32 Thoughts: The Podcast - European Voices

Episode Date: September 4, 2023

Training Camps are weeks away! Elliotte kicks off the podcast by discussing some of the latest news from around the league and then the guys chat with several NHLers from the European Media Tour in Stockholm. They catch up with Rasmus Sandin (6:15), Filip Zadina (20:20) + a Montana's Thought Line question, Jesper Bratt (31:10), Martin Necas (45:40) and Hampus Lindholm (58:25). Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailMusic Outro: The Darcys - The RiverListen to the full track HEREThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.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.

philip zadina play for san jose sharks are you used to saying that yet no not really i don't know how to really pronounce that like because i would say in my language i would say san jose someone's saying like san jose how do you get there prague what yeah i'll go prague to munich minikoff yeah and then fly into san francisco there's a flight from Munich to San Francisco 12 hours it's like 11.50 that is something it's something different than I was used to

to Detroit it's like 8 hours flight and this is 12 happy Labor Day everyone hope you're enjoying the end of your summer I don't understand these places where school starts in August. That's basically child abuse and shouldn't be allowed to happen. Jeff Merrick has the weekend off.

I am nothing if not a benevolent dictator. And this is basically an interview pod from the European tour. A little bit of news off the top, but generally interviews. You're going to hear from in order Rasmus Sandin, Philip Zedina very newsy, Jesper Bratt, Martin Natchez and Hampus Lindholm but first just a little bit of news I want to go through first a couple of things to keep an eye on as we head towards the opening of training camps in a couple of weeks. And also you're going to start to see a lot of players heading back to their NHL cities. One, there's going to be a lot

of practices among teammates. And secondly, the final kids get back into school and those with young families are going to want to be in place. So a couple of things to keep an eye on. Wrote about at the end of last week, one thing to watch phil kessel uh kessel has indicated to teams that he wants to keep his nhl career going he just won his third stanley cup last year as a member of the vegas golden knights and the thing about kessel is kessel has the longest consecutive game streak in nhl history going he's the first player in nhl history to play 1 000 consecutive games and he's still going. Now, in the past, a couple years ago when Kessel played in Arizona, the belief was that one of the reasons the Coyotes did not trade him at the deadline was because teams were concerned about potentially ending his consecutive game streak at the time.

And it's not an easy process. We've seen some situations where those kinds of conversations have gone really poorly and really sideways. Keith Yandel in Florida was one of those. And teams didn't want to be involved in ending a streak if the player wasn't on board. Well, Kessel has indicated to teams that he would be willing to end the streak. He understands his days as an everyday 82 game player are coming to an end. And so he is prepared to make that concession to keep his career going. He had 14 goals last year. He played four playoff

games for the Golden Knights. We'll see where this goes. A couple other situations to keep track of, you know, players coming back who need contracts either this year or for next season. One of the interesting interviews that was done recently was involving Elias Lindholm in Sweden. He talked to a Swedish reporter about how he'd be willing to stay. From what I understand, the Flames and Lindholm have really been quiet this summer when it came to contract negotiations. I would expect that to pick up as he returns and things get closer to the season. I think the Flames were prepared after they made some of their decisions, trading Tyler DeFole and hearing that Noah Hannafin was not going to extend, that they were prepared to let things play out a little bit over the summer.

Everybody gets some downtime, just relax and refresh, and they get back to those conversations around now or in the near future. So I would expect things with Lindholm to pick up a bit, but I don't think anything's imminent there, despite what Lindholm said to the Swedish reporter. That's good news for the Flames and their fans, but everybody has to get to a place where they're comfortable.

And the final thing, just wanted to mention Trevor Zegers and the Ducks. I think some of us who just have our heads in hockey and don't really pay attention to a lot of other things or aren't really cool to the 21st century youth celebrity world, and I would put myself in that category. I'm not really familiar with some of this stuff. Trevor's egress is becoming a pretty big star among young fans and his off ice life. He is apparently,

I was asked about this by some young fans. I had to look it up and kind of figure it out. Apparently he's dating someone named Dixie D'Amelio and this is a big deal. She is a star. So D'Amelio is 22 years old. She's got a sister, Charlie. They're both big TikTok stars. That's how some of my younger relatives, my nieces and nephews, and some other young fans I've come across know her. I guess she is also a singer now, but people know her from TikTok. And this is a big deal. This makes Trevor Zegers an even bigger deal than he already was. The fact that he's been linked to her. Well, Zegers needs a contract for the Ducks.

And one of the things we're hearing is that's likely to be a bridge deal. It doesn't look like that's going to be a long-term deal. It sounds like Zegers and the Ducks, when it gets done, is going to be a bridge. So this is your celebrity gossip and news update for the National Hockey League on your Labor Day weekend. Okay, now interviews. Sandy, Zedina, Brad, Nachas, Linholm. Here they come. Enjoy. Rasmus, here we are in Sweden. What do you think the best thing about this country is? I mean, a lot of things. Food is fantastic here. People are usually pretty nice. I'd say the culture here is just great overall i feel like people that come here and visit they usually like it here so yeah uh it's a lot of things that it's good with sweden most vivid young hockey memory i mean it's so many early ones that i've just seen

videos of i mean my brother plays uh obviously he plays professional here in sweden uh now and i couldn't stay at home when i was very young so they had to bring me to the practice rink and just be on the ice with him and my dad and my mom as well so my mom is actually a pretty good skater too so lots of family skates now this year was a roller coaster like so much stuff happened to you did it take you until after the season to kind of just breathe and calm down and process everything that occurred? Yeah, a little bit. I feel like when stuff like last year happens, I feel like, you know, there's no stopping.

You just kind of go with it. Yeah, I just kind of enjoyed it the whole time during the season. And then after, I mean, I just kind of sat down and actually now I'm looking for new places in Washington. It's like I don't really know where to live. So luckily I have great teammates that helps me out with that. So what was the biggest change between Toronto and Washington for you? I mean, I feel like there wasn't that many changes. I mean, obviously leaving the teammates that I had in Toronto and then coming into the new group, Toronto's guys in the team, they were pretty young. I mean, they were like, you know, Matthew's 97 or something. Same with

Mitch and, you know, lots of guys were younger and kind of get into an older team. I feel like the older guys in our team now feels like they're as young as I am, which is great. But I didn't feel like there was too many changes. Obviously, there's some minor things. I mean, just walking in the city. I mean, people don't maybe recognize you in the same way, stuff like that. But I love my time in Washington.

Good. Excellent. Because you never know. Like, sometimes the first time you get traded, it's like how does it affect you mentally, change the middle of the season, how quickly can you adjust? Like I remember one guy told me, he said, you know, Rasmus can make friends in a room with nobody.

So like it's not going to be hard for him to adjust that kind of way. But I always wonder like what's the biggest curve ball that gets thrown at you? Yeah. I mean, that was obviously a curve ball when I got traded. I mean, coming to Washington too. I mean,

I think I knew like two guys pretty well. One guy was Eric Gustafson who got traded for me. And then the second guy was Marcus Johansson who got traded like five minutes before I did. So I was like, who am I going to know? Like on the team and then obviously we had Nick there and uh Nick is a fantastic guy I mean he took care of me from

from day one I mean he sat up like by the breakfast and waiting for me to come down and introduce me to all the guys so uh he was obviously a big help for me that circle of guys were in Havel like that's a group you know really well right yeah yeah for sure for sure and then all Swedish guys that are hockey players I mean they kind of know each other a little bit so obviously that was a huge help for me uh Spencer Carberry uh had you're with him in Toronto uh we just talked to Martin Faire very a couple of seconds ago he had him in Hershey and now he's back in the Washington mix and you've got him again what's Carberry like and what are the conversations been like so far uh I mean he's awesome I mean he took care of the power plays in Toronto and

that's mainly where I work with him and he really wants to get the best out of each and every player individually and as a unit so I think he's going to do great things for us and he's going to be a huge addition to our team I mean I'm looking forward to work with him I feel like you know he's really good at separating outside of the ice and, you know, walking into the morning, he's just a, you know, normal guy. And as soon as you step on the ice and you stop going into a game or a practice, he's, you know, it's different. So I feel like that's a really good thing that I think most players enjoy playing for. And I'm really excited to play for him again. You must have a pretty good idea of how Washington's power play works. There's this on the on the left side you try to set them up for one timers who's that there's gonna be someone

on the right now that's right yeah yeah no it's I mean it's insane I mean I've said it now for a couple times I mean today I mean playing with Ovi and Baki and those guys I mean those players are two guys I looked up to I mean when I was younger and still do so uh getting the chance to play with both of them now it's surreal I remember just the first day walking in and Baki sitting down there I mean I've talked to him a couple times met him a couple times before I got there and just kind of waiting for Obi to come into the locker room I was kind of like nervous to meet him finally so but it's it's awesome I mean I got the chance to play with them for a bit there on the power play too and i mean it's pretty easy where you're gonna look the first i mean you're

just looking straight over to the left side and if he's open he's open i mean so it's awesome to play with those guys does it matter like does he want it a certain way or does it not matter like he can hit it no matter what i feel like he can hit it no matter what he's always telling me when i got the puck he's, just pass it to me. Pass it hard and try to get it to me, and I'm going to shoot it. And he can do it in any different way. So it's awesome. Now, you mentioned when he was going to walk in.

So that first time he walked in, because he definitely has a presence about him. What did he say to you? How did the conversation go? He came in really late, too. I remember this very well so first day i mean we have usually two buses that what goes from the hotel to the rink and they play the game at night my visa wasn't ready so i couldn't play that game against anaheim and i took the first bus getting my gear ready and stuff like that and uh kind of sitting right

across from him and like a minute before everyone's sitting in the locker room ovi comes in the last and he just walked straight up give me a handshake and like welcome to the team man i'll talk to you a little a little bit more soon and then i mean later at night during dinner we sat down beside each other just chatted for a bit and i mean he's awesome that's that's cool yeah i i like those guys who show up like a minute before they have to and then they're the best player on the ice that night yeah i like it it's not always like that i mean practice rank i mean he's sitting in the couch i mean he's probably their first out of every anyone and eating his breakfast and watching tv and stuff like that so it's uh it's awesome getting the chance to play with him how's the knee

it's good it hurt a little bit when i got the hit in the worlds but uh right now i feel great feel stronger than ever and excited for the season to start obviously disappointing when it happened i don't know do you want to get into that do you think it was necessary dirty any conversations with asamont afterwards yeah i mean it's stuff that happens on the ice i kind of feel like too it's such a high-paced game so i mean stuff is going to happen um sometimes it's going to turn out good. Sometimes it's not going to turn out good. I thought it was really good by him. I mean, he reached out to me after and apologized and, you know, stuff like that.

So, I mean, lots of respect for that. So it is what it is. It's in the past now, and I feel great. So that's all that matters. I will say this, that after Reinbacher got drafted by Montreal, there were a lot of people who were tweeting, you're hit of him in the same tournament. Is that the meanest hip check you've ever thrown?

Probably one of them. I was a little bit worried after too, actually. I had to send him a little text. So it was a lot of texting during that tournament, just making sure he was okay. Because I was getting a lot of texts where it looked like I was kind of laughing at it after something,

but we were laughing about something completely different. So I just had to make sure he was fine because obviously you don't want to hurt anyone on the ice or anything like that. So good by him. I think he's a good player too, so good pickup in Montreal. Social media never takes anything out of context, Rasmus. That never happens. Yeah, no. I kind of realized that now after a while especially in Toronto too

so I mean yeah they're they're good at that there what was the biggest lesson you learned like you know the the thing that you learned about starting your career in such a big market that when you retire 20 years from now you're gonna say this was a valuable thing for me just so many things I mean I really enjoyed my time in Toronto I think think it was fantastic. How much the fans care about the sport itself, the team. I mean, it's awesome playing a Tuesday night in front of a packed arena every single night. So that was awesome. And you kind of learn to to kind of block out the noise a little bit with time when you have a bad game. I mean, if you go on Twitter or something, you're going to have notifications, but you get good at kind of blocking it out a little bit and focus on what's right and so it's a lot of things you learn from being in those markets but really enjoyed my time there for sure the dear dealt there was the moment where willie walked with you off the ice and obviously you guys are friends you share the same agent he's an interesting guy he looks like nothing bothers him he looks like he doesn't have a care in the world, but in that moment, he's like, I'm getting off the ice and I'm going out with Rasmus. And I wonder, A, you know,

are you comfortable sharing what he said? And B, like if there's one thing people don't know about him, what would you say it would be? Yeah. I mean, almost getting a little emotional just thinking about it, but I mean, Willie is one of my best friends, and I've known him since probably like 2016, 2015, or something like that. So when I got drafted to Toronto, first off, I mean, and he was on the same team, it was just awesome. I mean, I lived with him for one year and stayed with him in the beginning of last season as well. And when he found out, I mean, he still talked about it a little bit here and there.

It's like, I mean, we chat every single day, no matter where we play. And I mean, for the last, the day after, he's like, man, it feels weird, like going for dinner and you're not around and stuff like that. But I mean, when we walked off, I think that was really cool. And he was kind of saying, like, don't cry yet, camera's around. So he didn't want to show that. And yeah, just, yeah, I mean, telling me some nice stuff and I thought it was good and just wish

me the best and since then i mean i think we still talk every single day so really yeah what's one thing about him that nobody knows i think uh you know social media wise and stuff he always wants to look a little cool on his instagram posts and you know everything is supposed to be a little flashy and you know stuff like that but that's Willie. But he really cares. And if you're in his inner circle too, being close to him, I mean, he's all about family. He's all about his friends. He does anything.

If I'd call him right now and tell him to stop what he's doing and if he could do something for me, he would do it. So if you're in his inner circle and people know him, he's the best guy ever. When you went to Sault Ste. Marie in the OHL, I would talk to Kyle Raftis, the general manager of the Sault. Connor Timmons would have been there. I think would have been playing with the Greyhounds at the same time too.

Just sort of check in. And every time that I did that first season you were there, there would be an interesting story about you. And the first one was you'll never believe what he showed up with in Sault Ste. Marie in the winter. Can you share that story? Yeah, I mean, we were there first off. I mean, we're there playing the under-17s.

We're also there. Obviously, Sweden won that one. But I actually really liked it there. And then after I was supposed to go over from the start of the season, I was going to be on a loan from my team in Sweden. I mean, we had some injuries in our D course. I stayed back and played a couple of games before I headed over.

So I came over, I think in like November or something like that. And it was freezing cold, so much snow and stuff like that. And I show up in my Yeezy shoes. No, I mean, a hoodie, sweatpants. And they're like, my bill of family was picking me up at the airport. And they're like, that's definitely the guy. I mean, no one shows up in Susie Marie and that type of clothes at this time. So yeah, it's a pretty funny story.

He always said you were all about the shoes too. That you always had the best shoes on the team, true or false? On that team, probably yes. Yeah, it wasn't a lot of guys that were into shoes there but i was so uh yeah that's probably true not anymore not in toronto or washington you didn't have the best shoes i feel like there's a lot of shoe guys now um both in washington and toronto i'm still into it but i feel like there's guys that have uh more and better shoes than i have so i need to step my game up a little bit you're slipping you're slipping yeah two days yeah uh rasmus thanks

so much for this best of luck with the caps next season thank you appreciate it hope you enjoyed rasmus sandin now before we go to the philip zadina interview we are going to take a brief detour to the Montana's Thought Line, brought to you by our friends, and we're very thankful to have friends as good as these, Montana's BBQ and Bar, Canada's home for barbecue. I've been looking at the all-you-can-eat ribs and only can imagine the food coma I'll get into once I try them. The question is from Eden in Sweden.

I've been thinking about the Zadina contract termination. How was Detroit able to terminate the contract without any cap penalties? I understand that the player agreed to the termination, but the NHL and the PA should have some input on that anyway. Eden, it's a great question. You know, basically what it comes down to is there is precedence. If a player and a team both want to terminate the contract and nobody's going to grieve it or take it to any kind of arbitration, the league and the players association won't stand

in the way. Now I know not everybody was crazy about this not everybody agrees with it I'm sure some other teams are saying they don't like to see it happen and I know the PA is not crazy about it but if the player's not going to fight it the PA is not going to fight it there was a situation a couple years ago where Patrick Berglund had his contract terminated by Buffalo he was owed about 13 million dollars and the PA wanted to grieve it. They really wanted to grieve it, but the player said, no, I'm not going to do it. And so he lost that money and he did an interview years later where he said he was fine with it. So if the player makes that choice and the team makes that choice and nobody's going to grieve it, there's not much the league and the players and association can do. With that, here is Philip Zedina. And I never met Zedina. I hadn't spoken

to him, but I enjoyed the opportunity for hearing from what he was thinking right from the source. Here he is, Philip Zedina. Philip Zedina and a fresh start with the San Jose Sharks. Thanks so much for doing this. How are you today? I'm fine. I'm really good. Thank you. It must have been a very challenging decision. I know a lot of people will look at your decision to leave the Red Wings and walk away from nearly $5 million and say, look, I need to start new. It couldn't have been an easy decision, but can you walk us through it, how you got there? I know there was a lot of frustration involved and we all followed the story, but in your words. Well, what do I say about it, right? Like, I mean, it happened pretty fast.

I just wanted to start over somewhere else with, you know, with my contract I had, but it didn't happen. And I'm like, I'm fine with that. I just, you know, I just decided to go into that process to, you know, finding a new team for myself and didn't really go the way we planned or we wanted, but, you know, eventually it happened. Just, you know, found a new team that they want me to, to be the part of the organization. And what happened happened. I'm still, you know, 23 years old. And for me, the most important what happened happened i'm still you know 23 years

old and for me the most important thing is to play hockey you know to get back on the track you know playing well playing uh full season stay healthy and that's kind of the reason why i decided to leave everything i had in detroit and start over somewhere else because I just uh you know felt like uh I was in a circle in Detroit I've been there for what like four years or something and like each each year something happened to me and the last year was like uh you know it was like kind of like enough it's enough like I've been out for like you know almost four months or something and I played like 30 games out of 82, which just crazy in my, you know, in my years that,

you know, I got to play the most and, and, you know, just fell that way. And, and, you know, we just split the ways and,

you know, we just say, said to each other, like, good luck and just split the ways and, you know, in a good mood, like nothing really,

you know, no one was really like upset or something, but that's how, you know, hockey life goes sometimes. You know, we all have things we look back on we say geez if if i could have done this differently i would have or this

was the moment that things didn't work out for me when you look back at your time in detroit is there something like that you think of where you realized it wasn't going to work or i wish i could have done this differently uh that's a good question i mean not really like i everything i've done there i've done on you know 100 i've done with uh with like my full will like i just wanted to be the best i wanted to help the team like i wanted to you know do my job and just be the good piece for the organization just uh sometimes like it doesn't work out that way like it's life and it happens i'm not the first one that you know ever happened to you you know that didn't didn't work out in the

team and they went somewhere else and it worked out but uh you know it could be different scenario it could be the same scenario i don't know we'll see we'll find out what happens when when the you know when the first uh regular season game and uh as you asked like i don't think i would done anything differently i believe and just that i did everything i uh i should do and i've done a lot of things that helped me in the way that you know in the way that you know i wanted to happen and it happened but sometimes like things you're not thinking about happens like the injuries like you really you don not thinking about happens like the injuries like you really you don't think about you know that you don't want to get injured but like sometimes you

just you're on the wrong spot in the wrong time right like it happens happens and that's that's what happened to me last year so i just um from my like mental side was was like you know enough i just gotta you know switch uh switch something and something gotta do differently and that's why we did what we did and and i believe that the fresh start will help uh help me as a like mentally and physically as well did anyone try to talk you out of it say don't do this philip uh not. I mean, my agent told me something, but I was... That's his job, though. Yeah, exactly.

That's his job. He told me something that I was really considering, but I said, once we went into that protest, and I was just like, let's get over with, let's get done with it, because I want to be ready for the next season, whether I'll be playing there or there. So it came out that i'll be in uh i'll be in san jose which i'm really happy and excited about it and i wanted to do that like uh as early as i could

so i have the the whole you know time and trigger public of you know off season so in my head that i'll be in san jose that you know, I got to prepare myself for this, this and this and get better at this, what they want. So, you know, I've done everything I could to, to be ready. And now I'm just waiting to, to get started. What are the conversations with Mike Rear been like, and have you had a chance to talk to, uh, to David Quinn yet? Uh, yeah, I mean, they were the two big factors in my uh you know deciding where where i'll be for for the next season so i spoke with both of them and i really had a good feeling after their conversation we had between each other and just uh it just you know felt like it's gonna be good

you know it's like it's the right fate like just you know after that conversation i had with uh with coach quinn and just um just felt good like i just felt like change the time i don't want to this season start right now like you know that i had that feeling so it was kind of something that you know i felt like uh you know i just just want to go there and when i saw like those centers they had like you know they have like couturier, Hurdle, and those guys. I believe that they can help my game grow. And of course, if I earn that spot to play with them,

but I believe I can do that. So I'm ready and I'm excited to go there. See, that's one of the things I remember a player telling me once. He'd come off a tough year and he says he became a free agent and he said that all of a sudden people are calling me and telling me, this is why I want you here. Yeah. And he said it made him feel good.

Like he said, he wasn't signing the biggest deal, but all of a sudden it went from this ended. I did not the way I liked it to all of a sudden people are talking to me like they want me. Yeah. And he said, that was a

thing i really needed at that point in my life yeah i mean that's exactly how i felt like i felt that after that you know four seasons i've been in detroit and someone called me that they want me in their team that you know they want me to be part of it and i was just like it's like it's great like it's great to hear that it gives you that you know that uh the power for the training that you know to become a better player to to get better in the gym to get stronger like it gives you that uh extra power for you know to continue in that which you started when you were uh when you were you know uh younger so and i actually came up from a couple of teams that i wasn't really expecting, right?

They wanted me in their team, and they were really strong teams, and they told me that, and I was just like, I really appreciate you saying that, and I would love to be there, but at some point I got to think of what's going to be the best for me. So that's the reason why I didn't go there

and went somewhere else. You know we're going to ask you who those teams were. I mean, I don't know if I can say that. Yes, you can say it. What do they rhyme with? If you're not comfortable, I don't want to get you in trouble. No, I just thought they were one of the best, better teams last year. So I would just keep it that way.

Was it the guy who drafted you? No, I don't know. No, it wasn't Edmonton no no it wasn't edmonton okay that was my one guess that was my one but that would be really nice to you of course they you know you know it's it's interesting too now how players make choices um you know when they have an opportunity to do so and a lot of players that we'll talk to now we'll talk about how important it is for their mental health and physical health to be somewhere warm. And that there's an advantage there, you know, you know, getting off the plane, and you're not bundling up and walking through snow, and your body feels crap, and instead getting off the plane, and it's shorts and flops, and your body feels good. How important was that? Because you're going to San Jose, how important was that because you're going to san jose how important was that to you

don't judge me but you know i'm i like this weather for sure but at this position i am right now ed like i wasn't really thinking about the weather i was thinking about just the hockey that's what i had in my head the whole time just uh i remember even my dad texted me because he knew the teams and he texted me that just decide where you want to go only about the hockey side. Don't think where you're going to be living and stuff like that. And I was like, Dad, listen, I don't really care where I'll be living. I just care about my hockey side of life. You mentioned Logan Couture and Tomasz Hurtel a couple of seconds ago. be living i just just care about my uh hockey side of you know life you uh you mentioned logan couture and tomas hurdle a couple of seconds ago in your conversations um with david quinn did he

mention anything about who he sees you playing with where you might be playing i know training camp's gonna sort everything out in the beginning of the season too but any idea he told me his vision where he can see me and stuff like that. And I was really happy about that. And, but I told him I'll be ready to earn that spot. So you don't, you know, you don't have to give it like to me for free.

Like, of course he won't do that, but like, I'll be there ready to, to earn that spot that you're willing to provide me to, to help me with, to start over. This is great.

We wish you the best of luck. We really, really do. Go rock it in San Jose. I'll do my best. Thank you. Awesome. Thanks very much. Good luck.

Thank you, Philip. I have no doubt that's not a topic he wanted to spend a lot of time on. Many of us were curious. We hadn't heard from him before and we appreciate his time. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, three more, Jesper Bratt, Martin Natchez, and Hampus Lindholm. Where are you selling them? This is nice. Finally comfortable here.

Diet-tight chair or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Bye, Chantel! Jesper, we're in your home country. We're in your hometown. What do you think everybody needs to know about Stockholm?

Everyone always asks me, oh, where do I go in Stockholm to eat and all that stuff? And there's a lot. Obviously, Stockholm is a beautiful city right on the water. I think it's always awesome here coming back from Jersey after the season, coming back here. It's always a great experience coming back and enjoying being out on the water and the lakes and everything. And don't have any specific facts about Stockholm.

We don't need the Wikipedia page. That's okay. Don't worry about it. But good place to be. Remember last year in Paris, everybody was asking Belmar. He said, where do I go? Where do I go? Did you get a lot of guys?

Yeah, it was a lot of guys asking where to go for dinner and stuff. And always try to come up with the most normal places that everyone goes to. Does Cafe Opera no longer exist? Is that gone? It does exist. It's more for younger people to go there. It's not as many older celebrity people go on there it's more younger squad nowadays so a 53 year old guy like me is

not welcome there is what i don't know you could probably go there it would be a little different vibe than probably last time you went there a couple years ago i would bet that's probably true uh it's a hockey uh congratulations on the deal um i know it's kind of old news now but was it ever in doubt no i think the whole time me together with my agent together with fitzy we we had a good honest relationship throughout the whole time and i mean obviously this process started so many years ago with our first two-year deal and then our one-year deal and like i said before to me i i never doubted anything I Jersey was always where I wanted to play and even when that one deal was done I still said that this

gave us some more time to focus on that long-term deal and that's basically what happened I trust in my agent and trust in Fitzy that we're gonna make this work and I was honest the whole time saying that Jersey was the place I wanted to play and I can see us winning a cup one year, and I want to be a part of that. So I never had a doubt. One of the things that I find very interesting, particularly about younger players, is that there are a lot of younger players who went the path you chose, short, short, long,

and it really gets to them. I find it very interesting that you were never bothered by that. Like some guys, they want the security. They want to know the team loves them to give them the security right away. How did you handle it being different from your point of view? I always liked the shorter terms. Like I like the thing that I have to go into the summer, like pressuring myself a little more, knowing that, okay, I got to prove myself.

I got to work harder. I got to show them how good I am. And not being like, oh, I have six more years. Oh, I can take a workout off. I can do something off. That every day mattered so much that I liked the one-year deal. I kind of liked that pressure having to prove yourself deal. So when that two-year deal and that one-year deal came around,

I told my agent right away because obviously we were talking long-term deals already last summer. And then when that didn't kind of work out, he came to me and he said, what do you think about a one-year deal? And I said, I think it's great. I get to show even more what I got. And I get to work even harder and have that pressure every day to be the best version of myself and not get into the area when I'm too comfortable. That sometimes can happen with a young guy signing. And I'm happy that I get to experience a couple of years

of having that pressure. Because now when I got to the point where the eight-year deal came around, now I know what it means. Now I know the work that has to be put in every day. And I said to media before, I said, I don't really see this as an eight-year deal. I see it as eight one-year deals.

Because this is the only year that matters. It's still the same pressure. It's still the same drive that I have to do. Having-year deals because this is the only year that matters. It's still the same pressure. It's still the same drive that I have to do, having this thinking and having this thought that next year I've got to redo this. I've got to redo this contract and show that I'm better and better and better each year. So basically what you're saying is that you didn't take the summer off and eat donuts. Like nothing has changed. Does it look like he took the summer off to eat donuts?

No, he certainly doesn't. That was great. Yeah. Yeah. No, I, I, I try not to, I've said it before too. I try to make the summers the hardest part to try to make the season a little, almost feel like it's a little easier. So I try to work in the summer.

I find your, the attitude very interesting. I'm fascinated by mentality of elite athletes, which you are. And the other thing I saw this summer, I don't know if it was on your Instagram or on his Instagram, but you work with like a mental coach, right? And I think he put something out with you, like just saying, here's my, here's one of the guys I work with, Jesper Brad. And one of the things that fascinates me about that is for a long time, nobody talked about that. And now I don't know if you've watched the quarterback series on Netflix, but there's some scenes with Kirk Cousins where he shows, I think it's a psychologist that he talks to.

So I'm wondering, you obviously have a really good handle on yourself, but what do you talk to your mental coach about? Oh, it's so many things. His name is Anders Svart. I started working with him actually that that summer right before I made a camp in Jersey before I made a team so I basically went from this second league in Sweden having a decent season for for a young guy but nothing spectacular nothing people were talking about really but I always felt in practice like I came out in practice and I felt like I dominated even

if I play with like older men but then the game came around and I was like, I don't get it to work. My hands feel a little numb. I don't feel like I have it when the game starts. And then that summer I got in contact with him and he worked with a lot of the Swedish League goalies because he was always talking about, oh, goalies is a different part of the sport because you're standing there alone the whole time. You don't get feedback all the time.

So you're more of in a position where you only have your own mind when you talk when the game plays you you don't have a coach yelling at you anything you're you're alone there on the ice the whole time for a goalie so he worked a lot with the psychological aspects of the game and pressure and all that stuff and my agent kind of brought me in to meet up with him and as soon as i met him it all just clicked for me like all the pressure thing and and breathing things and stuff and i can't talk too much about everything that we do because of our contract and stuff but it was really like a switch for me everything just switched and the first i remember going from kind of like two-day meeting together with him and i went to to skate with a couple pro guys here and it all just switched for me my whole mental stability my whole mindset I was just like this is normal like it's nothing wrong with me

it's just like I just needed someone to tell me this so I understand how I feel and all that stuff on the ice and then obviously camp got around and I was planning out every day every day I was writing in my journal about stuff that we talked about and everything kind of has been going like that since. I write journals before and after every single game and I've done since my first ever pre-season gaming training camp. That's another thing that I've been advised to do is start writing a journal at the end of every day. Take a couple notes on what went right for you today, what went wrong for you today,

what you have to get done tomorrow. Some people I know who are very successful, they're all journal writers. So this is fascinating to me. How long have you been doing a journal? I've done it since I met him. We have like a piece of paper with a bunch of questions that I answer

before basically every game and that I also answer after every game. So I do this every game. So at his office now, he basically has, what is it now? Six books that I have, which is from every single season that I've played. So one book for each season, it says it has every single game that I played before the game, how I prepared myself before the game, and how I took care of myself and wrote down every single thing that happened after the game too. Wow. So I have that as his office now, which is a security for me.

Like I get to, like when I come out on the game, like I know exactly what to do. I know what the plan is. I know if something wrong happens. I know exactly how to way out of it is. I think that's really cool. 100%. He's been a complete game changer in my life since I met him.

And I think it's so important to work with him. Every time I meet a young guy or something that I can tell almost on the ice that he has so much potential, but it's something that's not clicking. I talk with him about this all the time. And he does an amazing job. And he has a lot of good clients. And I really hope he gets to help more people like that. From this moment on, Jeff, by the way, Jasper should get 5% of everything that his mental coach makes. No, no, no. He's been giving so much to me and I want him to help as many people as possible

because I think this is so important. I think he does an amazing job, and I know a lot of other people also do an amazing job, but I can only speak for what I've been doing with him, and I don't think I would have been close to the position where I am right now if it wasn't for him. That's amazing. I'll be quiet now. I was happy to play passenger on that. That's really interesting. New Jersey Devils, playoff team.

What did you learn from the playoffs this season? And how great was it to beat the Rangers, by the way? Oh, it was awesome. That game seven was awesome. And the building was electric. And it was the most fun game that I've probably ever played, playing that game, winning that series. It was awesome.

But I think we learned, too. The first two games, we came out so tight. We didn't know what to expect. And we kind of played like shoot yourself in the foot type of game when we played against a team like rangers we gave them way too much and our our turnovers and our puck play was just kind of like junior hockey when you're playing against team a team like that and i think that was honestly like it was pretty good that we came out like that our mental stage like in our our game plan completely changed and the next five games i

think we were we were the better team all the way through and obviously with our speed and our our quickness and we were kind of wearing them down completely and i also think that since that was our first real playoff experience for most of us and together as a team in a lot of years that's turnaround from that game seven to game one with only 30 hours or whatever that was that turnaround we came into that series almost a little like word out like not mentally prepared for the chance that we were going to meet in carolina carolina is playing such a hard one-on-one game that it's it's hard to create space it's you don't get anything for free out there and i i think coming from the rangers here that we had so much momentum with our speed and our quickness

and the style they were playing compared to carolina i just think we weren't prepared enough and and they played their system better than we played and they deserve to win that series do you find that that carolina and your team the new jersey devils are more similar than they are different like when i watch carolina and some of the the numbers show this through something as pedestrian as you know goals for and goals against your teams look really similar you know you're right there one two in the standings as well at times does it almost feel like you're playing yourself there's definitely times when you see their strength of their team and you look at our strength of the team you see that we have a lot of similarity. I think their strength that they've

been playing is that they're probably the best team to be disciplined to their own structure in the league. Everyone does the right thing. There are not a lot of breakdowns in the games and they're so disciplined in the way they're playing. I think when it comes to their speed and how relentless they are in their forecheck and their backcheck and the tracking and all this, I think we do have a lot of similarities. And at the same time, I look at our team and I see our strengths and our peak players,

what we can do out on the ice. And I'm just excited to get this season started to show that too. Let me ask you about two players specifically. And you've played with both. about two players specifically and you played with both in the regular season you played a lot with jack hughes in the playoffs you played a lot with nico heischer differences between the two some of them are obvious but jack talks more what's it like playing with those two like what are the main differences like in in your position

what do you have to be aware of yeah obviously they're two amazing elite players and like you said they are they are very different from each other nico doesn't get a lot of credit for that everyone always says oh nico is such a good like defensive center all of that stuff but nico is unreal with the park like his hockey iq and his hockey sense and like he's a guy that very rarely makes mistakes and if there's a chance to get the puck on your stick the puck is always on your stick when you play with Nico like you know that you can always trust him on the ice he'll be on the right spot even in ozone like he will always take those hard battles and that front he can make the cutbacks in the corner he's got a great shot like I hope he keeps using that shot more too because he scored a lot of goals last year from

far distance with that wrister so obviously everyone knows how great he is defensively he does a lot of good stuff in our penalty kill I don't think he gets a lot enough credit for his offense I mean 80 plus points this season from a guy that plays so many minutes, D-zone draws and penalty kill. And then when we come to Jack, it's so exciting playing with a guy like that. I mean, I get to watch him every day in practice and games and see what he does and just his flow and his skating, his stick handle, his way of finding lanes,

like carrying the puck and know which is going to be the fastest lane to the goal. And he skates around like a magician out on the ice. You just know when you're given the puck and know which is going to be the fastest fastest lane to the goal and he skates around like a magician out on the ice it's you you just know when you when you give him the puck you almost don't have to care about him you just give him the puck and then you can just skate your open lane and you know that some way somehow during the time he will find a way to find you it's almost like dropping to a guy and i don't even need to look what he's doing I'm just gonna find my own eyes and he will he'll find you somehow so both of the guys I feel like I build up some some chemistry with and those are just two guys that they'll make you better and you're just gonna find your eyes a little bit maybe not this year but we're in that point cup or bust

I don't know it's always it's always a pressure thing to say cup or bust because winning the cup is so hard. There's only one team going there, and I mean, we had such a good season last year. We're still so far away from getting to the end goal. We won through the first round and lost second round. We've got to go all the way. We've got to win the second round, third round,

and the fourth round. So we're still far away from our end goal, but I think we're definitely on the way you gotta win the second round third round and the fourth round so we're still far away from our end goal but i think we're definitely on the right path and you're a big part of it thanks so much for this today thanks martin we were talking to tim stutzla before you came in and we were talking about athletes hitting their stride and it was one of those seasons for Stutzla and it seemed like it was one of those seasons for you as well 71 points 28 goals the skill has always been there NHL is a hard league how did you put it all together this year I feel like you know after kind of bad season

for me you know had a great summer was healthy, you know, tried to even work on my mental a little bit, you know, being better. Don't play in the waves, but more, like, on the same page most of the games in the season. And just came into camp feeling really good, and, you know, started the season well. Then I, you know, got on the first power play, playing, you know, with no goalie, overtimes,

and started producing a little bit and you know i earned the trust a little bit from uh from roddy and uh obviously then the confidence does the big things and uh you know i feel good do you think he was testing you early saying all right let's see how you are and let's see if you can take advantage of this opportunity yeah i mean uh obviously you gotta got to earn the spot from him. And he always wants everyone to work hard, which I feel like everyone on our team does. But, you know, for me, I feel like it was more,

I felt like I got a little better on defense. And then once you play good defense, he gives you a little more freedom offensively. And it was good. We played for most of the year with Swatch together, which we kind of found a good chemistry before he got injured. And I feel like there is still a step to take, but I feel like it was a good bounce back season.

You know, this is a Carolina Hurricanes team that's loaded with skill. And we've talked before on the podcast about how when you just look player to player and again there's a lot of skilled players i think you're probably the most just as far as pure skill goes the most skilled player on the carolina hurricanes how much rope does your coach rod brindamore give you or is he always saying look simplify simplify simplify essentially what i'm saying is how much does rod brindamore just let you play and say you know what let the skill take over yeah i feel like the more you're scoring more freedom you get i feel like that's normal everywhere in every team and uh obviously you got to play the structured you know game you got to play you know defensive how uh how everyone

else plays but uh you know offensively once you get in a ozone then he But, you know, offensively, once you get in an O-zone, then he tells you, you know, you got a freedom to do some stuff. Obviously, you don't want to do turnovers, especially on the blue lines. But, yeah, once you get in an O-zone or, you know, on the rush, then you're free to do whatever you want. And, you know, you just want to do those turnovers that might cost you a game or something. But I feel like once you're feeling good about yourself, feeling confident, then, you know, you don't really think about these mistakes

and you just play the game and having fun. For me personally, when I'm having fun, I'm playing my best. What is the angriest you've ever seen Rod Burnham wear? I don't know. Everyone thinks always that when you see him, he's yelling all the time or you know he's jacked he's probably still in a shame to play playing in hl but uh in a locker room he's a really nice guy you know he's nice to talk to he doesn't yell often you know i knew coaches before even like

from czech but uh in hl i had only bill peters and uh roddy but uh he doesn't yell he only yells once or maybe twice a season when really when we really need it you know on the bench or when we're playing bad game but uh i feel like for him once we work really hard we play for 100 and even if you lose it's fine but once you don't give it your your all then uh you know he's mad because like those eyes like they're so like they're so intense they're so piercing that's pretty impressive that he doesn't do that very much yeah i mean he's you know sometimes he had those clips where he was yelling at that uh at the rest and stuff and he's that's different that's different but you know for us in the

locker room he played a game he knows how it works uh he only yells when it's really needed and uh i don't know but to be honest his speeches are incredible he always feel like he always prepares them before every game is always a little different it's not just about the hockey it's about life and uh you know it's uh feels like it's a special gift that he has and he always motivates us with something else you want to run through a wall after it's over yeah i want to ask you about one specific moment in the uh this series against new jersey devils might have been a small one but it seemed like everybody was really happy when it happened the nason holla fight everybody on the hurricanes bench seemed to really like that i was

wondering if you were gonna go there i am going to go there. I am going to go there. Is there anything to that? I don't know. I feel like every time he plays against us, he tries to play hard, obviously. He plays gritty, and people are always booing him in Carolina once he touches the puck. Because that was actually the first year when he left.

I think he played for Nashville. If I'm right, the next season we played we played him in the playoffs it was after bubble and yeah i don't know me and him we were kind of i don't know having something against each other in the first playoffs and then since then people are somehow booing him and then that was just something that they he didn't beat us yet as a and he played in i don't, four different teams, so that was a thing. But after last year, we talked, and he was just like, he has to do that. That's the way he plays.

And after a series, he was fine. But I just saw he had some... The bracelet or whatever it was. The bracelet with something, cane socks or something like that. So, yeah, I mean, excited to play against him again. You know what you have to do next year at one of the games in Carolina? You have to reach under, rip off the bracelet, and skate around. Yeah, I'm going to give him a new one.

I love Canes. Yeah. That would be – you'd be a viral superstar. Oh, I should do that. This year, again, speaking of playoffs, I mean, much like last year, we looked at Carolina and said this team has a shot at winning the Stanley Cup, and I don't think anyone has changed their thoughts on the Carolina Hurricanes. Skating with the weight of expectation can be tough.

You know, when you're an underdog, hey, no one expects you to do anything and everything, it's just fun and you're playing. Is it more challenging knowing that everyone says, you know what, this Carolina team could win the Stanley Cup? Yeah, I mean, actually it's a nice thing to hear, you know, because obviously we have expectations, but it's nice to be up there four or five years ago. Nobody would ever talk about Carolina now.

You know, we're getting a little bit up there and I feel like our team just got even better this offseason. And hopefully everyone's going to stay healthy, which is, you know, important. One of our best guys last year, Swech, got injured before the playoffs, which was a huge loss. But, yeah, hopefully everyone's going to be healthy. We're going to play, you know, our hockey the way we play. It's, you know, it's hard to play against. And, you know you know just play a game at a time and first thing is to get to playoffs and then

starts a different game and uh you know we got a little more experience we got a good team and uh you know great goalies i i was thinking about i was looking back at your playoff run last year you guys win two rounds you're feeling really. And then that final series begins with that long, long game. And that one, you lose that one, and it just seemed like the momentum got just sucked right out of you guys. It's crazy how quick it changes. When you look back at the Eastern Final, what do you think? Yeah, and I actually even had, I remember first game, third period,

I had a breakaway, didn't score, you know, could have been a different game if I would score, wouldn't be probably, you know, we would be winning 1-0, then we lost that one, I think four overtime or something, Matthew Tkachuk scored, and then another game, another overtime, he scores again, and, you know, at home we're losing 2-0, nothing then we go there we lost all four games by i think one goal yeah it was a tight series but you know um probably wasn't wasn't anything lucky from them they just played better in overtimes on the power play they score more goals in the series they were good there and uh yeah they deserve it a little more and uh

you gotta bounce back next season i understand you did a podcast and a friend of mine listened to it and they told me that when the whole Kachuk thing was going on a year ago, Carolina was definitely there and the word was that they had talked with you about them. And what I didn't realize is that you knew it. As a young guy,

how did you handle all that? How did you feel about all that? About the possibility of Calgary? I'd never been traded or anything, so I didn't really know how it works. I didn't really know what was going to happen because I hadn't signed yet back then. I just heard some rumors that I might go there. I was just waiting what was going to happen. Then Kachuk went to Florida. I signed, and at the end of the day, I was just waiting what's going to happen and then Kachuk went to Florida I signed

and at the end of the day you know I was happy I stayed in Carolina and you know had a good bounce back season. Did anyone talk to you about it like you talked about like confidence and things like that so in that moment did you seek any advice like how do I handle this how do I deal with this or anything like that? I tried to even you know in a summer even before that before I knew something's gonna happen or you know what's happening I try to work with my mental coach a lot you know to be be more you know hockey's not just about having good skill being a good skater now it's I don't know at least half of the game is in your head, I feel like. And, you know, if you're mentally prepared well, I feel like that makes a big difference.

And that's one of the things I tried to change before the last season. And I feel like it's one of the things why I had a good season, because I was, you know, mentally ready for basically every game. What was the best advice your mental coach gave you? If you could share advice with someone who needs that help, what's the best advice your mental coach gave you? If you could share advice with someone who needs that help, what's the best advice you got? We always say with him, even if you have a bad game or a good game, you should always think about it just till the midnight. Then next day, once you come to practice or to the game, you shouldn't be

affected by the last game. Even if we have a bad game, there's 82 games in a season, and the next day you just should come to practice, you should be happy, you should think, what do you want to get better at from the last game, not about mistakes. So yeah, that's one of the things I feel like I changed last year and wasn't really upset by the game before. I was thinking about it

till the midnight and then next day is a new day, new challenge and just, yeah, that way. That's healthy. Listen, great season, last season.

Bigger and even better things if that's possible. On the horizon for you, continued success. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, guys. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, guys.

Thank you, guys. Hey, boys. Connor from New York. But I've had this idea for a while and I'm not sure if I sent it into the pod before, but I had this hybrid cap idea for the NHL. Basically, it's kind of like a soft cap versus a hard cap where both apply based on the roster that you put in on a given night. So the soft cap is your total roster cost that can only reach a certain amount, but the hard cap is what you're allowed to play on a certain night based on the number of players you want to use. So basically,

if you have a star-studded lineup, but you can't roster a full 20-player lineup on a given night, you can shorten your bench and only dress 16 or 17 players to keep it under that hard cap that's required for a rostered team. But the soft cap is basically a larger extended version of the cap to allow for more signings anyway just a thought jack amel great work and elliot nice suit pal nice suit later boys four down one to go just left for your listening pleasure Hampus Lindholm and this one isn't really newsy per se it's just that Lindholm is a great talker you know he's in the west coast in Anaheim being in Toronto I don't see him as much I've gotten to know him a little bit more since he's gotten to Boston and he's a great talker. Just someone who's really easy to speak to

and really good at explaining what he thinks. I think you'll find that here as well. So Elliot, for the second year in a row, the best dressed man at the European Players Tour is Hampus Lindholm of the Boston Bruins, so congratulations for that. It's an unofficial award. There's no prize. No prize.

Okay, I'll take it. I'll take it. You can have the cash value of zero. Lucky Lundqvist is still here. It saves me. Two-thirds of the square root of zero. We're talking about this off-air. Let's do it on the air.

How much fun was Charlie McAvoy's wedding? It went all out in that wedding, and it was fun to be a part of, and I think they had a great time as well, which is the most important thing. Who wore the lampshade? The lampshade. I never actually saw someone wear it, but if someone would have worn it, it would probably be Sway Man, so I'll give him. Really?

Those are hard, though. They're glass. You have to really work to get those off, so I'll be really impressed if you walked around in one of those. I figured it would have been one of the veterans as opposed to one of the young guys who would have been the most entertaining, let's say. But I think he would have done it because he wanted to entertain the veterans. You know what I mean? He's one of those guys.

Yeah. Nice. Yeah. You know, it must be kind of like a weird time just celebrating Bergeron, Krejci. a weird time just celebrating bergeron creche you weren't there obviously when chara was there and what it was like when he left but i can only imagine what it's going to be like now without especially bergeron there yeah no i think especially looking from the outside i understand what people think of it but i think the people in the room like all those guys you mentioned like they i've only been there for a year and a half you can really feel those guys in the walls of that

locker room I think also turning it to the other side of it I think a lot of guys are excited to bring that on and like show that we can do what they've kind of taught us over all these years and I think that's something that's really exciting for me personally and I think the guys in that room to to show that that Boston way is still still in the locker room and keep carrying that the legacy I saw your note when Bergeron announced it and you said you could talk basically for hours and you were only as you said a teammate with him for a year and a half tell us one story about Bergeron that stood out for you? But like when I get traded, like before even like any GM has time to call me almost like I get a phone from Patrice on my phone.

He takes time to call me and everyone that was around me, include everyone. It's not like he said he calls me, hey, welcome to Boston campus. It's very, you can tell it's very genuine. And it's like, it's not like you just get that phone call. It's like when you arrive, it's like every little thing, like he wants you can tell it's very genuine and it's like it's not like you just get that phone call it's like when you arrive it's like every little thing like he wants you to make it easy to come over to the new team and like he's so aware of all those little things and to make sure that everyone's happy and satisfied and you can tell that he does it from a genuine way which is I think it's very special and my first practice I come to Boston I think he had done some kind of stuff with his

wrist so he wasn't playing with the team I come there we're skating he's I feel like I'm 50 years old because he never gets tired that guy I'm skating around to try to impress him it's it was a really fun skate and then before I even like have time to look down he's there picking up the pucks and coming up and knuckle fist me great practice and goes off and he's just such a polite nice man and i think a lot of people can learn from him and i feel sorry for those people that didn't have a chance to play with him really yeah we've heard forwards talk about certain defensemen and they'll say you know this defenseman makes it easy for me to do my job all this defenseman oh it's so great when I'm on the ice with him because my job is taken care of, gets me the puck, no problem, and the puck's up the ice.

I wonder about Bergeron from a defenseman's point of view. Did he make it easier for you to be a defenseman? Yeah, no, obviously. He's such a two-way center, so he would always be in that right spot, and if anything would ever jump by or go sideways, he would always be low there in support. And I think, obviously, super smart sentiment. And that's why he won all those awards. Like, he didn't cheat that much so often. I think, obviously, he could have gone a little bit more for getting all those points. But if you just look at a two-way center that wants to win,

I think he played it right away and really fun to play with. Did you think there was any chance he was going to play this year? You never really know. Of course, like all the guys knew that he was retiring, but then, you know, like come around this time of year, like kids are screaming at home. You're like, honey, honey, yeah, I miss the boys. So you never know. But obviously I think everyone had a pretty clear, clear mind that he was going to retire and well-deserved. Like he should be proud. He's put his legacy in that beast locker room and for the whole city and for hockey in general is the world ready for captain brad marchand that is a good question that's a question i can't ask for him but

yeah he's a great guy too and like i said we have so many great leaders i think that's going to be a hard pick for any coach or he's a great guy too and you can tell he's been around all those guys bergen shara and being a part of the winning team so it's fun guys to be around for me too to learn and keep going here with my last couple years here in boston you did a really good job keeping your foot injury secret yeah going back to uh march 11th or 12th the detroit game and you played down the stretch and into the playoffs um with a fracture as well how difficult was that i didn't really know like first that it was injured like i know it was hurt but i didn't know it was broken but that made a lot of sense after because it didn't really get that much better so obviously that was really hard playing with now when i look

back at it especially because i see myself as a flowing skater like that's kind of makes who I am as a player but I think with any injuries and stuff you learn new ways of playing with stuff and that's how you get better as a player too you have something nagging or something you can't do that you normally can do it and you have to try to get your other abilities to kind of maybe step up even more so and i think yeah i managed a really good regular season i think then come playoff time i was a little bit disappointed how i maybe got the best out of myself but i think most guys in the locker room probably wasn't happy with the end result but it's part of hockey it's it's it happens and you just have to learn from it and grow from it you know you mentioned um such a premium for you on skating, galloping.

You're a galloping type of defenseman. Elliot and I talked about this a couple of times. Early in the season last year, there was one game. I want to say it was against Detroit. It was an overtime, and you grabbed the puck behind the Bruins net, and you went end to end. And we kind of looked at that and wondered how much of that is just that's just Jim Montgomery saying go as opposed to any other coaches saying hang on here let's manage this situation and they

when you look at how you were able to play this year you put up big points how much of that is a reflection you think on jim montgomery just saying go yeah no i think obviously the way we played and encouragement of us joining helps a lot. That's always been me. Like if you look back when I played in Sweden, like I've always been the guy carrying around the net and then try to skate it all the way up in the middle. So that's always kind of been part of my game. I think it's just fit now that we have a playing style where they encourage stuff like that. I mean, the development over the years in Anaheim and it's been really fun for me to have all that in the bank.

And then obviously now I can take advantage and use it out there on ice something you said there stands out you go from Anaheim to Boston and not knocking Anaheim but Boston's obviously a bigger hockey market yeah and also a lot of players and fans will tell you that those of us who live in the east coast we can't stay out past 10 o'clock we don't we don't see anything so like how do you think that the perception of you or the way people see you has changed since you got traded to boston yeah no of course more eyes on you it makes people understand more what kind of player you are so i definitely think that's people have finally started to see what kind of player i am and i think i think i'm also i've never been like maybe the most flashy players i think when you get to see what kind of player I am. And I think I'm also, I've never been like maybe the most flashy players. I think when you get to see me more day-to-day basis,

you appreciate my playing style, I think, a little bit more. And I've always seen myself as I want to be a player that makes the four guys out there on the ice with me better. I don't want to be the guy that dekes one guy and put it in the net, but I make everyone else worse out there. Like you want to try to win hockey games, and that's always been my kind of playing style. I think it's fun that people get to see me more on day-to-day,

and it's fun that you get all these nice words, especially in Boston. I think people appreciate you, and I appreciate them. So it's been a fun year and a half, two years here. You alluded to it a little bit there, just the scene after Florida, what it was like in the room and how you guys will use that as motivation for this year it's like that basketball guy he said it pretty well after his press conference there that it's like even though you lose a season it's like so disappointing especially sport like it just it's like someone just cuts off your uh the road in

front of you and then you're like what's going on now and it's it is really tough i think everyone's going to be sour about that season. At the end of the day, you can only learn from it and grow from it. And it was definitely not a waste of a season. It was one of the seasons I'm always going to remember and the season that I grew a lot. And I think a lot of guys in the locker room grew. And that's something we're going to carry on to next season.

So I think everyone's going to be a better version of themselves next year. And I think it's going to snowball that way, especially if you have that mindset. Who's the player that's going to be a better version of themselves next year. And I think it's going to snowball that way, especially if you have that mindset. Who's the player that's going to break out this year? Because they're going to be in a position where more is going to be expected and more will be delivered. Who's your pick? Who's my pick?

I think it would be fun to see one of the young guys, like maybe Fabian Lussell, come and you'll get an opportunity. Of course you pick a guy. Yeah. Yeah. yeah no it's hard i think everyone had like a good year last year i think we have a lot of guys that have a lot of potential i think charlie coil can be a guy too that can show up not like you haven't done it before but he would be another pick okay so these are these are going to be hockey pool picks for me this year yeah if i lose

i'm going to be really disappointed i think it's not a hockey pool fishing for here it's essentially what he's saying i'll send you my address you come knock on my door well was there a moment last because that was such a magical season for the boston prince obviously was there a moment was there a time in the season where everyone in that room kind of said we could really do something special here or this is a different type of team I mean everyone like all of us I'll put my hand up too I was saying to uh to everybody I was one of those guys I was saying you know the Boston Bruins have so many injuries to start the season they're just gonna have to play 500 hockey until they start getting players back I mean you guys came out of the gate and

grabbed the regular season by the foot and dragged it to deep water and stayed there for 82 games at what point did you realize you had something special I think like the guys in locker room you know it even before even the season started of course like when you start playing games against other teams you start realizing you were winning and but I think we knew it from the get-go. We had really good players and everyone knew that some guys would have to step up when you have big guys injured, but that's what good teams do. I think Boston's been a good team for a long, long time. For those reasons, you have guys injured, you have guys out,

some guys get traded. It's just a chance for someone else to step up. I think if I look at our team now, I was talking to everyone else helping me out today it's i think we have so many so many good players still i think we almost had too many good players maybe last year so now it's just going to be squeezing out a little extra out of out of everyone i think that's super exciting because like what hockey player does not want more more responsibility what hockey player does not want to play more and if you get the talent and the the mind for it, it's an exciting time. I heard the story about you, and you can tell me if this story is true or not,

but that when you were traded and you were considering signing your extension, one of the things Claude Lemieux, who represents you, told you was you can believe in the Bruins because they always figure things out. First of all, is that true? And secondly, do you look at this right now and say, the Bruins are going to figure this out? Oh, 100%. Yeah, no, that's what he said. And also being around the league, you've seen,

I think they've always done a great job to be competitive. And I think that's something that lives within myself too. Like I look at our team and the core guys we have, like I'd be surprised if we wouldn't be competitive for all the years that I'm there. So that was also one of the reasons why I signed, and I'm super excited about that. It's like you never really know in this league,

especially which teams, you have the right guys get hot the right time of year. It's basically just get into the playoffs, and then if you have those kind of guys, anything can happen. And then Boston's also a team to see when you have a chance to kind of maybe strengthen up the team a little bit. And it's fun to be a part of an organization that plays to win every single game uh some new faces

uh geeky is in lucic returns and someone who you played with in anaheim kevin shattenkirk is now boston brew and you have a thought on your old teammate from anaheim yeah i know shat is a great guy i think anyone around the league knows shatty He's one of those guys in the room you just love to have around. He treats everyone with respect and just brings good energy every day. So I'm super excited to have him back. And he's probably going to take the DJ chord within a second in that locker room too. So get some bangers going. So I'm excited.

Best dressed and great talker. Yeah, thank you. Have a great season. Yeah, thanks, guys. Good to see you now. As we wrap this up, just want to remind everybody that all of these interviews are available on sports nets,

YouTube channel, and they do a really nice job with the video. So you're not only looking at me, sometimes you get Jeff and even occasionally the guest taking us out is a duo where we featured on the podcast in previous seasons. The Darcy's are a Toronto-based electro rock group that's been taking name since 2011. The band has a new single out now with Mae Martin, which will play in an upcoming episode. But today we leave you with their thunderous single from 2013 off their record, Warring.

With The River, here's The Darcy's on the 32 Thoughts podcast. from 2013 off their record, Warring with the River. Here's the Darcy's on the 32 Thoughts podcast. The trees stood like knives And claimed us for their own And sold down the river Before I knew I had enough Before I knew I sank deeper Than where you start Where you'll stop I look up till I lose

The light Are you, are you reaching? Are you, are you reaching? We'll see you next time. I'm lost In a dark room of trees