32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Darnell Nurse, Matthew Tkachuk & Andrew Mangiapane

Episode Date: October 1, 2021

Darnell Nurse (10:00) chats with Jeff and Elliotte about his new contract with the Oilers and the negotiation process, playing and living with Connor McDavid, and a book that helped him manage his emotions throughout the season. Matthew Tkachuk (21:30) joins the podcast to talk about the struggles his team had last season, managing emotions […]

One, two, three, four, five, six. One, two, three, four, five, six. You want to lean into it? So Elliot, we'll call this one the Alberta edition of 32 Thoughts the Podcast. Three interviews with three players who ply their trade in the province of Alberta. You will hear from Andrew Mangiapane. You will hear from Matthew Gitchuck. And in moments, we will hear from Darnell Nurse, defenseman with the Edmonton Oilers.

I want to start with a quick conversation about Andrew Mangiapane who I love I think you love as well 25 year old winger from from Bolton Ontario a six-round draft pick of the Flames never drafted in the OHL never played internationally won gold medal at the world championship was the double IHF MVP of the tournament. A really unlikely win for team Canada after dropping four games. Yup. Nick Paulo with the OT win.

Like it was a, it was a great world championship to follow. If you're a Canadian hockey fan, when I say the name, Andrew Mangiapane, what comes to your mind? Freach. I think of a guy who beat the odds.

A guy who wasn't a high pick. A guy who some scouts in the Calgary organization had to really go to bat for. And a guy who worked. And he tells an excellent story about his first meeting with the GM, Bradtree Living, and some points about making it to the NHL that he put in his wallet and he kept there yeah and like I like things like that I think we all like underdogs we all like long shots right you know he's a guy who's a long shot and he's a first line player in the NHL I mean there's no other way to say it highly skilled guy someone who's never been considered a

long shot is Matthew Kew kachuk this guy has been ticketed for greatness for a number of years and i don't know how else to describe matthew kachuk other than saying matthew kachuk is matthew kachuk like we all know what that hockey brand is at this point and in this interview and you've all seen the clip by now there's the uh the comments about the negotiations uh that his brother brady is going through uh with the ottawa senators but i'll ask you the same question i just did about manji apani when you hear his name what do you think i think thankfully he's a person who doesn't duck a question yes true he's a kachuk and it's basically what he talked about there

is that they're all wired a certain way, right? It was really interesting to hear him talk about the fact that they've never gotten off to a great start since he's been there. It actually reminds me, because I'm going to write a little bit about this interview for the blog this week, and I meant to go back through Calgary's Septembers

during his career or early seasons during his career and see exactly what they were because i i think that's pretty interesting like in this league we haven't done it in a couple years right jeff but i have the november 1st stat yeah that if you're four or more points out of the playoffs on november 1st you know you don't make the playoffs in the NHL. So imagine what it's like every year. It's Groundhog Day, and you are climbing out of a hole right away. Like, it's never easy.

And it's never easy at the best of times, but imagine when it's never easy all the time. Like, you're never breathing easy. It's a very difficult way to play i think this is a huge year in calgary and i i think it's a huge year for him it went sideways for him and everybody else last year yeah and i think he's going to come out this year with a lot to prove what do you make of the uh before we get the darnell nurse here in a second of the oilers a quick thought or two on the calgary flames listen the last couple of seasons have been messed up for everybody um last season was you know 56 games and no playoffs for the calgary

flames a lot of us thought well is that it for this group uh what we saw were a bunch of daryl sutter type players come in your uh blake coleman's for example brad richardson's and nikita zadorov's these types of players come into the flames organization the question that i have is is that enough to get the flames back to the playoffs i don't know the answer to that but what do you see are they are the burning questions this year maybe the obvious one is a johnny gaudreau situation but what do you see are the burning questions for the flames this season well well to me the number one question is you know how do you get monaghan back to being the player he was i would think the number one way to get him back to being the player he was is keep him

healthy. That is true, but he hasn't been an impactful guy in a couple of years now. So to me, that's the number one question. He has to be a pretty important player on your roster. This is a team that's not going to play to score a lot of goals. So when you have a guy who historically has had that kind of touch around the net like you know him he can score from in close but i think you need to put him with someone who can get the puck to in close and then he's got to be willing to go there and score quick pause on money you're 100 right on that if you look at all the play all the areas that he's scored it's always right in front of the net. That's where Sean Monahan scores his goals, period.

Sorry, Freed, continue. No worries. So I think you have to find a way to get him going again. The second thing is they could make the playoffs in that division. They're good enough to make the playoffs. Daryl Sutter is going to have them play a certain way, and they're all going to stick to it, and they're going to grind, and they're going to be in a lot of games.

Here's my question. In the West west you need a backup who can play is dan vladar that guy we don't know we're going to find out no one can tell you definitively there's no way we haven't seen enough of a body of work from a 24 year old to me that's a big question you know i i don't think my playing marks from 74 games is going to work uh those days are long gone yeah darnell nurse edmonton oilers and his big story in the offseason was of course the eight year 74 million dollar contract from which he can thank a number of different defensemen who helped raise the prices for defensemen around the league thoughts on Darnell Nurse before we get to some thoughts on Edmonton here well I never have a

problem with someone securing the bag as the young kids say nice you're worth what someone's willing to pay you and I never have a problem with someone who says yes to a big contract um you know we mentioned this in the interview so I went to to go see Anthony Stewart's kids one day in August at their camp. And I'll tell you this, there were a lot of talented kids there and they could really shoot the puck. That's one thing I know is what every single one of those kids could really shoot the puck. There were two speeches during the time I was there. The first was Darnell nurses and the second was mine. and guess who the kids were paying more attention to I'll give you yes it was unquestionably me you're the guy it's the guy

with the podcast wow cool that's right so as a matter of fact like after nurse left they took a bunch of kids took pictures with them and then he left and I walked in there and I said guys like I'm gonna be really quick because I I don't like following that. And the kids were actually laughing that I said that, you know, nurse was, was really good to them. Like talking about how you can't ride the rollercoaster of emotions. And the kids asked him really good questions. He said, the key thing was you don't ride that rollercoaster of emotions. There's going to be bad days and you have to handle that.

You know, he talked about like like he really felt his big key was he wasn't afraid of work he comes from a family of athletes obviously you know his dad his his mom his sister his cousins they're all athletes they understand the work that it takes and he talked about his book and the book that he that he read and it was funny like Anthony after it was over, actually, I can't remember if it was Anthony or someone else. It might've been Anthony who said, okay, how many of you are going to go buy that book?

And all the kids put up their hands. And the guy said, well, how many of you are going to go buy that book today? And the kids were like, today? I don't know if I can get it done today. And they're like, the whole point he's making is that you do it right away. So you don't forget about it.

It was really funny. Like it was just, it was a really good conversation, but I really liked listening to what nurse had to say. And those kids were really riveted to him. Like I know when I was talking to them and I did make it quick, they weren't riveted to me, but they sure were riveted to him.

What do you make of the Oilers this season? My nickel and dime thoughts on it are they improved up front, but still question marks about the blue line and the goaltending question lingers. I wrote that last week, and it was actually the day of his first media conference, and Ken Holland said, I'm not really looking at a goalie right now.

I'm with you. I think that's going to be a season-long story, and I know you're on the Hudobin train. I know that that's one thing you're going to be watching. Neil and Ken Holland have a relationship going back to Detroit. To me, it just seems too obvious. I wouldn't be surprised if there's somebody else in Edmonton working with Smith at some point in the season.

Shame about Staloc, too. Absolutely. That's just a terrible story. And on that, we'll hear from these three gentlemen. Andrew Mangiapane, Matthew Kachuk, both of the Calgary Flames. But up first, Darnell Nurse of the Edmonton Oilers on us here on the podcast.

First of all, thanks so much for joining us. Second of all, congratulations on the new deal with the Edmonton Oilers. As much as you can, before we get into the hockey side of things, the business part of things, as much as you can, what was this negotiation like from your point of view? How did you get there? I mean, there's a lot of things that took place, obviously, before and during the process of us negotiating with our agents,

negotiating with Canyon and Edmonton. And it all came down to, I mean, there's comparables and then numbers were set within the market. And then it's kind of, you know, get in where you fit in. And from the business side, there was, for me, battling, you know, trying to go shorter at around four years to, you know, all the way to a contract that will be nine years with my one year left, eight years plus a one year left.

So, yeah, there was a lot of juggling going on. all the way to a contract that will be nine years with my one year left, eight years plus a one year left. So, yeah, there was a lot of juggling going on. And for me, it was great for once in my career to have a long contract. I mean, this was kind of the purpose of doing two shorter contracts, my first one being, I think it was three years, and then two and two after my entry level. So this was kind of the whole purpose of doing that, was to be able to be in a position where I was here and able to get in for my entry level. So this was kind of the whole purpose of doing that was to be able to be in a position where I was here and able to get in for my market value.

At any point, was it stressful? For me, it wasn't stressful because my whole mindset really going into the summer was I'll go play next year. It's no problem. And see where everything shakes out. And I said that's been my mindset really since I got into the NHL. That's why I did two bridge deals. It's, you know, I'm fine to go play.

I believe in myself and what I'm capable of. And yeah, so when, you know, everything kind of unfolded throughout the summer, obviously it's nice to have a long deal and to see the organization and the management have that same belief in me that having myself is, you know, it means a lot and there's no sense of being like, okay, this is, I got my deal. I'm fine. There's no sense of that.

I got a lot more work to do and it just made me more and more hungry. The first thing I want to ask you was there was a point where I heard you were going to sign a four-year extension. And then I heard that that had been stopped and said, no, no, we're going full eight. What happened in between that time? I'm not sure what happened. There was this, it was negotiation. Like things were, uh, it was moving. Like it wasn't like the whole negotiation

wasn't like, Hey, we went in with one idea. I think both sides were very open to different, different options. It just shook out that a long-term deal was, was what played out. Did your family say anything to you? Like Darnell, your family's really close. They're really smart.

They know sports obviously very well. Some families stay right out of that. Your family knows the business. So I wonder how much they talk to you about what you should do. I'm really fortunate because my family does know the business and they'll give their two cents,

but they'll never pressure me to do one thing or another. Like even having talked to my dad over first two negotiations that he comes from a football background, right? So everything within football is, okay, you got to get as much money for as long as possible. And this was his mindset. First two times went negotiate

and i just said dad no i'm gonna bet on myself i believe in myself and uh he's like what you know what is that so it was just like so having had gone through that twice my family yeah they'll give me their opinion why not but then they knew at the end of the day like i was just gonna do what i wanted to do what i felt was best and whatnot, but they knew at the end of the day, like I was just going to do what I wanted to do and what I felt was best for myself and for my family. Because at the end of the day, like, I mean, now I got to sound like I'm not just worried about myself. I'm worried about his future and whatnot.

So, but I was taking that, taking that all into account. But with that said, I do have a lot of confidence in myself. Like I can't, I can't deny that. It's really interesting to me because there have been times in my career where I've done short and there've been times in my career when I've done long and I do it for me. There was a time I had to do short to bet on myself, but it created a lot of stress internally. So you've done that now twice. And I think that's a good thing, Darnell, to teach young people how to know when to bet on yourself and how not to get overwhelmed by saying I'm taking a short deal because I'm going to gamble on yourself how do

you do it like for young people listening to this how do you handle that where you may be giving up security because you believe in your ability well I think like through it, and I probably had this mindset more the second time. Not so much the – I had the first bridge deal, but the second bridge deal, the one that I'm on the second year of now, I had this mindset more. It was like there's only one thing I can control, and that was my work ethic. So I always said I would watch my film and stuff and be like, okay, I know what I can be as a player and like what I'm pushing to be as a player.

Like, it's not just going to happen. Right. Like, so it almost came to, I was no longer worried about the numbers or years or what was going on or like the numbers I was going to put up and how it was all going to play out.

It was like, the only thing I can control is my work and like how I'm going to grow as a player is I'm going to start outworking everyone. So that was this day. Like you're still going to find people that work harder than you and then you got to find a way to get the upper hand on them right like this is so I kind of shifted the mindset of you know if I'm going to bet on myself I'm going to bet on myself but I can't be continuously thinking about the fact oh my god I did a short-term deal what else could this have been you make that commitment to yourself and within that commitment you're also committing to the amount of work that's going to take

to get yourself that next deal or get yourself that security let me start in by talking about the oilers here now on the ice we've talked to a lot of forwards mainly about what it's like to play with connor mcdavid plenty of people have shared that perspective. But you're on the ice a lot with Connor. From a defenseman's point of view, how do you play with Connor McDavid? He's fun to play with. And I don't say that only just from an offensive standpoint. I think a very underrated part of how he's been growing his game has been in the defensive zone and his awareness

and trying to help out the D-men down low and being in good spots if something breaks down so he can help out defensively. Obviously, you look at the highlights and he's beating three people up the ice and setting up that backdoor goal. But as a D-man, if you can break up the puck up the middle of the ice where he has time and space, you're out of your zone 100% of the time that you get on the puck. On top of that, with his commitment to wanting to be better in the defensive zone, and he's not as good as he is for no reason. He's very obsessive in his work and his craft.

And when he puts that kind of mindset, too, into the defensive side of the puck, some of the strides I even think he made last year and the year before, it's going to be scary. He can be a very, very good all-around player. As good as he already is. He's the best player in the league, in my opinion. Sure, I might be a little biased. I don't think you're going to get too many arguments.

I really don't. Very controversial team. I think I'm sure I'm biased. You know, the one thing that must be frightening, and you would have known this because you would have played against him in the Sioux in junior, is when he starts playing around his speeds. Oh, yeah, toys with D-men and yeah, yeah, yeah. Does he do it to you in practice ever?

Well, he tries. No, no, of course. That's one of my favorite things is being able to practice. It's him and Leon. These are two guys. I know it's practice, but there's no days off in practice. I'm yapping at them, they're yapping at me, and we're just trying to beat each other all the time.

So being able to play against them in practice and see what they're capable of, it's scary. It's fun to be on the other side of it when the game starts, to be on the same side as them, but in practice to play against it. Is it always a good time to give him the puck? In the right spots, right? You've got to think most teams that we play against they got one guy that wants to shadow him or they're just trying to take away his speed

right and i think you know for our team to have that secondary scoring and to have you know other people that are are able to put the puck in the net and create plays that's what makes it important because other teams are so obsessed with with one person and trying to shut down one person i mean you look at we have probably two of the best playmaking forwards up there probably top five in the league so you know everyone's worried about them if we're able to find some secondary you know whether it's from the back end up front like there's got to be ways that all of us as a whole around them can can contribute to what's one thing you learned about him being his roommate that people don't know? I think it's just his attention to detail.

I mean, it's easy to say, okay, he's dialed in, and they worry about their nutrition and everything. No, this is a whole different extreme. There's nothing going in this guy's body that's not making him better, which was eye-opening for me because this is at a young age, right? This is at 18, 19 years old. And I was 21 at the time. I wasn't even at that point.

Are you that way now? Yeah, for sure. I was hoping you would tell me he's like the biggest slob alive or something like that. No, he's not a big slob. No, he's not a big slob. He kept his side of the house freezing cold and my side of the house was super hot.

It was a tornado in the middle of the condo. Let me ask you about another player, Yessi Pouliarvi. How is he different since he came back? That's just a workhorse. Just comes to the rink every day, on the ice he's working, off the ice he's working.

And I think, you know, maybe there's a little bit of pressure when he first came to Edmonton. Obviously, you get drafted in that position. And he came back, and he just smiles and brings great energy to the rink. And I think that's why he's had some success now being back. And as a teammate, he's one of my favorite guys to be around in the room just because of that good energy and obviously the work that he brings.

You gave a speech I saw last week to Anthony Stewart's young group of guys. And you mentioned a book that you said, first of all, you gave great advice. You said you can't ride the roller coaster of emotions. You have to be as flat as you can, but there's a book you said that really helped you.

Yeah. What's that book? The Mindful Athlete by George Mumford. Actually, Juja Arquera played on our team. He recommended it to me. I read the book. I actually kind of read it at a perfect time. As any player that you're

on social media or whatever, there are so many highs, so many lows. You can have a game when you score one goal. You're just like, I'm the best player in the world. You can have another game when you're minus two. All of a sudden, two days later, you're the worst player in the world. Finding a way, the book is unbelievable, but just finding a way to detach from result

and more so just focus on the process of being a great player. And that kind of ties into like we were talking about at the beginning when we were talking about work ethic. Those are the type of things as a player you need to hone in on because you can't control everything that's going on on the outside. Just control what you can't control. Well, I think we've all got our fingers crossed. Big things on the horizon, not just for you, Darnell, but your Oilers as well.

Thanks so much for doing this. Best of luck this season. Thank you, fellas. Matthew Kuchuk, Calgary Flames, joins us on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. How was summer in St. Louis? It was good to have a little normal back in my life after the last little while. It was fun to see people that I didn't get to see all season being Canada. Not one person that I came up and visited. I didn't see my brother probably more times than I would have liked to during the year, but it was nice to have some normal back, but now

I'm getting ready again. You know, cause you have a really close family, your brother, your sister, your parents, like you guys are around each other quite a bit. It must've been very strange for you not to have them. Yeah, it was weird. Normally whenever I play Brady, everybody comes up to those games. So to play them nine times and have nobody there at all, that was weird. But we made up for it this summer. We had a couple of trips. Just got back from going to Virginia to see my sister play field hockey there. Yeah, we had some fun. It was good. Awesome. When I see what the Calgary Flames and Daryl Sutter, it seemed as if all the moves that were

being made this offseason were very much Daryl Sutter moves for Daryl Sutter-type players. What do you expect your team to be like next season? Yeah, well, if that's the case, I have a pretty good idea how we're going to be playing. You know, I think that we didn't have success last year. Everybody knows it. And, you know, we've got a lot of, you know, basically most of the guys are coming back.

So we all want a shot to try to change the narrative on our team right now. And it's been very average there the past however many years. I mean, that's no secret. So I've said it a lot this summer, but it really is time. Time, we don't have forever to change this. The guys that are there right now. And we want to win in Calgary. We love it there.

I love it there. And I think it's the year where something has to happen and we have to take that next step. And I know guys are prepared to do that. We all have it in our heads like enough is enough. And we're excited to go out there and come up with a good start. I haven't had a good start there in each year. What have I?

This is year six, crazy. And I think our team's been you know right around 500 after the first month or first you know two months every season so we got to come out of the gate strong i know the one year we won the west we had still came out of the gates not very strong but then won like 25 like 27 after that and just set ourselves up great so it'd be nice to come out of the gate a bunch of games above 500 and just roll from there when you look back at last year what went sideways because it looked like it had promise yeah i i just think that you know we had we were honestly feeling good after the first couple games of the year we had a week off i mean it's not an

excuse but i'm just saying like a lot of out-of-rhythm stuff. And then, I mean, we're in a fight all the way to the end when you think about it. I mean, we finished the season three points behind Montreal, so that's what pisses me off the most and makes me the most upset is there were games of the year and times

where I wish I could have had more of an impact or wish I could have been out there more to make an impact. Because at the end of the day, the team that beat us by three points is playing in the Stanley Cup final. So I definitely didn't have the greatest summer watching them go all the way. And we don't even have a big rivalry with them or anything. It was just frustrating to see them because we were the team fighting with them.

I thought we were a better team at the time, beat them a lot more than they beat us. That's a really good point. You're probably sitting there watching the Toronto series and saying, that could have been us. And then you're watching the Winnipeg series and you're like, that could have been us. Yeah, easily, not easily, but it would have been.

There's times I think of games midway through the year, mid-March or mid-April where I don't understand what happened and felt like we could have put ourselves in a better spot at the end of the season put it that way it's a shortened season i know you're probably not going to accept this um you say oh that's an excuse forget about it we all put the same amount of games but did you feel like you're a team that just ran out of runway that if it were an 82 game season we could have seen the calgary flames in the playoffs yeah i think so i think that we were trending if that no maybe that's not the right word but it just made no sense you know

the games at the end when they didn't mean as much you know that's when we started playing better and you know guys were playing up to the you know our standards more i know that it's frustrating for me those are the games that uh me and you know i, I was playing with Johnny and Lindy at the end of the year and some of those games that didn't matter. That's when we started playing, you know, feeling it again. It's just, that's where it's frustrating too. Like why couldn't it have happened earlier? And, you know, happened two games earlier

when two of them that we lost and we're in playoffs. So, but that year, we'll not forget that year. We'll definitely not forget that year. I'm just very motivated to come out with a better start this year. You know, one of the things, Matthew, I was kind of wondering was, it was that game against Toronto with Muzzin, and it looked to me like you were frustrated that you were trying to drag the flames into the fight

and it wasn't always there with you. And from outside, that's what we are all kind of thinking. Did you have that kind of a thing? No, I think that guys on my team are, you know, very competitive team and guys that were very willing to come in there and play that type of style and everything like that. I just think losing with me is frustrating. It doesn't matter, you know, how we lose or what happens. I know a lot of people said stuff like that, but you know, that's the past and moved on. And, you know, I think we have very, very, very competitive team

and guys that really want to win and which i like more is hate to lose and that's probably the biggest thing with me is and i know i get myself in trouble a lot very emotional and animated and stuff but we have a lot of guys that hate to lose as well and i just react different ways than most guys but no we definitely have a competitive team and a team that sticks together i wonder because listen you're a player and we've known this about you for a long time. Like to your point, you hate losing and you'll show it and you'll wear it and fans appreciate it. 82 games is a long season.

And, you know, I always wonder about managing emotions throughout a season. Make sure the highs aren't too highs and the lows aren't too low. Just sort of, I know fans want to see like, ah, we lost the game, smash a stick over the crossbar. Yeah, that guy hates losing. And part of me says, I'd rather have that guy just be able to park it and move on to the next game. You mentioned you've been in the league now for a while.

How much now do you try to manage your emotions throughout a season so you're not just exhausted yeah like mentally by the end i think i've gotten better even though you know just named an incident where obviously wasn't you're a kachuk yeah exactly i i seem to you know you know lose it a little bit every once in a while but i've gotten way better throughout my career my first year i mean i wouldn't even say my highs were too high i was just you know freaking out when we'd lose and everything. And I was never really used to losing. I was winning everywhere I went before that. So I was never used to that. And, but then, you know, my first year, it was funny. We, you know, we're bottom of the pack, the first half and then second half,

we won 10 in a row and we made playoffs. So that was some of the most fun hockey I've been a part of in the NHL. So you are right though. You You have to be even-keeled in the NHL. You have to be. You're going to stress yourself out or you're going to be a distraction or whatever. So I've been trying to get better with that. But at the end of the day, I'd rather have somebody that's emotional than not. Somebody that cares as opposed to somebody that can just easily park it and stuff. You have to be able to meet in the middle.

But that's how we're going to get out of it in Calgary and become a better team. And we're bringing in guys that are have won we're bringing in blake coleman who has won recently knows what it takes to win the nhl now so he'll be great for us and he'll be great guy to talk to and who does hit that intersection that you talk about between caring but not letting it be overwhelming um i think one of the most competitive guys on my team, I'd say two of them are two guys I've been fortunate enough to play that have been my centers most of my career is Backlund and Lindholm. I think they're the perfect medium with that and two of the most underrated players that nobody talks about.

But great leaders, great workers, hard workers, and very good for me to have too because I know I'm emotional, but they kind of can keep me down, but they also care a ton. So those are good guys to have in my corner. So you're saying they have to be Swedish. That's basically what it comes down to. Our whole team's Swedish now. So the Calgary Swedes now, not the Calgary Flames, but no, I love them.

They're great. They're great guys. This year you're going to walk into the dressing room for the first time since you've been there. There's going to be no Mark Giordano. Yeah. It's going to be weird. It is going to be weird.

How is it going to change things? I think it's going to change a lot more than probably we're expecting, to be honest. I mean, he's 980 games or 50 games as a flame, whatever it is, and he's been my teammate for five years, been the captain, the guy where if I needed anything or if I had just anything to ask about on ice stuff, off ice stuff, he was the guy.

So now there's no more of that, but we have a great group of guys that are leaders of all ages. Some young guys, some old guys, some guys that are middle-aged guys. So we're gonna have to do it by committee when it comes to leadership stuff and all the side stuff that Gio easily took care of

and easily no questions asked was in charge of and just such a great leader. So we're going to miss him. And that's not even talking about the player he was. We have some great defenders, but Gio did it all, every situation. So we're going to need guys to do it by committee back there. But we have some really good young defensemen that are going to be willing to do that stuff. I look at Hannafin as a guy who's really going to take us up this year,

one of my best buddies. He was good. He's a great player. He really is. And then Rasmus Anderson, Valimaki, some guys that are going to really take that next step. What did you think when you first started hearing the rumors that Daryl's coming?

I have heard those rumors for a while and it just seemed, uh, you know, if they're going to do it, it'd be like at the beginning of the year or whatever. So I think I heard those rumors ever since the stuff with Billy happened. And I think that was true. Like once that happened, I think they started asking him, what would you think? So I don't know if that's technically a rumor. think that's a fact but it was so long after that first rumor that i'm like oh now they're like again like terrible hockey reporting yeah but it was uh but we just got a text after one of the games he's coming team zoom called tomorrow it was all business it was quick during the year you know we just beat ottawa seven three one of the better games we played so everyone's on a high and then it happens like oh

that's what I mean. That year was all about stuff like that. It was a frigging roller coaster. Last one for me, and you can tell me if I'm overstepping my bounds. Do you talk to Brady at all during this? During the season or during the summer? No, now as he's going through his situation. All the time. I'm in the mix.

It's a family business. Nobody wants to deal with the Kachuks in this, but we do it by a committee. Yeah. It's, yeah. How is he doing? He's doing great. How is he doing through this?

I want to hear what Brady might be. What were you about to say? He might be pulling a classic Kachuk right now. I mean, dad held out, Matthew held out, and Brady looks like he's on his way right now. So hopefully it gets, hopefully we can get it figured out here. But there's just a lot of fake stuff out there regarding this. They're not too close.

So hopefully it gets figured out, but who knows. But my dad and I are definitely involved. Brady needs us to help him out with that stuff. He wasn't as cutthroat as we were during it, but he's starting to become more of a kachuk the later this goes. So it's good though. He's a great player, deserves to get everything he should. And he's the most important part of their team, the captain. I mean, obviously all the stuff that all of us know about him and he loves it there. Absolutely loves it there. So

we'll see what happens. But now being in Calgary, I won't be involved as much, obviously. He's represented by Newport and dad and older brother. Yeah, he's a good chuck. That's how we do it. I'm hoping it gets better soon, but I guess it can only get better from the sounds of it. We'll see. This has been great.

Listen, good luck with the Flames. We didn't even ask you about Olympics, but fingers fingers crossed we'd love to see you yeah that's the biggest goal of mine so i hope uh hope that can happen and speaking of braid i hope i can do it with them that'd be uh that'd be pretty special very cool awesome thanks guys Please be joined now by Andrew Mangiapane of the Calgary Flames. First of all, thanks for doing this. Second of all, how was your summer, as abbreviated as it might have been for a lot of people, and certainly the players you skate with, how was your summer on the ice? Yeah, first off, thanks for having me.

My summer's been good. My offseason has been good. Obviously, I went over to Latvia there and took some time off summer, but obviously it was well worth it. But yeah, I've just been training with Andy O'Brien and good trainer and just a good group of guys that go there. Quick little detour on Latvia. I've always maintained with all the respect to Canadian hockey fans and american fans or delicious that latvian hockey fans are the best in the world period they're winning they're losing they don't care they're singing they're drinking they're having a good time what was your latvian experience like see i i heard that too but uh because of covid there was restrictions i think they allowed people in the quarterfinals game and semis and finals right so i don't know it wasn't even full capacity or anything like finals right so i don't know it wasn't even

full capacity or anything like that right so i was uh hoping that they were gonna allow fans to come in and watch but yeah it didn't really uh end up kind of happening only i don't even know how what the limit was but yeah it wasn't really wasn't packed did you like it there yeah yeah it was fun it was a great experience again we were kind of in the bubble so it would have been nice to be able to maybe go go outside and just experience Latvia it was my first time overseas so uh would have been nice to just kind of travel and do all like the tourist stuff a little bit and maybe stay an extra week after the tournament was over or something like that but yeah I couldn't really do anything because of COVID.

So you've never really traveled before? No. So like what's number one on your list? You know, when we finally get a normal summer and we can all travel again, where's the first place you're going? It'd eventually have to be Italy, right? Just go back there. Apparently there's a Mangiapane cave.

Are you serious? Yeah, yeah, yeah. When I was playing in Stockton, a fan came up to me And showed me pictures of their They went on a trip And there's apparently a Manjapani cave That I don't know

Maybe my ancestors just kind of lived in Where? I think it's in Sicily Yeah Don't know anything about it Don't know much about anything But it was pretty cool Just to kind of see the pictures

And I have to go back to Italy I gotta say that is really cool that you might, you're probably the only guy in the NHL that has a cave named after you. Like that is an outstanding, outstanding accomplishment. Yeah. Did you ask your family about it at all or anything? Talked to my dad a little bit about it and I don't

know if he knew either, right? It was just kind of, oh, interesting. I don't think he's been to Italy at all either. So I think maybe we have to take a family trip out there. My mom doesn't really like to fly, so it's even tough to get her out to some of my games in Calgary and all that. So I think she's only been out there once or twice.

What does she like less, flying or watching you play? What does she like less? Probably flying, I'd say. Some parents, I know, they get twisted up in knots watching their kids. Yeah, she does, but then she's also happy if I do something good. She's yelling at the TV if I get hit

or maybe a dirty hit or penalty or something. It could be the cleanest hit in the world, but it'll still be very dirty in her eyes. Every play, apparently she's yelling at something, yelling at the TV, good or bad. You've probably heard this before. there's an old saying in hockey um a smaller player has to prove he can play a bigger player has to prove that he can't you seem to be someone that's always defied odds and defied stereotypes and jumped over every hurdle etc has it always felt like that to you

yeah i'd say so i feel like a lot of kind of ups and downs on my path to the nhl just being a smaller player you know you always kind of you know you're too small to play in the nhl just kind of go to ncaa get your schooling i was always told that right and that's what i was doing i was i was studying kind of for the sats i was prepared just to kind of go the school route and you know if i if i end up in the NHL, I end up playing in the NHL. But most important, just kind of go to the NCAA, get your schooling, and get something out of hockey, right? And then kind of took a turn when Dale Howardchuck

and the Barry Colts organization just kind of – it was out of the blue. He basically said, hey, we want to sign you. And my mom was originally fighting with Dale saying, because she was my agent at the time, saying, what do you mean you want to sign him? He's too small. No. And then they were just kind of going back. And he's like, no, no, miss, no, lady. We like your son. We think he's a good hockey player. and even after they said they wanted to sign me, the parents and I kind of went out and we were still saying, I don't know if we should sign. We're just kind of scared because once you play a game or whatever it is,

you lose your... Exhibition game. Yeah, yeah. And then you lose your eligibility to go NCAA and it was just nerve wracking because that's all we were ever told to do is just go NCAA and that's what your son's going to do.

There's no OHL for him. It's just go NCAA. He's what your son's going to do there's no OHL for him it's just go NCAA he's too small and yeah it was just kind of a weird kind of how it went and even now we still kind of laugh about it how my mom's kind of was yelling at Dale Hall of Famer great player great person. 1500 points whatever. Yeah yeah and she's kind of yelling at him arguing with him and I'm sitting there in the corner and my dad's sitting there just shaking our heads and, but yeah, she was the best agent I think I've ever had.

So that was good. I heard a story. I don't know the answer to this question. So it's like a lawyer always says, never ask a question unless you know the answer to it. So I'm, I'm going a bit naked here, but I heard after your, in your first season with the flames, there was a meeting you had and then you

carried a note with you in your wallet. Yeah. What is this? What, what is this story? When was that? I think that was, I showed it to Tree. Tree, my first day kind of getting, getting, I want to say my first camp, he kind of wrote

down kind of three things that I need to improve on, need to work on and just kind of wrote down kind of three things that I need to improve on, need to work on, and just kind of things that me going back to the minors, just trying to get better. It was just things like that and just kind of always practice hard every day is a day to kind of get better, things like that. And I just kind of kept that with me. It was my first camp and Tree gave that to me and said, you know, you want to play in the NHL, these are your goals, right? When we send you, you're a young guy, just go back to the Barry and just get better, right? Yeah, it just kind of kept it with me throughout all these years.

You still have it? I still have it. Not on me right now. It's in my other wallet that I have, right? But it was just kind of – Are you still taking it to games? Yeah, it's just been in my – I got a big kind of big wallet that I have. A Costanza wallet that's got lots right? But it was just... Are you still taking it to game? Yeah, it's just been in my... I got a big kind of big wallet that I have.

We got Costanza wallet that's got lots of papers in it. I had to take out a lot of things and kind of declutter it. The guys were kind of giving it to me, but I still have that in there. What's on it? Like, what does it say on it? Three points. It was, you know, every day's a day to get better. When you go back, practice at NHL pace.

Don't kind of lower yourself to the junior pace and just always keep pushing and always just trying to keep getting better. That was kind of like the gist of it. I just kind of kept it. Just wanted to some days just keep it there for a reminder just to push myself and just try to be the best player I could be. Outside of your parents parents which is the obvious and always correct answer to this question and i think of your mom arguing with dale howard check that's an amazing visual that i'm going to

take away from today who's had the biggest influence on your on your career maybe it's just a comment maybe it's someone you played against maybe it's a teammate maybe it's a coach maybe it's a zamboni driver there's someone that sticks out for you um obviously it would probably be my parents and uh my sisters always supported me uh growing up just through going through hockey and you know sometimes helping me out with my homework and maybe i got some coloring i needed to do and stuff like that and they would kind of help out there and they were always kind of they were always kind of supporting with uh whatever i i do but um other than i guess kind of those four it would probably be dale howard chuck and you know the the berry organization um they brought

me on and and believed in me when no one else uh really did i wasn't going there to make the berry colts i was going there to just see if I had a career in hockey, right? They just wanted to kind of measure myself up against their first round picks. And, and I was going there, just didn't know much, right? I didn't know anyone on the team. I knew kind of Ackbod was there. That's it, right? I didn't know really any, anyone didn't know what to expect. And they saw something in me when really nobody else did, right? They didn't care that I was too small or that I was a toothpick or skinny. They saw that I was a good hockey player and

they just gave me the opportunity and I just kind of ran with it from there. It's interesting to hear you talk about this because it's kind of the same thing happened in the NHL, right? Like it was a team in Calgary that saw something in you and you took a big step last year.

You're really improving as a player. You know, you were a big part of a world championship team that I think surprised and impressed us all. Did you ever see the movie Rocky III? Have you ever seen that movie? I've seen Rockies. I don't know if I've watched.

Okay. So it's the one with Mr. Clever. It's the one with Mr. T. And there's a scene in there and where they talk about scene in there where they talk about the eye of the tiger. Do you lose it? Do you keep it? And I wonder, for everything you've done,

do you ever worry about losing that eye of the tiger? Do you ever worry about that? I don't think so, right? I think just kind of the way I kind of grew up and the way that I've always played, it was always trying to be the best player you can be. And that's my thinking behind really everything, right? It's just kind of work hard and be the best person for you for anything that you can do, right? And that's just kind of how I look at it with everything I do kind of in my life, whether it's on the ice, off the ice, just kind of always train, work hard, and just always give it your all out there.

Do you have to win in everything you do? Like when you play board games and things like that or video games? I don't know what your other – Yeah, I'm very, very, very competitive there, right? Terrible loser? Terrible loser. Hate to lose. That was the one question that someone asked me there. Do you hate to lose or you love to win, right?

And mine's, I don't know if it's the right answer or whatever it is, but yeah, love winning, but I hate losing. I'm a big suck with kind of everything. Maybe throwing away to cheat and put it to my favor, bend the rules a little bit there, but that's just who I kind of am. What did you think when you heard Daryl Sutter was coming? I was excited. I really didn't know what to expect. I know Gio and Looch were kind of hearing the rumblings, and they were kind of warning us a little bit. I like him as a coach.

He is what he is, right is right he's gonna yell at you whether you're a top player or the worst player whether it's um you mess up whatever it is but you got to know that okay if he's uh hard on you he's uh hard on everybody and he's hard on you because he wants the best out of you right he wants you to always work hard always want you to do your best so he's obviously a good coach. He's won, right? And that's what I guess Calgary wants to do. We want to win, right? And I want to win.

So maybe that's the way. Maybe everyone just kind of needs a little extra push. And maybe he's the guy to, you know, take us to the next level. I was looking at, you know, just looking at some things for the Flames offseason. And I noticed, you know, obviously you're a left-hand shot. Jack Eichel's a right-hand shot. That would be pretty good setting you up there from time to time. Yeah, no, no.

I don't know really what's going to happen, but obviously. Sanford doesn't apply to players, by the way. Speak freely, Andrew. Yeah, no, obviously he's a great player, right? So I think any team kind of that ends up with him is going to be, I guess, pretty lucky, right? So he's a good player. I just kind of skated with him over at the Biosteel.

He wasn't really doing all contact drills or anything like that, but he was looking good, and you could see that he still has it. Were you talking to him about good places to live in Calgary at all? No, I wasn't giving him any of that. I didn't want to pressure him too much there. My colleague's on a fishing trip right now, and we're being given the wrap, so you're off the hook. Andrew, thanks so much for stopping by.

Wish you continued success, and best of luck with the Flames this year. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right, and there you have it. That's our podcast for today. Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks to our guests as well, Andrew Mangiapane, Matthew Kachuk, both of the Calgary Flames, and Darnell Nurse of the Edmonton Oilers. This is really cool here.

Taking us out, an artist who just released his debut album, When the Magic Hits. Adrian Sutherland has been making music for years, but it's his love of hockey that brings his music to our podcast. Now, a bit about Adrian and his passion for the game from a 2017 blog post. As a boy in Attawapiskat, I started playing hockey and net on the outdoor rink. I wasn't a good player and my skating was choppy, so I got thrown in nets. The school would collect donated gear from the south and we each got what we could grab. My goalie pads were from the 60s era, old faded brown leather pads, a glove and blocker. I only had a flimsy back catcher chest plate for protection and recall feeling intense pain after blocking each shot.

One day I decided to reinforce the plate with layers of tape and cardboard and that seemed to do the trick. That's awesome. With that, from his debut album, When the Magic Hits, here's Adrian Sutherland with Big City Dreams on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Chasing big city dreams Got no fear Cause I got a song that will get me the hell out of here But every time I get my feet moving

For a moment I see you, then you disappear There was a time I knew I was going somewhere If only I could find my way clear But every time I get the wheels turning Get the wheels turning This damn road's closed again

And I'm still here Oh, I Just wanna sing my song for you