Moosa: But
claude feig: A lot of great people that I got a chance to work with and uh watch and see how they did what they do. And uh uh you know, when we went when we started TSN radio, the goal, you know, obviously you’re the new kid in town. You want to try to beat the the gold standard, which was the fan.
00:47:52
claude feig: And it wasn’t going to happen overnight. Um you know, you’re you’re trying to do your thing as they do their thing. and and then the listener ultimately determines who they want to listen to. And so our station tried a lot of different things in the first couple of years to try to get our footing. Uh but the fan was a solid station because they had been around a lot longer than we had been. So um makes it tough. You know, it’s like having an expansion team come in and try to beat uh the defending champs. It doesn’t happen, right? you just you you hope you get better and you hope you’re able to compete at some point and maybe beat them and uh and that’s that’s the way it works. And so, but a lot of great people through uh through those stations. Uh and I got a chance to work with uh some of them and uh great experience. But uh it that was um you know that was a big turning point in my life a couple of times uh for broadcast.
00:48:57
claude feig: But uh uh you know the fan kind of started it all and I think influenced a lot of what you saw in Toronto uh because they were going all sports all the time.
Aliasgar Moosa: and of course Mike. Can’t forget uh Mike Richards,
claude feig: No m Well see when I was there Mike I didn’t know Mike or he hadn’t been around yet.
Aliasgar Moosa: too.
claude feig: Of course, I worked with Mike at TSN Radio. Great guy. It was so much fun working with him on the morning show and of course he did a lot of impersonations and different and he kept it light. You know what the the the key is even though you’re talking sports in the morning, the key for people listening to any show in the morning is they want to be entertained and you want to have a little bit of fun. And Mike did all that when he was at TSN radio. Uh he’s now back on air doing a a syndicated show once a week into Calgary. Uh I think it’s the Sportsnet channel in Calgary.
00:49:54
claude feig: But uh yeah, he was u he was a lot of fun to work with. Uh so a lot of good people. Like I said, a lot of great people have gone through Toronto and then some of them have gone on to bigger and better things south of the border or have just maintained, you know, their status in Toronto. It’s it’s a tough market. It’s the biggest market in Canada for broadcasts. So, you know, you have to be good to keep your your your place in line. And um I’ve been very fortunate to be able to do that uh in my tenure in broadcasting.
Aliasgar Moosa: And I think and and I mean Nelson Milman was sort of kind of he was the kind of he was one of the the people behind the fan.
claude feig: He was not initially uh uh there was not initially but when he took
Aliasgar Moosa: No, that’s right.
claude feig: over he kind of took it to another he took it to another level. A lot of people uh you know uh he he he made a lot of people into better broadcasters based on his programming and the people he brought in and the shows that you know the tandemss that he put together and all that kind of stuff.
00:51:02
claude feig: He was there a long time. He certainly uh he was certainly credited with a lot of the success that the fan uh had over the years. So, um for sure he was a big part of that that station.
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah, I think he took over for Allan Davis and he’s still he’s still for if I remember I mean I don’t know if
claude feig: That’s right.
Aliasgar Moosa: he’s still doing it but he’s now the he was a few a couple years ago the program director at WGR in Buffalo.
claude feig: Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard, too. I think he’s still there, but he went down to the States.
Aliasgar Moosa: Hello.
claude feig: Uh when he left the fan, I think he went back to Nova Scotia or something. He’s uh but I heard in the last few years he ended up down in Buffalo and WGR is a big stage. So Buffalo is not obviously not as big a city as Toronto, but Buffalo Buffalo Sports there.
Aliasgar Moosa: No.
claude feig: If you want to listen to anything Buffalo Sports related, GR55 is where you go.
00:51:57
claude feig: And so he’s been in charge of that I don’t know how many years now, but I used to listen to them all the time. Whether it was listening to a Bills game if you’re in the car um or maybe they were talking just general sports uh obviously Sabres, but uh yeah, GR55 has been a mainstay in Buffalo for as long as I can remember. And so that’s a that’s that’s big credentials when you’re able to run that station because that’s been a signature station in Buffalo for
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah, it’s um yeah,
claude feig: decades.
Aliasgar Moosa: I mean sports I mean you know it’s certainly I think now the content is key now and readily available and I think where one goes to get their content I think is just um that will be where they’ll be going.
claude feig: You know, the the thing about uh media these days is that everybody and anybody can, you know, like you, Ally, you put out a podcast and you try to do your homework and you try to entertain people with whether it’s whoever you have on your show or what you’re talking about.
00:53:11
claude feig: A lot of people are doing that. But there’s also people who seem to just have um you know a dedication to a particular outlet that they’ve been listening to forever. uh you know whether it’s you know the fan whether it’s GR55 whether it’s uh where I work now CBC radio whatever it is people uh you know they’re committed to you know their dedicated audience and so uh they feel comfortable listening to those stations or watching whatever station they watch because they like what they see they they’re entertained um they get the news that they want and they’re happy, right? That especially as a sports fan, you really want to be entertained when you’re watching highlights. You can watch highlights anywhere now. You can go on YouTube and see highlights, but the point of watching a highlight show is that you want to be entertained. And that was always certainly when we started that at Global in the 80s, uh when they started it and I joined them, that was the goal. They were always trying to get the best highlights from as many games as possible because you’re trying to entertain the audience.
00:54:27
claude feig: You’re trying to be informative, but you’re also trying to be entertaining. And it’s the same whether you do a podcast or whether you do a radio show or a TV show. The idea is to be entertaining because let’s face it, the market’s been flooded with all kinds of podcasts and streaming shows and different things that all want to talk about the same thing. So, what separates those shows is the quality of the show. And I think it’s very important that you could tell that the shows that actually do their homework and put some effort into it as opposed to just, hey, I’m here. This is my show. Come watch me or come listen to me. Uh there has to be a pretty good dedication. Uh and that’s what I that’s ultimately what I believe separates the good from the great. Uh but entertainment’s the big is a big component especially in sports.
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah. And um and it’s the Leafs and Devils tonight. That’ll be an interesting game,
claude feig: Uhhuh.
00:55:33
Aliasgar Moosa: too.
claude feig: Yeah. I mean uh the Devils uh by all accounts I mean they got off to a real fast start this year. They’ve kind of dropped back a little bit. The Islanders have really gotten on a roll. That that division seems like it’s up for grabs but and the Rangers are playing well. So, the tri-state teams in New York, it looks like they’re all all three of them are going to be good this year. And, uh, of course, Sheldon Keefe coming back to Toronto uh, with the Devils. Um, and although the Devils apparently too have been banged up a little bit lately, so I don’t know who they’ve got, who they haven’t. I know I know they have two Hughes on that team. It’s hard to keep up with their first names, but two of the three Hughes brothers on that team, I believe one or both of them were hurt at some point this year. And I don’t know if they’re both back or not, but um you know, and and of course they’re the sons of Jim Hughes, who at one time was an assistant coach with the Maple Leafs.
00:56:33
claude feig: And uh as some people may know, uh I think all three of them went to school here at some point when Jim was working here with the Leafs. Uh we know Quinn Hughes played hockey locally here when he was a young kid. So they have familiarity with the area with Toronto. Um so it’ll be interesting to see how the Hughes brothers respond tonight playing here. But it’ll also be good to see how the Leafs respond if they don’t have Matthews. They won’t have Knander. Uh they won’t have Taniv. They won’t have Dakota Joshua. We’re going to see what kind of grit this team has to try to sque, you know, squeak out a victory in the face of a little bit of adversity that they seemingly have been facing all season
Aliasgar Moosa: Well, it will be interesting.
claude feig: long.
Aliasgar Moosa: And um so they can find your and they can they can find your work at uh cbc.ca.
claude feig: Yeah. Well, I’m at uh CBC Radio 1. Uh so, as as people who may listen to CBC Radio, there’s two channels.
00:57:39
claude feig: There’s CBC 1, CBC 2. One of them, CBC2 is a music channel. CBC 1 carries all the programming. Uh but CBC 2 also carries uh hourly updates uh called World This Hour, which I do a lot of. Uh they’re like 4 and a half minute updates basically talking about world news. Uh you can also uh get us through your uh smarthome speaker. So any smart home speaker you have if you ask for CBC news you might get my updates if I’m working that day. Um, I also keep my foot in the sports world because CBC also has uh uh morning sports that they do to stations all across the country. And I’ve been very lucky uh to be able to do that uh from time to time. They asked me to step in for the regular u sports anchors and so I’ve had a chance to sort of keep talking sports which I love and so we’re heard right across the country. So all my updates are national updates as are the sports updates. So it’s really nice, but it’s also I think um to me I take it as a I mean I always try to do the best job that I can like all of us ally.
00:59:00
claude feig: You try to do your best when that mic goes on. But I take it I take it even more personal because I’m trying I know there’s a lot of people listening.
Aliasgar Moosa: Yep.
claude feig: We have a lot of listeners right across the country. And so, uh, you know, it’s it’s, uh, for some people it might be it might sound like a daunting task, but to me is I I try to make it as professional as possible because I know we have a lot of listeners who regularly listen to CBC radio. And so it makes me I believe it makes me a better broadcaster because I’m I’m actually pushing myself to do the best job I can all the time anyway, but especially when I know that, you know, we’ve got potentially millions of people listening to us across the the whole
Aliasgar Moosa: Yeah. And I’m guessing as well they can you can listen to it on Don.
claude feig: country.
Aliasgar Moosa: I’m guessing TuneIn and all those other and all the other good
claude feig: Uh, I’m sure, but like I said,
Aliasgar Moosa: places.
claude feig: the easiest thing is you can go online to cbc.ca or uh you can do it through your smart speaker. Um, and either way, you should be able to get us anytime.
Aliasgar Moosa: Perfect. And I look forward to chatting sports with you soon,
claude feig: Okay, it was great catching up with you and uh hopefully the next time we’re talking maybe the Leafs are on a better run.
Aliasgar Moosa: too.
claude feig: And you know, in Toronto at least, we’ve got the Raptors and of course we had the Blue Jays success this year. So all is not lost in
Aliasgar Moosa: No. And uh Yeah.
claude feig: Toronto.
Aliasgar Moosa: No, thank you. And uh and we’re looking forward to that. and we’ll
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