32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Alex Pietrangelo on Jack Eichel’s Return and Life After Hockey

Episode Date: February 16, 2022

His resume speaks for itself! He’s won a gold medal at the World Junior Championship, the World Cup of Hockey and at the Olympics; he’s a three-time All-Star and a Stanley Cup Champion.Alex Pietrangelo joins Jeff and Elliotte to talk about his All-Star game experience in his backyard, the return of Jack Eichel, his friendship with Jay Bouwmeester and David Backes, playing minor hockey with John Tavares and Steven Stamkos, why he leaves his work at the rink, the importance of preparing for life after hockey, and he shares a few Stanley Cup stories.Full transcript for the episode can be found here by Medha MonjauryMusic Outro: Willy Nilly - Home AloneListen to more music by Willy Nilly on SpotifyThis podcast is produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman. Archival assistance by Braden Connolly.Audio Credits: Sportsnet.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Show tunes, here they are. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the all-new GMC AT4 lineup. Elliot, do you know what everybody got, well, almost everybody in the NHL got in 2008 at the draft? A free t-shirt? They got defensemen. Let me read you a list here. Whether it's Drew Doughty or Zach Bogosian or Luke Shen or Tyler Myers or Eric Carlson or Michael DelZotto or Jake Gardner or John Carlson or Justin Delzotto or Jake Gardner or John Carlson or Justin Schultz or TJ Brody or Jared Spurgeon or our guest on the podcast today, Alex Petrangelo.

When I say the name Alex Petrangelo, what jumps to your mind right away? First of all, as you were doing that, I was thinking of Oprah. You get a car and you get a car and you get a car. You get a defenseman and you get a defenseman. LA, Atlanta, Toronto, Buffalo, Ottawa, everybody gets a defenseman. When I think about Alex Petrangelo, I think about a winner. Stanley Cup champion, Olympic gold medalist, and one of the best players in the league that we don't really know a ton about, right?

True. He likes to keep his private life private. Like, you can divide us into two categories, Jeff, the people who like to put our lives out there and the people who don't. And he's definitely in category B. But, you know, for a great player, I've always found him to be a little bit understated,

but I've always liked his game, and I've always liked the way he goes about his business. They had a game this year in Toronto where they got wiped out and they were really banged up at the point. And there were two ways to look at that game. One way we'll look at it was he really had a rough night, but the way I thought about it was here was a player, a star player, a key player on his team who realized that his group was really banged up. And he was thinking, I'm going to try to do things to give us a chance. And he was all over the ice trying to make plays that, you know, in some cases weren't going to happen, didn't have a hope of happening, led to problems.

Because he was thinking, if I don't step up and try something different tonight we don't have a chance and you know obviously you can't do that 75 games of a in a season but just that night watching him i remember thinking man this guy cares he's he's trying to go the extra mile here he very much cares that is obvious he is uh like i think of the word perseverance with alex petrangelo and i think of him starting his career and elliot you'll remember this i mean there were two seasons in a row where he started the uh the season with the st louis blues and then got sent back to junior the first year to the niagara ice dogs and then the second year to the very colts when he's evolved

in a trade with ryan strome but through all of it and through some lean years and some tough times in St. Louis, some playoff futility, some big, huge trades, players leaving the room, buddies, teammates, all of it, this guy endured, this guy persevered, and this guy succeeded. And then when he was in the contract dispute with the St. Louis Blues, I mean, what did it end up being over? He wanted to stay. He wanted to control his destiny. And he wanted the no-move clause. And that wasn't going to happen with the St. Louis Blues.

That story has been well told. But he persevered and he stuck with his guns. And he wouldn't get pushed around. That's how I feel about Alex Petrangelo. When I hear that name, that's what I think of. Nice. And let's hear from him. Here he is from the Vegas Golden Knights,

defenseman Alex Petrangelo on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Elliot, this is a very special day. It's not every day you get to be joined by the winner of the Breakaway Challenge at the All-Star Game, but here he is, the one and only Alex Petrangelo of the Vegas Golden Knights. Alex, how are you today? I'm good, guys. How are you guys doing? We're good. Is the drum with you in Edmonton? Did you take it with you?

That thing was pretty damn heavy, let me tell you. When I picked it up, I was like, I thought this thing was light. I was pretty surprised. Those guys, they've got a pretty tough job carrying that thing around all game. You know, there was a rumor going around, Alex, that Jack Eichel was going to come on the ice and set you up there. Was there anything to that? Not that I know of.

If I'm Jack, I'm probably on holiday somewhere, so I don't know. Not that I heard of. I mean, it would have been cool to kind of get the fans going, but we had Mike Tyson on the ice, so that was pretty cool. What was your main takeaway from the weekend? I want to get into some Vegas stuff here in a second, but what was your main takeaway from, you know, what was a pretty fun weekend for the NHL? It's not the

game that's necessarily fun or the skill that's getting to know other people. I've done two at home now, the last one was in St. Louis and this one. And for me, the fun part is sharing that with the people behind the scenes, you know, it's great obviously sharing with Stoney and Marchie, but you know, the training staff, the medical staff, you know, PR staff, all these people that kind of make our world go around every day for them to experience. I think for all of them, it was the first time.

That's a fun thing to get to meet different players. And meet different players. I had my kids down there. My nephews were down there. That part to me is the most fun because they meet McDavid and it's like the coolest thing in the world or whoever it might be. That's the fun part about it for me is getting to know different people in my families. It's interesting you said that because it seemed to me that this one this year, Alex, had a lot of family to it. Claude Giroux and his wife and eldest son, Stephen Stamkos, and we saw his son around there. You know, you have a big family now and you mentioned having them around. Did it seem to be more this year than you've seen in the past?

I don't know if it's so much more. I was joking that there's more young guys. I don't know if it's so much more. I was joking that there's more young guys. So maybe it's just like you really notice a couple guys who do have kids because it felt like there was a lot of guys that were, you know, under 24, under 25. So it's funny because I've done all, you know, these events, whether it's Olympics or All-Star Game, whatever it may be,

with all these guys. You know, I'm sitting beside Jordan Eberle in the locker room and we play World Juniors together, and our parents still keep in touch for some random reason. But, you know, then he's got a daughter now i got four kids and stammer's got a couple kids so it's kind of funny to see how we all kind of progressed in our lives and get to meet each other's families and events like this so that part for me is pretty cool okay so when you guys were younger who did you think for sure was going to be the worst parent worst parent

i would have told you it would probably be me because I'm all over the place. I don't know. I try and do my best. I don't know. Depends who you ask in our house. You know what? I don't judge anybody's parenting style.

I just enjoy being involved. I'm so blessed to be able to do it. I'm with you. That's a great way of looking at life. 100%. Let's talk about Vegas, Alex, and let's talk about Jack Eichel. He's playing against Colorado. We're all pretty

excited about this. How does he look in practice playing with Pat Turetti and Dadunov? You can really see the skill level. They've played against him a lot of times. Never obviously with him other than practice. But just the movement with the puck, the puck skill at high speed, I mean, that's what makes him a special player. I mean, you look at the goals he's scored, the highlight reel goals,

I mean, he's doing everything at full speed. So, it's only a compliment when you have players like Patch on the side, too, especially a guy that can shoot the way he does. I mean, that's only going to be a better thing for Patch to be able to have someone to be able to get him the puck the way he can. Did they do anything kind of out of morbid curiosity special to tell you guys that Eichel was going to play? Or did you just, hey, he's going to play on Wednesday?

Or did they do anything interesting? We kind of had a feeling just because he kept getting closer and then it was a no contact jersey. And we've all been around long enough. We have a general idea of how that works. So I think most of us just went to Jack pretty directly. So he's excited. I mean, it's been a long time. Obviously, he's kind of been getting antsy, I'm sure, to get the clear physicality. So I mean, we're doing the best we can in practice to prepare him. I mean, you're not going to be too physical on your teammate, but I think he feels comfortable with what we've been able to do with him. I don't know.

I heard in St. Louis, there were some pretty big two-handers that went back and forth between guys when you guys got mad at each other. That's because Chief, that's how Chief played when he was back in the day. The coach liked it.

You know, I am curious too, at what point, you're an elite level player, Jack Eichel is an elite-level player. We would look at this and say, well, this is going to be, you know, turnkey for someone like Alex Petrangelo. How long does it take, like, players at your level to get used to playing with one another?

Is it just a matter of, you know, crack your knuckles, tie your skates, and get out there, and everything's great? Like, how long does it take to get used to someone like Eichel? I think the biggest thing for me coming over last year, the first 10, 15 games, it was more so the systems, not so much the players. You can get out there and play with your teammates and feel comfortable, but you're going into a new system.

Sometimes a big change, it's going to take a little while to adjust. Sometimes you go to a place where maybe your role changes and whatnot. But I think a player like Jack, with the amount of skill that he has, the way the game's played now, as soon as he starts to feel more and more comfortable with the physicality after what he went through, I think the skill will take over, the hockey sense will take over, and off you'll go. I don't think any of us expect it to be too long. I think he'll still be an impact player right away. But I think we all understand, too, it's going to take a little bit of time for him.

So what we see in practice, I mean, even if he feels 75% of where he was, you know, a year ago, that's pretty darn good. Oh, yeah. Now, did anybody go to Mark Stone today and say, hey, Mark, see you game one of the playoffs? No, no, I actually didn't. I didn't see Stoney today. He came in after I was started on the ice. So I actually don't know what the update is.

I saw him yesterday watching football, but we talked more football and golf than we did anything. In your Super Bowl gambling pool, who was the big winner? Mr. Stevenson won the two big squares yesterday. So he walked away. Yeah, he walked away. It was a good day for him. Let's just say that.

So I just wanted to ask you about Vegas overall, Alex. I mean, Vegas has been such a home run for the NHL. I don't know if any of us ever expected it would be as good as it turned out to be. You're a real family guy. I mean, what did you learn about Vegas and how has it been playing there? What surprised you about it? I think the following that's in the city. I don't think any of us, maybe even to a point where Bill probably didn't even know hockey,

would basically take off like it has here. So it's been pretty impressive. I mean, the people around the city are a lot of fun, very respectful, but they love the game. Even the entertainment, when you go downtown for a game, I mean, you get a lot of Vegas residents, but you get a lot of people coming from all over that want to watch a hockey game. And with the atmosphere that they put on for us, it's a fun place to play. But the

thing that's impressed me the most, I'd say on a daily basis, coming into the rink is how well we're taken care of. I mean, Bill does a great job, you know, taking care of us and making not only just us, but our families feel really, really comfortable, you know, around the city and around the rink. I mean, look, I didn't even know this area existed where I lived until I moved to Vegas. So everything was kind of new and they certainly do a good job taking care of us. So I'm curious, Jack Eichel is in now, you know, we have our fingers crossed and, you know, as Elliot says, might be day one of the playoffs or game one of the playoffs, you know, with Mark Stone.

Like this is a high level team. This was already a great team before Jack Eichel got here, and now it's that much better. You've played on a Stanley Cup team, obviously, with the St. Louis Blues. How would you compare the Blues to this Vegas team now? It's hard to say. I mean, every team's different, different makeup of players,

different personality, different everything, different coaching style. Everything's a little bit different. I think if you look at we've got some really good talent up front. I don't necessarily like to compare the two teams because this team's built differently. I think we like our depth where it is, putting Jack up there and the way things slot in looks real good for us, especially up front.

So we've only played maybe a handful of games with our full team, our full roster this year. So that part's been a little know, a little bit frustrating. But as a defenseman, knowing you're going to be able to go on the ice with any one of these four lines and have a chance to, you know, potentially score or, you know, have a really strong shift,

that makes life easy for me. I know the other guys are probably saying the same thing. And you know what? I think the four are the same thing about the defenseman and the backhand. We've got a really good balance of six guys that can play in every situation. Listen, I've talked to plenty of people that have played with Tyler Bozak before,

and one of the things they always say is he's so easy to play with. He makes the game really simple. Who's that guy on Vegas? Who's the guy that's really easy to play with and makes the game seem really simple? Stoney's kind of one of those guys. I mean, he's so responsible on his own end and he has so much hockey sense that when he makes those plays defensively, if you want to jump to a spot to create an offensive play, he's going to get you the puck. So it's a rare thing

to find with a player that responsible defensively and that strong at one of the ice and then be just as strong at the other end of the ice. And that's why he makes the money that he does and that's why he plays at the level that he does. So you ask his line mates, we'll tell you that exact same thing that he opens up a lot of free space for him. Let me ask you about a couple of players that you played with. And I want to start by talking about Jay Bollmeister.

I can't believe that anybody would be on a team with Jay Bollmeister, not have at least a couple of stories or something to say about like, anytime I talk to anyone who played with Bollmeister on whatever team, always speak glowingly. And I imagine since you share a position, shared a team, I would imagine that Jay Bollmeister would have had a pretty big effect on you. Is that true? You know what?

Obviously, I mean, if you ever met Boll, he was around a long time when I started playing with him. But the one thing I still to this day, I used to morning skate all the time. You know, when I started, it just became a thing. That's just what you did every game. You skated for 10, 15 minutes. And then Bo came up to me one day when it kind of started to change. Right now, it's usually optional.

You don't always have to go in the morning. And Bo said, why are you going on the ice? I said, I don't know. It's just what I do. And he said, you know, the game's tonight. The game's not this morning. Save your rest. And you know what? Since then, if I don't have to go on the ice in the morning, I don't go. It's just what I do. And he said, you know, the game's tonight. The game's not this morning. Save your rest. And you know what?

Since then, if I don't have to go on the ice in the morning, I don't go. So you know what? And people ask me why. I said, a wife man once told me. And that's, I've kind of stuck to it since then. I have a feeling like Jay Bobeister didn't say a lot to us. Nope. Or anyone.

But when you guys won the cup, I remember that night and I have a few questions to ask you about that night, but I remember Jay Bomey, sir, he went up to Nick Kiprios and he said, you picked us at the beginning of the year. I remember that. And he said to me, like, I read your stuff. I saw what you said about us. and someone said to me that this is a guy he's like obi-wan kenobi he doesn't say a lot but he sees everything and when he opens his mouth it's always something valuable what was he like you know what ellie you couldn't have said any better on that he doesn't say much but when he does you listen it's just one of those guys you just and when you talk about like you know leadership in terms of our game it's not necessarily always being vocal

bow is that guy that just goes about his business you watch you watch from afar and then you learn from it and that's what i did and uh you know the closer you become with them or the more beers you give him he starts to chat a little bit more but he says all his words until then. But then, you know, you just kind of learn from him and his personality comes out over time. But he's a quiet leader. And it might sound a little bit cheesy, but I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to play with him. Do you guys still keep in touch?

How's he doing? Yeah, yeah, good. He's doing good. Obviously, the way it ended was a little bit scary and people always ask me how Bo's doing. So he's doing good. I think he's kind of found the balance of keeping himself busy and being a dad. Like every guy who stops playing, right?

You're just trying to figure out what you're going to do. But Bo liked to stay busy like me. So he's biking and trying to keep as busy as possible. Good. The other player that I want to ask you about is David Backus. And like you, you know, David Backus was a big part of the St. Louis Blues and then went on to continue playing, albeit with a different team, in the Boston Bruins and then finishing up with the Anaheim Ducks.

You go from St. Louis to Vegas. I always wonder, like, because we followed your story closely, as I'm sure you know. Like, that transition must have been a tough one. Would David Backus have been someone that you relied on, spoke to, sought advice from as you went from St. Louis to Vegas? Well, I was just with him yesterday morning. We had breakfast together. So there you go.

Okay. Yeah, I saw him in Anaheim when I was there. We're pretty much as close, you know, best friends with our busy lives as you can be the four of us. So he was, you know, my mentor. And obviously we became really, really close friends. So, yeah, I spoke to him along the way. And him leaving was a really, really difficult thing on me because I relied on him heavily just to learn from.

And he did the same with me. You know, I kind of helped him when he was the captain too. So we had a really good relationship. He did. He helped me along the way. Those things are never easy to go through. Those things are never easy to go through. Those decisions are never easy to go through. It was a really tough one for us. And they certainly helped us along the way.

But yeah, we're still really close friends. We had a nice breakfast down. It was pretty fun. They got kids too now. So we've seen every stage of life with each other. So who's your close group, Alex? You mentioned Bowmeister. You mentioned Backus.

Who else is in your circle? The closest that I've played with, Delzotto. We played together. And then obviously Backus and your colleague there, Mr. Koliakova over at TSN. So he was big for me during that process too. We played together for a long time, both from Toronto and, you know, those Toronto guys are always,

we always stay close. They're very mouthy, the Toronto guys. They're definitely mouthy. A couple of Italians I like to talk, so we keep in touch quite often.

So Jeff and I were looking back. We did an interview a couple of years ago at the All-Star game with Stamkos and Tavares and they were talking about that team. Was it the Blues?

Ontario Blues. Yeah. You went on beaten and only lost one shootout game because Tavares didn't score. And they were laughing about that. Yeah. Yeah. You can tell that one if you want. I'm still a little pissed I didn't shoot.

So I think your dad probably felt. Yeah. He wouldn't have picked me at all. Yeah. To just not have to deal with any of the politics. Yeah, so. I knew I wasn't going. So he picks.

I wanted John to go. So he picks me. And anyways, I go down and I miss. I think I hit the post. And the other guy goes down and scores. So because of that, we lost. And I have to accept responsibility for the, what was it, 50 and 1? Yeah, 49 and 1. 49 and 1. So I have to accept responsibility for the was it 50 and one yeah 49 and one

i have to bear that responsibility so do you remember that oh yeah i still remember i still remember the shootout we played against uh i think it was ottawa it was an ottawa team that we lost and they broke our streak so i still uh hold some resentment towards johnny on that one no i'm just kidding i don't but i'll you what, we were so good that my dad, Delzato's dad, and Stammer's dad were the coaches. And I don't think they know crap about coaching. So put it that way. It didn't matter.

Just keep putting you guys out there. Just open the door. That's what I used to say. Cody Hodgson's on that team. Michael Delzato, yourself, Stan Costavaris. Who was the goalie? I always wonder about that.

Like on a team that's like so stacked. Michael Hutchinson. Michael Hutchinson. Okay. And Gordon Gray. Yeah. He was, he played minor hockey with us growing up,

but Hutchinson's the goalie of the goalie. I mean, that's made it, but he wasn't in that game. So I can't play him. How many shots would you guys give up a game? Not many. Let's just say that,

you know, you don't want to be too confident, but we were pretty good you know alex though i wanted to ask you a bit about one of the nights i really remember covering this league was the night you guys won the stanley cup in boston and the reason i remember it really well was after our broadcast was over i had the opportunity to walk by your dressing room and you guys were dunking people in the Stanley cup. Now I don't like to stay around and watch.

I think that's for the people who've won the cup, the players, the team and everything. But someone told me you guys missed. We dunked the owner in the Stanley cup. We dunked everybody. Whose idea was it to do the owner and who did it? Like, were you pushing Tom stollman's head in no i was on i was back on the ice with my family but honestly it wouldn't surprise me if it was

tom's idea when in rome right why not why not do it i think everybody got a dose of that yeah hey if you get an opportunity to win something like that you enjoy every second of it what do you remember most about that night um i spent a lot you know a lot of time with you know the organization I mean obviously family right that's the number one I'd be lying if I said that wasn't the most important thing I had my uh my wife there my brother-in-law my parents my brother all that everybody was there I've never seen my dad cry and uh he was tearing up so it was uh you know how much it means to them too, right? To see me go through, you know, as a kid, my whole career, and then to see my family that happy for me.

And obviously share with my wife was obviously something special because I wouldn't be able to do what I do without her. So aside from the family thing, though, you know, when you're in an organization for as long as I was, like 10 years, 12 years, and then you finally reach that point that you were trying to get to, it's pretty special because there's a lot of, you know, hard days in this business. You know, you try and you try and you try, you know, you make it to the conference finals, you lose in the first round, lose in the second round.

And it's easy to kind of, you know, get discouraged. But we stuck together as a group. And when you go through the trenches with guys, especially in the playoffs, that's when you become close. And we still have a lot of friends in that organization. So certainly something special that we will share with them. The other thing that people talk about was the flight home. I guess the families took one plane and the players and the executives and the coaches

took another plane. And I've had people tell me that that plane ride home was one of the most special things they ever went through. It was wild. Between us and the doctors and, you know, there were some people that were enjoying themselves. Let's say that. But then we landed, and then the fans were at the airport, and we brought the cup over to the fans at the airport. So they got to see it right away, and then the party continued the rest of the night. I've never seen my mom stay up so late.'ll tell you that much or my wife or me and

then we brought them I still joke we brought the minivan down to the rink because it's the only car we had at the time they could fit everybody because we see we had the trip with the time and I look back and I got Michael Delzotto I got me there's two other guys and then my brother-in-law and then I look in the trunk and it's a Stanley Cup just bouncing around the back of the minivan so I'm like it's probably the first time that's ever happened. Oh, that's awesome. I'm curious, like at the moment when you win the Stanley cup, like certainly you're, obviously you're happy for yourself. You've gone through a ton to get there. No hockey player,

you know, gets there without some type of dent or a wound, uh, their physical or mental or both, but who else are you happy for at that time? Like, you look around, you're like, okay, you know what? This is great for this guy, and this is great for that guy. Like, who else do you look at and say, this is really great for this guy? Like, I can talk about J-Bowl, a guy like that. Hadn't even played a playoff game until he came to,

got traded to St. Louis, right? So, you know, he had a great career up to that point. You know, that's a long time without even making the playoffs, know you know ray burley is the head of the fire trainer there people like that you know he's everyone's organization for about 30 years and then finally had a chance to win you know there's a lot of people that spend a lot of time and energy you know doing their job and the joy that it brings them to because behind the scenes i don't think you know whether it's st louis vegas or anywhere else in the league sometimes those guys don't get enough credit for what they do to kind of keep us in one piece and uh to share that with them you know the joy it brings is pretty amazing to see

do you ever talk about it with your teammates on vegas about what it's like to win do you ever show them your cup ring as motivation or anything like that no i keep that separate because in all honesty, I don't think anyone needs motivation to win the Stanley Cup. I'll tell you that. That's why we're all here, right? I think everybody knows what that means, and every year goes by, you don't win,

and you see someone else win, and it makes you even more hungry. So I obviously talk about my experiences, but aside from that, I'm here to win here, and that's my job. But I think my experience certainly helps in that regard with guys come playoff time because I've had the experience of going that far i've wondered too alex just the overall transition from st louis to vegas i remember carlo tweeting at the time i just remember how emotional he was about it and you know how long did it take you to sort of i don't know if move on is the right word because

i don't know if you ever do but how long until the the raw feelings from that kind of went away um i don't know if it ever really goes away the thing for me is i still have an attachment to the city my wife's from there so it's not like i'm never going to go back to that city right so i go back obviously she goes back on a regular basis it's not an easy'm never going to go back to that city, right? So I go back, obviously. She goes back on a regular basis. It's not an easy thing to do because you feel comfortable there. It didn't take as long as I thought, honestly, when I came here. And once you start getting into the games, it's a little bit strange at first because, you know, I was living there and signed here,

and then it was just a weird situation. But once I came here with the family and, you know, got the kids in school practicing, started playing games, and you find that whole new routine and get back into that grind of the season, that's I think for me, when I started feeling more comfortable and my wife felt more comfortable and the kids and all that. So it's not easy for anybody to go through, whether you've been somewhere for a couple of years or 10 years, you get used to where you are. Looking back at it, what was the wildest thing that happened during that free agency period?

I don't think it's so much wild, but in terms of difficulty, it was probably like, there's a lot to take into account when you have a family, right? There was, that was a lot of stuff that I had to think about. When you first start playing as a young fella, I think a lot of that, you just kind of go about your business and then you get married and then you have kids and, you know, you start thinking about, you know, all that stuff that's important. So it certainly made the decision more difficult, but it certainly plays a part in as it should, because if, uh, I want to make sure my family's comfortable as well. So was it awkward? How was the conversation when Doug Armstrong called you about team Canada?

Uh, I mean, we're both professional. It was so much awkward. I mean, we've spoken after that, but we put it aside. I mean, the Olympics is a whole different thing, right? We had a different focus, you know, so I appreciate him still trusting me and my opinions along the way. There were some things that I had some input on

that was nicer than that. No, we kept the professional we have. I mean, things obviously didn't go away. Either of us wanted to do so. We both moved on and we tried to enjoy that process as much as we could, because we don't know if we're ever going to get another opportunity to be part of an Olympics, whether it's together or not.

So it was fun while it lasted, I guess, until they pulled the plug on it. Did you say, whatever you do, don't put Mark Stone on the Olympic team? Like, did you skewer any particular players like that? I said, no Mark Stone, no Shea Theodore.

Pete shouldn't be the coach. I tried. I tried. They didn't listen. You know, but the thing is, I know you're not going to say specifics but i think that's got to be pretty interesting that they would i'm sure they ask crosby his opinion too what's that like when someone says to you hey because you i mean you know how big a dream the olympics are you've got that gold medal what it must be like for someone to ask you hey what do you think about

this player this player or something like that? I mean, it's uncomfortable sometimes, you know, because you don't want to say anything bad about anybody, but ultimately, you know, they trust my, Connor's opinions. That's why we were named, you know, as the first three. So we had to give our input

because, you know, he's there to win. I'm there to win. You know, the coaches are there to win and the goal is to do that. So, you know, we're representing the country the best way we can. Sometimes you have to talk about uncomfortable things, but I'll say a few things, but their opinions last. But I mean, it's kind of fun talking about hockey, you know, with those guys, they, GMs and coaches always have a different opinion than players as well. So Alex, here's the thing, just in talking to people about you, you know what the number one thing that i heard

was you are one of the smartest people in the league when it comes to just business and knowing how to take care of your personal interests and things like that like every player has the opportunity to do some things because of the compensation. But I had several players tell me that you are one of the smartest, smartest players when it comes to preparing for retirement and things like that. You know, I don't like to pry. I don't like to ask anybody anything that's not my business. But I am interested in just the idea of preparing for your future. And what advice do you give and where did you learn it?

A little bit self-taught. I think, you know, a lot of guys over the years have told me, you know, you're not going to play that. David Backus was a really, really good friend of mine. And he always said the same thing. You can't play the game forever, right? So you certainly want to enjoy yourself. And we certainly feel comfortable where we and my wife are,

but you got to prepare because, you know, at 36 or 37, I can't lose track of how many years I've left. 37 or whatever it is, you know, I'm not going to be doing this anymore. So, you know, it's nice when you're making a living that we are, but it doesn't last forever. And, you know, my dad taught me that. And the other thing, too, for me, I think the further you get into your career, the longer you play. I don't want to say that, you know, maybe the game gets boring. That's probably not a good way to put it. But you try and find different interests, you know.

Try and keep your mind occupied. Now I'm busy. I got four kids. But, you know, when you're 21, 22, you go home from the rink, you play video games or whatever you do and get up to the next thing. And that's that. But I think once I started getting a little bit older and I started finding different interests I that's kind of how I got into figuring okay well maybe there's there is a life after hockey I'm not going to be able to do it forever

and I should probably start learning it takes time it takes learning it takes a lot of questions I ask a lot of questions and try and learn from a lot of different people but I think for me personally I think if I can help you know just one guy or two guys maybe in my career down the road and maybe help them be a little bit smarter with what they're doing in the future, then, you know, that's a win for me. Now, again, you can tell me if I'm being too nosy, but what advice do you give? Well, I guess there's a lot of different topics, but the big thing is what I did say that, you know, it's not going to last forever. You know, it might be something as simple as, you know it's not going to last forever you know it might be something as simple as you know let's just take a car for example you know it's like you want to buy this specific car but maybe it's not the right time to buy that car because maybe

you should wait till you get the next contract before you spend the money on that thing you know it's it's easy to kind of start thinking one way but sometimes you got to take a step back and look at the bigger picture and you guys know as you older, all of a sudden you have a mortgage and you got to pay for kids and you got to pay for kids school. And all of a sudden you're saying, oh, maybe back in the day, if I could have been a little bit smarter, I'd be a little bit different. It's not really anything too specific. I get questions all the time from guys. Sometimes I think I just pretend I'm smarter than I actually am. But I always tell guys, if I don't know the answer, I'll call somebody and I'll try and find the answer out

to try and help these guys. Because you only can live life through experience. And I guess I'm the old guy here, so I try and use my experience. I just want to say, Jeff, that one of the things a couple of guys told me was that they think that Alex, of all the players in the NHL,

they think he has one of the best work-life balances. Because obviously, Alex, you're the players in the NHL, I think he has one of the best work-life balances. Because obviously, Alex, you're a hell of a player. You work hard on your game at the top of the game, but also you're well-rounded in terms of your interests away from the rink and you doting on your family. And I had a few guys tell me that you have worked hard to figure that out. I can be a great player, but I can also be a great family person. I can be very smart about how we prepare for the future. And I was really amazed. That's what guys told me about you is that you seem to have a good pulse on a well-balanced life that a lot of other players want to get to.

I think, Alex, that's a phenomenal compliment, by the way. Yeah, and that is a compliment. I appreciate people saying that. It takes time, though, right? And anybody who's a new parent is going to say the same thing. The only thing that people tell you is that it's not going to be easy, right? So you've got to find that routine as a father and as a husband and a wife. I used to take work home all the time,

and I'm sure a lot of guys say the same thing in the game or whatever. But when I go home, my kids don't know if I played well or I played bad. My wife does. But, you know, they don't know the difference. They just want to know dad. So I think that has really helped me kind of leave work at work and homeless home. My wife's been really patient with me. And I owe a lot to her in terms of trying to find that balance because she's been very patient with, you know, understanding what I do for a living.

And it becomes stressful at times, but if there's anything I need, she kind of balances me out. So I think it's made me a better player. And I said that to people before is that, you know, finding that balance of being a father has made me a better person, a better player, because I can go to the rink every day and I feel refreshed. One, because I didn't think about hockey at home and I was joking earlier. I said, two,

it's probably just because I actually was able to get four kids to school somehow by myself. You know, we get them dressed somehow, I get them to school. So, and I don't want to keep dwelling on my wife, but it's not just me. It's a balance we have as a family and she's done a really good job helping me. We can never do it alone. Like we all know we're lucky, right? Like we look at them and our wives and say, how did I end up with this person? I couldn't stand myself if I was here, I'll tell you that. I'm all over the place. I mean, it's like,

I always say to her, I'm like, I don't know how you ended up with me because I'm just telling you, I just sometimes I look at myself and I say, my goodness, am I lucky? Oh, man. I got to tell you, I can't tell you how happy it makes me that I'm talking to this guy who's won a Stanley Cup, an Olympic gold medal, and accomplished everything

as a hockey player you have, and you say the same things about your wife that I do about mine. I can't tell you how excited that makes me. Yeah, well, you know what? I'm a human being too, right? I always tell people. I'm a father first, and then job comes second because kids are going to be around a lot longer

than the job is. So that's another thing I always preach on people. You got your priorities right. Alex, this has been a lot of fun. Really good catching up with you. I know you're a really busy guy. Thanks for taking time out of both your professional and personal life to do this with us. Much appreciated. Okay, guys. Good chatting with you. Thanks, Alex. Hope you enjoyed that conversation with Alex Petrangelo taking us out today a folk rock indie band from Kingston, Ontario. Willy Nilly was formed in 2019, writing acoustically led songs with lyrics that are dense yet vulnerable.

From their debut album, Dogs in Heaven, here's Willy Nilly with Home Alone on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. I'm trying to recall, but don't think there's any skill involved. I just remember bumping my way into place. on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. You know me and I'm just trying to go home Something about growing up Gets easier with the heavier stuff Cause I know you must have caught my bluff When I was walking out on you Little details I forget And I'm getting up in my own head Makes it easier to get to bed Outro Music me you know me that I'm better off alone