The truth behind the war of words between Lemieux, Tkachuk and Quick

The hottest beef in the NHL right now was sparked when Brendan Lemieux bit Brady Tkachuk but despite Jonathan Quick's defense of his teammate, Lemieux's behaviour is neither surprising, nor warranted.

On Zone Time this week, Julian and the crew debate whether the Toronto Maple Leafs are a juggernaut or just a regular NHL contender. They ask when Canucks fans will see change after the Canadiens blew up their own front office, and try to make sense of 'Lemieux-Tkachuk-Quick-Gate'.

Subscribe to Yahoo Sports NHL on YouTube for the latest episodes of 'Zone Time'.

Video Transcript

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Let's talk about the hottest beef in the National Hockey League right now, which is Brendan Lemieux versus Brady Tkachuk. As I understand-- and you could tell I was listening to the recent episode of the Steve Daigle podcast, this Tkachuk-Lemieux rivalry is like generational. It goes to their parents. Well, their dads, essentially, Claude and Keith. And recently, over the weekend, we all know about the-- well, we can say alleged, but we saw the bite mark.

OMAR: Alleged. Come on.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Come on. Guys, it's there. I have to say it, man. Brendan Lemieux showed a lack of raw in-house training when he bit Brady Tkachuk on the hand. And Brady Tkachuk was very furious about it. I don't know if we have time for me to read out the postgame quotes, or maybe we'll just throw in the video, the Cameo of Gilbert Gottfried reading it, who knows? Because it's absolutely hilarious. Jonathan Quick went to bat for Brendan Lemieux, saying he would rather have Brendan Lemieux than Brady Tkachuk, which I think is the funniest line of 2021.

OMAR: No, no, it's OK, Julian. It's OK.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Funniest line.

OMAR: It's OK, Jonathan Quick is just a liar. That's a bold-faced lie. Bold-faced lie.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I'm sorry, Jon.

OMAR: Come on.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Like, Jonathan Quick, I get it. That's your teammate, you want to stand up for him, and you want to make them feel what into the organization, you have to stand behind your boy. You can't be going around saying, hey, you know what? You're right, I'd rather Brady Tkachuk. You have to stand up for your boy.

But you ain't got to lie to kick it, my man. You ain't got to lie like this. You don't have to. All you have to do is just be like, man, it was a dumb thing that happened, but we don't need any of this beef. Brendan's still a valued member of our team. You don't need to go so far to say that. Any other hilarious thoughts you want to bring up on the hottest beef in the National Hockey League?

SAM CHANG: I was going to say the only thing that's almost as funny as Quick's bold-faced lie is the report today that Brady Tkachuk might need a tetanus shot.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: You know what's funny? I think CJ-- when I did the podcast with CJ, CJ, I think, made that joke that he might need one. I didn't know that was actually like, real.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Yeah, I couldn't figure out if that was real or a joke, honestly.

SAM CHANG: I don't know if it's real or not. But the fact that it's like kind of believable is the best part.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Also, I don't think as of right now, we know-- well, as now we're recording, we don't know if Brendan Lemieux has been suspended. We know there's an in-person hearing. But as of now, as we're doing this episode, we don't know how long he's been suspended for. It could be at least five games, but it looks like it's going to be longer. For biting somebody.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: There was a joke that the NHL capitalized the B in biting when they announced Lemieux's in-person hearing, so therefore, yeah, they are taking it seriously, TM.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Hey, I did it. I made that joke!

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Oh, maybe--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I made that joke!

SAM CHANG: Full circle.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Maybe I'm just reading Julian's tweets back to himself, then. Man--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I appreciate that, buddy.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Brendan Lemieux's just been-- like, not to get too deep into the HF Board's common circle, but Brendan Lemieux has been a thoroughly unlikable guy since even reported back to his days with the Greater Toronto Hockey League, Toronto Red Wings. He's been despised even through his minor hockey career. He wasn't particularly well-liked in the NHL. And you know, you can't just bite dudes. Like, Brady Tkachuk thinks that's for babies, he's spot on. I mean, here's the thing, man. Brendan, you're--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: He's right.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: You're also not your dad, bro. Like, Claude Lemieux got away with all the shit he did because he could actually play a little bit. He's a 1995 Cup winner. Brendan Lemieux, I mean-- I actually went on Natural Stat Trick before this appearance, just to see it. His on-ice five-on-five numbers are surprisingly good, but not good enough for Jonathan Quick to come out and make his first public appearance in 10 years to defend this fourth-line guy who's out here biting people, and who might be, aside from Tony D'Angelo, the most thoroughly unliked player in the whole league. It's a weird guy to cape for. I don't necessarily see it.

But those are really only like my thoughts on that. Jonathan Quick, like, the last time I remember him making a media appearance is when his adorable daughter was like running around the podium after they won their first of two cups, right? And then he just pops out of the woodwork to defend Brendan Lemieux.

Like, I don't even think guys on the Kings, aside from Quick, really like Brendan Lemieux. And that might be unsubstantiated a bit, but he's been thoroughly unliked at every stage of his career, and now it's coming out at the NHL level, too.

SAM CHANG: I was going to say, the only person I know of who clearly likes Brendan Lemieux and is buddies with him is Tony D'Angelo.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Don't they have a podcast?

SAM CHANG: Yeah, "Watch Your Tone". WYT.

OMAR: Oh.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Wait, the acronym is WYT? No way. Like, so it's "white".

SAM CHANG: Coincidence?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Oh, man, those two. Oh. Look, all I could do is laugh. Because sometimes when you're just faced with stupidity like that, all you could do is laugh. Why should I waste my time and be worried about people being dumb, when I could just laugh at you being dumb? Because what Brendan Lemieux did was absolutely, positively, dumb, asinine, asi-10, asi-11, asi-12. You count all the way to 35 if you have to. It was dumb. And if Brady Tkachuk has to get himself a tetanus shot, God bless that man, because yeesh. I would not want that for anybody.

I think we kind of pored through as much-- unless Omar, you look very pensive. Was there one other burn you wanted to apply before we ended this episode?

OMAR: No, I just don't get like, why? You know what I mean? You know what I mean?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah, I don't know either.

OMAR: Like, I understand being mad. I get it. But damn, man. Like, when I want to--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: To bite somebody?

OMAR: When Brady Tkachuk showed his hand, like, he bit me, I was like, whoa! He, like, legitimately bit him. Like, I was like, holy, man! Was he like hungry or something? I don't understand! Like, how do you bite someone that hard?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I don't know how hungry he could be.

OMAR: Especially on the palm, man. Like, that's actually where you're supposed to have a lot of thickness in skin, so if you fall, you can put your hands out, you're OK. Like, he bit through that, man! Like, how does the hearing even go? I'm just looking at him like, what are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing, you bit him! Did he try to defend it? Does he say, like, oh, no, I actually opened my mouth, and he missed a punch and then put his hand in my mouth and then I accidentally bit down and then did not let go, so I feel I should not be suspended. Like, I don't know, man.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: It's very weird, I understand that. Last thing I'll say on this whole thing, with the topic of Brendan Lemieux and seeming as if a lot of stuff he's done in his past is not all that great, no shout-out to that guy on Twitter or that reporter who said he saw him do some pretty crappy things, I think, for an NHL team and said it's not his job to report. You also deserve a 0 as well, my guy.

Yeah, sorry, not to kind of just throw a little stray at somebody at the end of all this, but yeah, I think after what we've learned over the last little couple of months here, we can't be sitting on the sidelines whenever we see people do shitty things, and Brendan Lemieux is no exception.