Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Colin Fraser (FULL INTERVIEW)

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

FN Barn Burner: Boomer, Pinder & WarrenerBoomer sits down with two-time Stanley Cup Champion Colin Fraser for an in-depth conversation about his NHL career. Fraser reflects on the early days of the Chicago Blackhawks rebuild, sharing insights into the team’s turnaround in 2008–09 that set the stage for their 2010 Stanley Cup victory. He also talks about his move to Edmonton, and ultimately his time in Los Angeles — winning the 2012 Stanley Cup under Darryl Sutter with the Kings.It’s a great look back at a unique career that included two championships with two different organizations, and the stories that came along the way.🔥 Do you remember Fraser’s Cup runs with Chicago and LA? Drop your thoughts in the comments!👍 Don’t forget to like and subscribe for more hockey stories and FN Barn Burner interviews.Subscribe to @Flames_Nation on Youtube🚨➡️ / @flames_nation 🔥 After Burner ➡️ • FlamesNation Afterburner 📲 Follow us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn?lang=en🎧 Listen on:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/barn-burner-boomer-pinder-with-rhett-warrener/id1648562889Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Mc6Qd5U22R2zbMlQ7RxIiBARN BURNER BLONDE https://originbrewing.myshopify.comFLAMESNATION MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/flamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTShttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Powered by @bet365. Whatever the moment, it’s Never Ordinary at bet365. Download the App today and use promo code:NATION. http://www.bet365.ca/ 👍🏼 McLEOD LAW https://www.mcleod-law.com/👍🏼 VILLAGE HONDA https://www.villagehonda.com/👍🏼 OUTDOOR DENTAL https://www.outdoor.dental/👍🏼 ORIGIN BREWING https://originbrewing.ca 👍🏼 Crystal Waters Plumbing Company https://crystalclearcalgary.com/👍🏼 BON TON MEATS: https://www.bontonmeatmarket.com/index.html👍🏼 GRETA YYC: https://www.gretabar.com/locations/calgary#games 👍🏼Invest-Med: https://invest-med.ca/Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!Producer: Jack Haverstock#NHLPlayoffs #Hockey #HockeyTalk #Playoffs #StanleyCup #EdmontonOilers #StanleyCupFinal #NHL #CalgaryFlames Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oh, hi, buddies. How's it going? Welcome to another edition of Barnburner, summer vacation edition. Out on a work excursion, more research and development, making sure that in the fall we're ready for all the best technical content we could have. Anyway, on the show today,

presentation of Bet365, Best Gaming Partner in the world, of course. It's never ordinary at Bet365, be 19 or older and bet responsibly. Big thanks to our sponsors for being on board over the summer months as we continue to roll out some exclusive one-on-one interviews today. Colin Fraser, good guy, one of my longtime buddies, got to Red Deere in 2002 to work for the rebels. He was entering year number two. He and Dion Funuff, you may have heard of him, made the team of 16-year-olds. And these two guys were a couple of beauties, two of my all-time favorites.

And you might be thinking, Colin Fraser, maybe I know that name, maybe I don't know that name. Here's what you need to know. Played in Chicago, won a Stanley Cup, played in Los Angeles, one, two Stanley Cup's stories with Daryl Sutter, Patrick Kane, Johnny Taves, Drew Doughty. The Stanley Cup parades in Chicago, he was there for all of it. He's got awesome stories. He's an awesome guy, a real beauty, as they say. So let's not waste any time. We're in for a treat, little one-on-one with Colin Frazier.

Siri B.C. They make them tough. Surrey. It's got to be tough when you come out of Surrey, don't you? Is that how that goes? That's, I guess so a little old school. Yeah. I don't know.

It's the way I'm wired, man. That's it. Is it still that way? Is Surrey still kind of home or how does that work? No, I'm living Sylvan and I, we almost never go back. Never. I'm like my parents are in Vernon now, so that's where we go. Get out when you're in Ottawa.

My brother's in Langley, so he's still out there, but we don't never. never there's only so much time in my day so yeah always good stories about it pop up on the internet so uh here and see what happened in surrey so boy this is only going one way it's probably not very good is what i'd follow that up with yeah i'm not with the lunatics there yeah but there's there's some dicey areas that's for sure yeah well hey we're we're a product of our surroundings it made you who you are so that's not a bad thing no um now i i know a lot of obviously a lot about you going back to our days and red deer and all of that i didn't realize and the the pacific vipers yeah tell me about because you uh it's funny how life goes that you

you just kind of lives intertwine and for you to go back and look at this how old were you and who were some of your teammates on this uh this kid hockey team yeah so you go back to when spring hockey i guess started or it was starting to be a thing yeah but But in those days, the only kids that played spring were the elite players, the good players. So Seabrook's dad, Brent Seabrook's dad and a couple other dads created this team. So I can't remember the we never lost. I mean, we lost a couple of games, but we never lost for four or five years in a row. Started at the brick tournament.

I personally did not play on the Biper's Brick team as a story goes or as how much. my dad tells me I was on the team and then they wanted 100% commitment, but I also played lacrosse. So my dad said, nope, he's at springtime. We're committed to lacrosse. We'll be there and will be there. So they didn't let me play. So the brick tournament itself ended up playing on a different team. It was called Team Northwest, which is now called the Western Selects today.

If you were at the brick tournament today. So kind of a mismash of kids from, I know, the Pacific Northwest, Vancouver, etc. But the following year, I played on the Bipers for the rest of the time. And I still played lacrosse. We were coached by Harold Snips, former Vancouver Canuck and Dylan Grisdale. Myself, Brent Seabrook, Troy Brower, Andrew Ladd played a little bit with us every year. We had Santorelli, Mark Santorelli, who played, I don't know, 400 plus NHL games. We have Trevor Smith who probably played 150 NHL games.

Our goalie was Chris Holt, who was an NHL draft, the American League. We were loaded, loaded, and we'd play. Yeah, like kind of crazy when you would think, because you see this, especially in Ontario, you see a lot of these kids that play together, and it's not, you know, it's not totally unusual. But kind of when you guys all make it to the NHL,

but you all end up playing on the Seabrook, Ladd to a certain extent Brower yourself and win together. Kind of crazy. Just the way it worked out right? Like Sebes and Brower were Chicago picks. I was a Philly pick traded there.

Laddie was a Carolina pick traded there. Just the way it worked out, man. Good old Western Canadian kids got to build some character on this team, some tough guys. So yeah, and we're all friends today. I mean, we don't see each other as often as we'd like, obviously, and we're spread out.

But, you know, we've kind of grew up together. I certainly still talk to all of them. We have kids now, relatively the same age, and our kids are playing hockey. And, yeah, all the things. So it was a special time, good memories, all that stuff. I run into you. And I guess it was 2002.

I moved to Red Deere. You're there. You and Dion Funnuff have just finished your 16-year-old season. Good teams. To make the Western, league. Maybe it's different now. I got to a minute I don't follow it as close. But to make the dub when you're 16

accomplishment, both of you guys make it. And those are teams that are in WHL championship runs. These are elite teams. They had won, what, the year prior or two years prior, they won the Memorial Cup. What's that like for you and the newf, the newf dog as I recall?

Stepping in there at 16, not just going to this league, but also being in a room like that? Well, the team was loaded. You're right. They'd won the MEMCup in 2000. So coming in 2001 season, we lost in the WHL finals to Kootenie, who ended up winning the MEMCup that year. So we were that close to being back-to-back champs.

And then our 17-year-old season, we lost to Cologne in the finals. And they ended up, they didn't win the MEP Cup that year, but they ended up winning it year after. I don't know, you know, like I think back, like Brent, you know, Brent, Brent Sutter's, he's about like, he always, through the years, always has younger players and always wants to develop the next crop. So not only we were on the team, but we played. We weren't, you know, sitting out of the lineup. I played every single game and I didn't play on the fourth line, you know, for six minutes a night. Like, that didn't happen.

Sometimes it was shorter than others, but playing on a load of team. us 16-year-olds still got to play a good amount of minutes for sure. A stupid story. But we saw the rookies. You have all these super vats and everybody gets, you know, on the bus, they get two seats to themselves. And me and Dion were had to sit side by side on all these bus trips. And then so you think you get to your second year that you'd be out of that.

But because of the team was still so loaded and we were in the exact same two seats again on the stupid bus. And we were second year players. Now you'd have kids probably in the back at their second year. I don't even know if it would work like that anymore, knowing the kids. Yeah, I don't know. Probably be more like who's the best player versus who's played there the longest. But yeah, good memories, good times. We've good teams.

Brent Sutter would ride us hard. My gosh, man, there's times where we would, man, we were on like an eight game winstruck and then lost two games back to back. And we were bag skated Sunday morning like it was 1975. My favorite was always when, whether you, you were winning or losing, you'd start a period and the five skaters are all demon. Okay, Suts is pissed off. All right.

So you know he's mad. I wanted to get something going. But you'd usually never tell us. So we'd all be sitting there being like, what the? Yeah. He wouldn't say he'd say anything. Like he wouldn't yell at us like on the bench so much more in the dress room. Yeah.

Or all of a sudden he wouldn't put players on the ice or he wouldn't tell us which line was up next. like that's like him just being out of us so we just would start calling our own minds and then and then if somebody would call like i'm up he'd like yeah go and take a seat and then somebody else would call it nobody knew who who was going it was yeah crazy i got stories for days about that stuff i bet you do yeah you know what brett was brett was a big and still is a big fan of yours and i don't you know, you are his type of guy. Even though you're in, and we'll talk about your NHL kind of life.

You know, fourth line guy had to work forever. But you were kind of a, you were a first round badham pick when you came in. And you were, you know, you were the captain of the team. But he loved you. You get to the world juniors with Brent, not to say you wouldn't have got there if he wasn't the coach, but he was taking you.

It's, it's, I talked to, uh, to Devin Dubb. last week. And he was talking just about this coach comes in and he hates me. So then life's the worst. And then I go the other way. And this coach loves me and I'm playing and life's great. Having your coach on your side at any level is such a huge benefit and such a huge bonus. Because when the coach doesn't like you, it can, I wonder how many, how many careers are left

at the side of the road just because the coach didn't give a guy a fair shot? I think it's 100% true. I think you definitely need some. someone in your corner if you're not a superstar. Superstars are going to play. But the next tier guys are the bottom tier guys for sure. You need someone in your corner. Someone alike, yeah, I was always a meat potatoes guy. You know what?

I tell people, I say, meat potatoes guys, an NHL player. I found a way to make it. But if you, I was a ninth overall Bannum pick, if you take me back to Bannum, like I scored and did all the points and was at the top of the scoring of the tournaments. the big tournaments, the John Reeds, the whatever's. Like, I was a skilled player as a Bantam and somewhat skilled as a junior, as a point per game over a point per game player in my last two years. But I wasn't skilled enough.

And I don't think a lot of players can't, some can't figure that out. And because the top six are elite of the elite. So if you're getting drafted, I'm going to be a top six. Well, are you taking Leon Drysaitle or Patrick Kane or pick your player? You're taking them off the half hole? Like, they're playing a minute and 45 seconds on that power play. Yeah. So where are you going to fit?

You better find a role or a job to fit in on this team. And that's kind of, I didn't need anyone to tell me that. I just kind of figured it out on my own. So I want to play on the world juniors. and I'm looking at the 2005 roster, I'm not better than Jeff Carter or Andrew Ladd or Sidney Crosby or Patrice Bergeron and go down the list. There's nothing happening. So I'm going to have to do the gritty, the hard, the stuff that not everybody's willing to do.

And it really sounds kind of dumb, but like those skill guys thrive on like going on the power play. Like they get a power play. They get excited and they lick their chops. I get excited about going on the penalty kill, man. Like I was like, I don't want to go on the power. play i can't stick handle or shoot anyway so like like so embracing your role and embracing your um skill set and knowing your strengths and like all these things that i tell kids today are my own son and i uh i just found a way i guess to to do it so skill guys danaum somewhat skill guys a junior

to full-on grinder as a pro otherwise i just were to plugged away in the american league well and you know what some guys either they can't do it or they just they don't have the appetite to do it it's just not because it's like you say to go this is this is the type of player i've been now i have to do this and in order to be that how hard do i have to work an extra it's just not it's not in everybody's dna you you get picked it's hard to work hard boomer like if that's the line i use like well why doesn't player x work hard well because it's hard to work hard and then you have to do it every single day you can't just pick and choose when you want to do it so there's like practice when you got your you know, you're Patrick Keynes and your, whatever, your superstars that, not that they take the day off,

but they're like, they're on cruise control, you know, as they should be. Yeah, they're incredibly gifted. Yeah, like take a day or take half a day or go 70% or whatever you want for sure. I can't do that. Are you kidding me? Like seven days a week was like, all right, I got to be ready. I got to be ready. I got to be ready because I don't want to ride the bus from Rockford to Grand Rapids.

I'm not really interested in doing that. You're picked by Philly originally in third round of the draft in 2003. What do you remember about draft day? What do you remember about the flyers? Do you still have a flyer jersey from draft day? What do you got? Yeah, one of my fondest memories. It's kind of like that play off your whole life.

I mean, they won't do it anymore with the decentralized stuff. But it's like that excitement of going to the draft and getting your name called and you're with your family and all the people like. kind of support you along the way. My draft was in Nashville. So people that go to Nashville now, they're like, oh, Nashville's awesome. I've known that since 2003 before it was like Nashville. So because it was awesome. And this is when we were 18 years old and we got drafted and then we still went for beers after the draft. Weird. Yeah. Yeah, because we had fun and actually got into a little bit of trouble without being complete idiots. I do not think that would happen today. I don't think they would find any beers. But Philly.

Oddly enough, I never actually interviewed with them. I never, so I didn't see them on my radar. Sitting there. So back then, they'd do three rounds on day one, not just the first round. They do three rounds. So the first round, I'll be on TV, but then you do rounds two and three. And I thought I was going to go higher. I thought I was probably more like mid-second round.

And so I started to fall or what I felt like was falling. I had to pee really bad, but I didn't want to leave my seat in case my name got. And so I waded it out. And Philly, 69th overall in the third round, I'm proud to say that I passed and had better careers than a lot of guys that were drafted ahead of me. I did. So, and now that I'm a scout with Chicago, I see some of these guys and I give them a hard time of why they drafted player X over me in 2003. Because I ended up playing.

I ended up play 350 games or whatever. I did play. Where would you have picked me? Would you where would you, would you take me in the third round? or yeah. I couldn't skate or stick handle, but I throw a puck in the corner and I'm coming out with that thing every time.

I can tell you that. So then what? And then so life's great. You're a flyer and like not a year later they trade you to Chicago. Yeah. I was riding the bus, Rebel's bus.

I think we were going to Saskatoon. No cell phones at that time. None of the kids had cell phones. But Brent, Brent Sutter had this like Zach Morris looking cell phone because they're all like cell phones were new. literally like this big, wrecked looking thing.

And he called me up to the front of the bus, and it was Paul Holmgram, telling me that they traded me to Chicago. And in those days, Chicago was much like they are today. They were kind of in that rebuild phase, and they weren't very good. And so we get to Saskatoon, and I just sit in my room and wait for the hotel phone to ring because Dale Tallon was calling me. So, Dale, like, this is old school stuff, and I'm not even that old. And so Dale Tallinn called me and welcome to the Blackhawks, yeah, yeah.

So the trade was, and he was the like the line, like, we need to get some more Western Canadian kids in here. We need some character in here because Dale was big on that. And it's me and Jim Van Amir, so another central Alberta guy, Red Jail Rebel, and a third round pick, I think, for Alexei Jamnov. And so Alexi Jamnoff played for the Flyers for six weeks, eight weeks, eight weeks, whatever it was.

I think they lost the conference finals that year. They didn't win the cup. And so it was like a whatever, a rental player. And then Jumbo played with the Blackhawks forever long. And then I played there as well. Yeah. Crazy how it goes.

We sit and, oh, it's trade deadline day and you think how lives are shaped and all that. And we talked about it a lot. And it's different now because the hawks are rebuilding. And they're a little bit removed from those, those glory years, which we'll talk about here shortly. but for a while it was hard to explain to my kids that, you know, Chicago was not a great place to play.

Like, it's a great city. And yes, the Hawks are unbelievable and they're winning cups and they're going to cup finals and all of this. It used to stink to be a Chicago black hawk. If you were drafted by the Hawks or you went to Chicago, it was the worst. And it's not like that even now. I mean, they've got Bedard and they're coming and it's not that far out of our memory banks, how good that team was. But that was kind of when, when you. go there, we'll

pay, we'll get there. You end up, you have to, you finish your red deer career and you start out in the American hockey league, but there's, there's just little sprinklings even still. There's no Patrick Kane, there's no Taves. Duncan Keith is there. You would, you played

against him in, in that Colonna series, obviously, but there's a few guys, but it's still, there's no way to anticipate that this Hawks team is going to be what they are in about three or four years down the road. No, not even close.

And if you, like, when we would go to camp in September, rookie camp, they would give us a stack of tickets to hand out to anybody. So we'd be wandering around giving these tickets out. And because there was maybe 8,000 people at the United Center. And even like my first NHL game, like the 0, 06, 07 seasons, 08 season, Yeah. Empty, dressed like a seat night, like half empty. No one went to the games.

It's my third year in the American League of Rockford and Rocky Words took over the team. And it was like snap of a finger, everything changed. And even in the American League, like as far as budgets and getting everything, we were getting food and we were getting drinks and we were getting like all these resources and everything that we needed. And they just started spending money and spending money. and then started building like a culture, like a following almost. And then obviously the team in the 0-07-08 season,

they started making a push late back half of the year for the playoffs. They didn't make the playoffs. But when they started making that push, building was full. Yeah. The rest of history. And then the very next year, 0-8-09 season, we lose in the conference finals to Detroit and 5-10. The point is, winning the cup in 2010.

The point is it went, through the roof like really really quickly. And the fans are awesome. You've seen them on TV. Even now, the numbers are good. The fans are good. And they can see it. They can see what's coming and hopefully coming and do it all over again.

Yeah. I was got to going through because you get, you go to Norfolk and there's, okay, so there's C, Brooke. He's the same aide. Duncan Keith is there. Then, oh, Dustin Bufflin shows up the next year. Corey Crawford comes in at 20 years old.

Then in 0607, it's all right, here, Brower, Boland, Verstig, Burrish, Fraser, Buffalo, and like, it's easy to look back now. But that first, that first season where you make the club, you guys are so young. Brian Campbell is 29 and is basically the oldest guy in the team. Yeah. It's great. Yeah, I bet you did. Yeah, I bet you did.

we can get there. 0-8-09, you make the team coming out of camp. This is how exciting is this, right? You have to believe you've played a handful of games over a couple of seasons, but it's still not the Chicago Blackhawks, and you don't have the benefit of being able to know what's common. You're just a bunch of young punks and you think you're good. You know, you're all highly drafted and all that, but are we any good?

Are we? It's fair to say, I don't think we knew how good we were, right, at the time, right? and then go back to the minor leagues. Like, we had good teams in Norfolk. Like we over 100-point seasons, my first two years, and then we went to Rockford, and we coulda-shoulda won the Collar Cup. We ended up playing the Chicago Wolves in the second round,

and we lost them in seven games. But then they went, you know, sweep, sweep to win the Collar Cup. So the Collar Cup was that series. And it was all the names you mentioned. It was the O-4 draft is what, what really did it for them, right? And then Verstieg was a trade. So it was Brandon Bochensky for Verstieg.

And Brandon Bochensky could score 50 or 60 goals in the American League, but he couldn't score in the NHL for whatever reason or they didn't give him the opportunity to. And the other trade under the radar trade was Matt Ellison for Patrick Sharp, straight up across the board because they were both in the American League at the time. Sharp you'd score 30, 40 goals every single year. So those aren't even drafts. those are, you know, free players for lack of a better term.

So that was Dale Tallon kind of, Dale Tallon built the whole thing. And then they had their whatever they had behind the scenes and Stan Bowman took over. But I have this meeting with Stan. I played three years in the American League. My third year in my third year in Rockford, I'd only played five games. And I wasn't happy about it. I felt I deserved more. And so I kind of have this meeting of like, listen, like if I can't play, I can't play.

and that's okay. But five games isn't enough of a sample size. Like, I need you to give me an opportunity to prove that I can play or that I can't play. And you can't tell me that five games sporadically is enough of an opportunity to decide. And he kind of reassured me like with the, don't worry, you're in the plans. I mean, I can't guarantee you spot on the team. That's not what you're saying, but like you are in the mix. Like I assure you. And now on the scouting side, when Stan was still in Chicago, we talk about this story. And, we've talked about it a few times of how he he assured me and he gave me the opportunity the next year but i also put in the work over the summer because i was literally like a man-possessed

like i was i was going i was making this team come hell or high water where i was not literally but i was quitting hockey you know what i mean so i had the best summer of my life i because there are spots open on the team it's not like today where the salary cap and they literally just signed their 12, 13 forwards and 17 men. There were spots open and readily available and you have to earn that spot out of camp. And it was young guys because no one was making the big money yet. All on entry level deals.

Yeah. So, so yeah, I made the team. I was the dark core. I was the guy. I almost guarantee it if you went into the coaches room and I don't know this factually. This is just me just saying it. But like they have the whiteboard and they have the depth chart. Yeah, yeah.

I was the guy on the like ninth line. I don't care what anyone tells me. If they tell me that's not true, they're full of shit. I guarantee you I was the guy in the ninth line. And then I slide up to, and I keep sliding up and I keep sliding up. And it's the same as world juniors, right? Like I made this team based off just purely winning faceoffs,

blocking shots and playing hard. That's it. And then being like a good guy off the ice and not pouting like a baby when I only played six minutes. So I always felt like it was a privilege and an honor to play. and we all can't be Connor McDavid or Patrick Kane. So I felt pretty fortunate to be in the league. It's pretty simple for me.

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Let's get back to another summer edition of Barnburner. Not that older, not really that much older than these guys, but specifically with pain, when they take him from, overall and he was a bonafide you know he was going to be the first overall pick and not every kid has that kind of there was some real swagger and cockyness it was Patrick as number 88 man he he had that kind of show time right like he was he was a he was Hollywood and so what's it like when he comes into the room obviously he makes it at he comes in at 18 in the 0708 season and then you're there full time at 0809 but still he's

you're a kid he's a kid but what's your impressions of young Patrick Kane yeah do you set showtime man like swagger cockiness arrogance what in a good way um because he's a very likable guy and everyone likes him um not in a bad way what what i think he does not get enough credit for is uh not that he's out there running people over and crushing bodies he is more competitive than people give him credit for he's not scared not soft um maybe picks and chooses when he wants to whatever ramp it up or not ramp it up but he's uh he wants to win and he wants to score and so if you he wants to be on the score sheet so he plays hard in a different way because he wants the puck on his stick and he wants to make

plays and he wants to score so now is he back check in like like a madman probably not but on the other of the puck. This guy wants to make things happen. If you go back to the runs in the big, the big moments, he was a gamebreaker. Like he could bust games open and score hat tricks at timely times or score big goals or, and I think that's a special skill or a special knack that, that I guess truly separates,

you know, superstar from really good player. Yeah. In those big moments for me. And the thing, not overly big, but you never saw him getting crushed. He was so elusive. And we're talking like he's not A guy still playing, which must be

impressive for you to, you know, you'd have some exact. Like he's got thick legs and thick ass. Like he's like he's strong for not a big guy. Smarter than everybody on the ice. Can't hit him if he's smarter than every. Can't get him. And you think back because he got into some shit off the ice too.

And the team kind of stuck with them and all of that. You wonder nowadays with social media or anything. I think is he never struggled. He always put up points. But if you had any of the. kind of off ice shit. It was a ton, but there's just... It wasn't bad.

Everybody gets wound up about everything. That's the stuff that can get maybe a guy run out of a town. He had fun. Yeah. They all had, we had fun. Like, he's not doing really dumb stuff. He's just, he's going over the top, maybe, but he's having fun. So Joel Quenwell, stupid story, but we're in the playoffs.

And, uh, you know what? This is why our team won, by the way. because we have this great group of guys and we all go out including our wives girlfriends at the time now wives we all go together there'd be 10 15 20 of us deep like over and over and over and over if we had a day off the next day this is in chicago wherever on the road we do everything together and um uh so we're i don't even remember what the round we're playing vancouver maybe we just beat vancouver and round two and ben eager and uh caner go out at some bar next thing you know they got their shirts off they're doing they're wild they're having a good time nothing bad they're just having fun well then it's on the radio and in the papers

and all this stuff about having no shirts on so so uh joel quit we're in san oz and we have this team meeting and cues uh start slow and he's like i don't get it and then he's like ramping up as it goes and i don't get it back in my day it was the girls that we're taking your shut up Yeah. Like I've taken your shirts. And he's like the dad that's like super mad. Yeah. And we are all laughing.

The entire team starts laughing. He can't even take them seriously, hey? He kind of thinks it's funny too, but then he's like, I better get mad at these guys because we're playing the playoffs. And he liked to have a good time. Yeah. Man, Quinnville.

I mean, you could just hear, you always got to have that rasp in his voice. And oh yeah, but he had to had to realize, like, I'm, I'm so lucky to be coaching this team. This is something, I got something real special. Then, and then on the, so you've got, you've got Showtime. And then you've got Captain Sirius. Both these guys come in.

They're, what, a year, you're a different age. But there was no, there was no doubt what, what Jonathan Taves was about. Still, like, tell me about this guy. He was Captain Sirius. He's going to, he's going to play this year. We can talk about that in a bit. but two very different personalities, but both so integral to why that team was good.

The yin and the yang, right? Like we talk about it even today, you need the ying and the yang. You know, for different reasons. They bring different things to the team. And we call him Captain Serious and he absolutely was serious, but he's not as serious as everybody thought or let on. I don't think, knowing him off the ice.

Not that he's on caner's level because he's not, but he'd let loose more than people would think. He's just a super intense, super competitive guy. And not a raw, raw guy, not a guy that's screaming and yelling and in your face. He's not, he's vocal enough, but not super vocal. But he does all his leading just by how he plays. And, you know, he's kind of like plays super focused, man possessed, like doing the right things, doing the little things.

doing the little things and did a lot of his leaving just strictly by example. If he can do it, then everybody else just gets in line and follows it. You know, first guy on the ice, last guy off the ice, all those, especially when he's young, training, all the things. He was kind of, I know all the kids do it now, but he, he was ahead of his game in that regard for how much work he put in away from the rink as well. Yeah, I'm just kind of looking here, because it was 0.8.09, when bufflin comes in as well and i i was in brandon when bufflin was there so i saw no shoulder pads boomer you didn't wear shoulder pads in junior true yeah i i i saw this it was weird because what are what are they doing here with this guy because he's massive i get that he's a big guy

but i mean he he's big and not a good sense right like this is a heavy big player he's He's McCrimmon knows what he's doing. I guess he sees something here, but I don't know what he's seeing. And then all of a sudden, he's a forward, but now they got him playing defense. And now,

she's, this guy is something special. Tell me about Buff the stuff. Yeah, Big Papa. So I go, me and Buff played at the, this brick team that I was telling you about earlier.

We played on the same team. So he's from Minnesota. He was lights out back then too. Yeah. And a big shot. kid at the same time he's like a big teddy bear he's like he is the guy that everybody loves you can no matter good or bad people like them it doesn't matter you can't help but like because he's always smiling he's always kind of goofing around and kind of the class clown type guy always playing

pranks on guys keeps the room really loose not a serious guy at all um i don't know like he he's crazy so when he he got drafted by the hawks in the ninth round they don't even do nine rounds anymore right and we had to go we gets drafted and they call him to tell him that he's got to come to development camp and his mom can't find him and uh where is he i don't know he went camping no idea he didn't want to go to development camp it's the only kid on planet earth that gets drafted and hides so it doesn't have to go to the development camp so then we i don't know he just didn't work out or really do anything kind of maybe an immature kid you know like sure um didn't i wouldn't say he cared all that much in junior but you get to norfolk

and you start getting paid and he's just like naturally gifted like he's a natural super athlete and and then he gets called up to the nchl and then he gets a little bit of taste of his paycheck and the lifestyle and i think he's like okay all right i can do this so it just kind of took off and there were games in Chicago where they put them at forward like he played d in the in the american league and then they put him at forward and he was just like dominant so he played forward for us in Chicago when we were winning the cups yeah and he's just such a beast like you go to like the Vancouver series like he was dominating guys you can't he has skill he has size you can't push him off the pocket and when he's on he's on so um the thing in

Chicago, where he really took off for me, it's my own opinion, is when they trade him to Atlanta, because they're salary cap, all the things. And so in Chicago, they're always on him about his weight. Like, you got to eat. You got to, whatever, diet. You got to, they bag skate him after

practices and do all the things. And he's the type of guy that doesn't get phased. It's like, well, how was it? He's like, well, yeah. So you go to Atlanta, they just left him alone. They didn't care what. Not speak his language, right? You got to speak his language. Just let him play. Yeah.

And so he just played and he just took off. He was better than probably anyone even knew. He could just play off. When in that run in that Vancouver series, right, we're here at Calgary. So we're very happy to watch the Canucks lose when he is crushing the Canucks and does the scores and goes along the glass. What a moment. So good. So too good.

I'm still in touch with them today. I go when I travel and scout and out of Minnesota, I pop over. at his place. So he's a, he's a wonderful human man. He's a good man. Really is. When do you, because I'm looking at the 0910 season, 52 wins. Now, you guys were good the year before, but then another massive jump. Chelsea Dagger starts. Marion Hosa comes in on a massive deal. You start the year in Finland. And it wasn't until I got looking on, and I remembered it almost immediately as soon as I saw. So 0910 seasons started the year. October 12th against the Calgary Flames.

Yeah, five. Flames scored five in the first period, five goals on six shots in five minutes and 29 seconds. Hawks win six five in overtime. Yeah, I remember that. We took off from there. That was kind of like, I don't know what our record was after that,

but it was kind of a character building. It was pretty good. You were 29, eight, and four at home that year. Oh, there you go. Yeah. I remember that game really well, actually. Yes, I do. Did Brown might have fought a Gimla that game?

Maybe. Because the Gindler scored and it was, yeah, it was five nothing. It's like, okay, here we go. And then, because I remember talking to Conroy afterwards. And he's like, that fucking song. That, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, did it. For me, that was cut. You knew they were good.

But it was like, Jesus Christ. These guys are, this is, this is a machine. And it was that night. Chelsea Degger. Over. and over and over again what a night yeah the you know what we lost uh we went to switzerland too that year so started the season in finland right against florida about exhibition games against davos whoever it was and we lost the game two one so we dressed first game we dressed

like most american league guys and then second game we dressed pretty much our team and we lost the game yeah so it was like it was like this funny joke we went out of winning the cup but we lost it Davos in September. I remember when you guys would come through Calgary. And maybe it was because of that game. It was just such a statement game. If you weren't paying attention, the Hawks are good and they're getting better.

This is a real, going to be a real handful. You guys would come into the rink. And like you say, you could just, it's winter in Calgary and it's cold. Maybe the flames aren't good. And the mood is just, you know what it's like in the bowels of the dark.

It's just kind of dark and the kind of thing. And then you guys would wheel in. And like you say, it's we got our coffees and life's good. And tee. Ha, ha, ha. Hey, yeah, fucking yeah, this and that. And you guys had a practice. Or I guess it was game day skate maybe.

It must have been a game day. I'm like, I got to go watch this. I got to watch. And you guys had a no puck practice. Yeah. I remember this. What, like a no puck practice. So you guys are simulating break.

workouts and reverses and we're doing cellies and stuff and yes it's like no I knocked that down no fuck that I knocked that down no I threw it up so they're doing goal sellies and making plays without a puck what am I watching

this is the best team maybe I've ever seen and they're practicing without a puck and just fucking around like you would at a kid's practice it should be fun right like Joel Quindville is the best coach I've ever had okay and it's not close and it's because he would bark he could ask us but then we do stuff like that i remember what

you're talking about we were doing like three on ohs and fake passes and stuff like yeah the puck like it was i i don't know he's just like he had a knack he has a knack of like riding you and being hard on you when it's time but then keeping it loose and enjoying it when when it's time like it's it goes both ways right yeah health and our team's good and we're winning games obviously but um keeping it loose i think it's i think it's really important if you if you're just constantly driving every single day there's it's it's hard to do that it's hard to keep that pace and that mentality and that uh seriousness i guess for lack of a better term i remember that because that's funny you were there yeah yeah i could because the five nothing blown lead and then this

one there was not like i was ahead of the curve but i was just in awe of what this team was all about you get to the playoffs you play in round one against nashville three the front the first three games yeah yes in round one and then unfortunately like as fortunately for you you don't play the rest of the way right uh correct yeah we we brought in uh bringing sammy paulson that year maybe i can't remember yeah we had it yeah we had a some depth of the deadline and we're healthy. There's no one hurt. Brought and Brian Bickle came up from the American League, I think that year too.

Yeah. That's hard, right? Because like you say, you're such a close team. You play all season. You start the playoffs and then you can't get back in for whatever reason. Rare that you'd have that kind of health. Usually there's something that happens. But, yeah, I think bad.

I don't know. You know, I played 81 of 82 games that year. and then didn't play in the playoffs yeah it's just there's depth um john madden is who he brought in okay and uh mad dog was playing fourth line center and he's obviously a veteran guy and um you know one cups in jersey and uh i don't know it is what it is you know i'm not the whatever it is what it is what do you want me to do like you look at it like you look at the roster and you're like well who am i going to take up i don't know these guys are all pretty good I'm not taking John Madden out.

But you kind of talked about it earlier. That's where you, and especially in the playoffs, can't have people around poutin. No, I was having fun too, man. Like we're, you're still part of the team.

Don't want to play. Of course I want to play. It's obvious. But I'm also not the type of guy to, I don't know, cry over spilled milk. But I'll tell you what, it ain't helping if I'm potent and not working.

I know that ain't going to help. So, so where I went. But that's the run. So it's Nashville in round one. You beat Vancouver in six games in round two. Sweep San Jose. Thornton and Marlowe cannot win.

It's just could not do it. And then Philadelphia in six. And we all remember the cup winning goal. Anything you're not a black ace. You're just not playing at that point. But what do you remember from that run is you get closer and closer and think we're a bunch of young donkeys and we're real good and we might actually do this thing. I got two stories come to mind. So number one, we're playing Nashville. We are,

we're down two games to one to start. So I think we split Nashville. We lose game three at home. We're game four. We're down a goal. Marion Hose takes a five minute major with less than five minutes to go in the game. So we're done. We're going down three one. And Nashville is good. like Barry Trots, they'll lock this down. Like, it's hard to come back. Three one against Nashville. Patrick Kane never killed a penalty in his life. And all of a sudden, he's killing penalties for obvious reasons.

Marty E. Rat throws a pizza in zone. So he's on the half wall. And he forces this play through. Goes back the other way. And caner scores tie the game up. Hosa, now we go to overtime. Hosa's penalty. We're still shorthanded to start overtime.

Hosa comes out of the penalty box. and scores the game winning goal that was it right there that was like the magical moment you know that like holy shit we can actually do this and it just went through the roof from there it was just like the confidence of it and i think if we lose that game it could be hell we could have lost national in the first round we would never could have i don't know who knows but uh um the finals um because philly was down three nothing to remember who that but remember they won four in a row they came back Boston right it might have been so they're riding this wave too right yeah they're kind of the same as us like riding this wave

yeah um that that series was wild like bad goaltending like six five scores like kind of weird like not a you know a typical Stanley cut final is kind of all over the map um but when we won when canner scored the goal so so us black aces were we're in the dress room so we're up a goal late in the third and uh so we're getting our gear on to celebrate with the team after and they tie it so we're doing they oh shit so we're we don't jinxed now what do we do see right so now we're going to overtime so we have all our gear on but we're like hiding in this like little storage closets me adam burrish bryan dickle nick boighton because this is in philly so you don't have your own locker room with lots of space no and so like and i really now what did they win and over

overtime and we have to do this walk of shame and like take all our gear off like this kind of a weird situation anyways caner scores we're we're not even watching live we're watching this tv in the room but we don't know if it's in we don't we think it's in but we don't know either and we sprint out to the benches but we don't go on the ice right away so we're standing at the gate and and we're like do we not go same thing i don't want to do this walk of shame no goal and now you got to skate off the ice like you know some clown that never even played so burrish is like fuck it and we just went out there and started celebrating it's like thank god this was a goal if i would have uh i don't know what that would have felt like a walk of shame too why are you out

here why do you have gear on what is happening there'd be some explaining to do yeah yeah and then uh yeah man we partied in that locker room for eternity till we left and uh it was a lot of fun did you are you able now when you look back because i think about watching florida and we watch all these now and how they celebrate and how they party and there's so much more on social media but do you have do you remember a lot about the on ice stuff in the room after and then of course you get to chicago and the city is you see why chicago is a first class city and bananas yeah the the locker room's a ton of fun it's all like family right family friends all the things um just your standard stuff but we don't we didn't wear the ski goggles like the guys do today yeah but the baseball players too

but we uh uh plane ride was pretty quiet um kind of like you come down a little bit right but uh we would just in chicago it would be like you know kind of that morning's early afternoon tax where's the cop and we just go bar hop and it would be a sea of people they we needed police escorts and uh just because it was that crazy like yeah literally crazy and uh could literally do whatever you wanted We didn't pay for anything standing on the tables doing one time. Shirts off, baby. Yeah. Yeah.

Anything goes and I'm handing out. I'm bartending. I'm not even punching this stuff into the computer. I don't even know. Just grabbing beers and just handing them out to everybody. Yeah. And yeah, it was wild times. My wife, my poor wife was pregnant with our first so she couldn't partake like the rest of us.

but she was a trooper and she came out too. Geez, I don't know. Did you also throw up during the parade on the bus or was that just? No, no, no, no, no, not me. I don't, I'm pretty good at all my limit, I guess. I would see. But even, yeah, my dad, my brother, my everybody, man. It was, and including everybody, you can't do it alone, right?

And the Hawks did obviously a great job, including everybody, flying my parents and family members out to Philly. All teams do it, but they just do it right. They just kind of have their finger on the pulse and that kind of stuff. And then the parade itself, not literally, but almost in tears with the amount, the millions of people that like you go down and you look through a seat and it is a seat of red. It was like, I don't think anyone anticipated this. No, I couldn't believe.

great yeah like you know it's chicago and all of that sort of thing but starved that the bears haven't won for almost ever and hardly at all and the hawks certainly they just started making the playoffs after six or seven year i mean it was a drought the cubs don't win the white socks or i mean there was no winning to be to be had and then all of a sudden although i guess the white socks could get get one in there but yeah it was it was amazing to see the streets and just how many people crazy when you say millions and literally millions literally millions literally yeah like man we we didn't know that was coming so it was like it's like and to be part of it and not that i was a superstar by any means but um still gonna be part of it no you were there man of you're

big part of that team um and then Dale talon mails out qualifying offers or is it that was maybe it was the year before whatever it was and and and you're kind of part of that group there's Verstieg and Buflin and all these guys, it becomes a contract snuffoo. Yeah. You would think would maybe derail this team. They would win two more. But what do you remember about that contract thing?

And then all of a sudden, Stanley Cup champs, and then this might be falling apart. I don't know, like, I don't know that ins and out to that, really. But it backed him into a corner of these contracts, kicking in, right? And then push them over the cap. And it was literally like fire sale, like no choice.

Had to. I guess just declare for people that don't know what I'm talking. He mailed out the word is, mails out qualifying offers. They didn't get there by July 1 or June 30th. So, hey, we didn't get a qualifying offer. I'm a free agent. And there's a whole bunch of them that would have been,

long story short, guys end up signing. Sounds like maybe some guys signed. Cam Barker Verstig got a little more money. then they would have otherwise if they wanted to press the issue a little bit but i remember talking to you at the draft in la and you're like yeah i'm uh i'm getting traded to edmonton it's like oh god what don't go to what are you doing you can't it's well hey it's just they got to make some moose i'm going to edmonton you can't say anything but uh so yeah you're off to uh to edmonton and so maybe is this chicago 2.0 like taylor hall's just gone first overall everly's coming in on

on a rookie, in his rookie season, but to leave Chicago, a million, millions of people, parade, love and life, and then having to leave, how hard was that? Yeah, so technically, I actually could have stayed, but I would have to take a pay cut, and I wasn't making any money anyway. So lowest guy on the team. So I would league minimum or nothing. So I'm like, cool, I can't do that.

So I went to, went to Edmonton, signed a two-year deal. I was excited from, from Vancouver. but uh, Siri BC, but, uh, played in red deer. So,

yeah, coming home. This is great. We're just having our first child, the first baby, um, who was born in Edmonton, that October.

And what a miserable year. My gosh. Oh my gosh. We were bad. We were the worst team in the history of hockey. I'm pretty sure. And, uh,

you know what for a guy going from, from, from, from up here and, and playing, played 81 games. Yeah. And,

and played, yeah, I don't know what my average was, but 10, minutes a night. Like Q rolled four lines for the most part. If we were going, us fourth liners, he let us play. And I go there and there's games where I played literally two minutes. And it was a long season personally. And I'm playing with guys Steve McIntyre and Zach Stortini at the same time, which love the guys. Yeah. Top. And I'm no good either, but like, come on, man. We,

He was playing with Burrish and Eager and Thomas Kopetsky in Chicago who can play. They can play, you know. And so it was a long year, man. We weren't very good and I wasn't very good. And it wasn't my forgotten season. Fans get nine years? Oh, yeah. And I don't know.

Like it was just the culture wasn't great. Like it was just like so many losing seasons, right? Like it's not, I don't know if it's any of it's fault per se. It's just like, this is how it was. And I was spoiled in Chicago. And, you know what? You talk about a coach liking you. We talked earlier about I had a coach that liked me.

And then I had a coach that I don't think like me. Yeah. As a player. Great. As a person, no issues. It's Tom Mooney at the time. Yeah. Really nice guy.

Would go golf and go and hang out with him. Sure. Nothing my respect for him. But I don't think he liked me as a player. And how do you know when a coach likes you as a player? either play or you don't play. It's pretty obvious. So I'm not taking this personal, but I didn't play.

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And I guess it had slipped my mind because I got looking. So a year later, basically, a year almost to the day, you get traded to Los Angeles. For Ryan Smith. So for Euler fans, like this Fraser's out of here.

And Smithy's coming home, I bet people must have been real sad to see you leave. I know. It's funny. like I'm responsible for the for this the the whatever smitty reunitment with the Ryan Smith and his love in Edmonton and the fans that love them so yeah you know stupid story there I'm at Andrew Ladd's stag party in Colonna and this is June so I thought I wasn't they didn't tell me they're trading me but like I'm not dumb like I think this is a possibility

and draft comes and goes and I wasn't traded. And the next morning I get a call. It's early in the morning. I'm sleeping with Chris Versteig in the bed next to me. And it's Steve Tamblini. And he says, hey, we've just traded you to the L.A. Kings. And Steter can hear him. He's like, L.A. baby.

Woo! Sorry. Yeah, thanks, Steve. Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. So to back it up. In April, I broke my foot. Block shop broke my foot.

Now I get traded. I get a call from Ron Hextall with the L.A. Kings. And he says, how's your ankle? He said, my ankle's fine, but my foot's broken. He's like, what are you talking about your foot? They told us it was your ankle. Not my ankle, man. My foot's broken.

He's like, are you fucking kidding? Jesus. All right. We need you down to L.A. today. I'm like, well, I can't come today because I was in Cologne. I didn't have passport and then anything. So I went, I flew home that night, flew to L.A. the next day.

So we're in June now. We're almost in July. So April, so May, June, I'm two, I'm eight, I'm 10 weeks into this and my foot. I'm still in a walking boot. And I get to LA. We do a CT scan MRI, all the things. The doctor's like, you shut down. You can't train you need surgery.

I'm like, what? Like, what are you talking about, man? Because they never told me this in Edmonton. And I'd seen the doctors over that 10 weeks spent. No, you're right in the vicular bones broken. We know, whatever. And so I'm in shock. And I'm getting surgery.

So then they're going to like reverse the trade and all this. I don't know if you remember this, but there's all this thing. Hoopla around like, you know, not being diligent or not telling the truth to L.A. Yeah. And I'm just this pawn stuck in the middle. And I didn't know what was going to happen. So the oilers don't want you back. They got Ryan Smith.

I don't want to go back. You don't want to go back. it was all like not to get off topic but remember the Sheldon Surrey surrey debacle with his wrist and yeah he had this whole history of medical history and then they ended up sending them to the minors and it's kind of the same situation to me now like misdiagnosed whatever you want to call it um so anyways I go to L.A three weeks later I'm getting surgeries now we're into the end of July I'm getting surgery on my foot I have not done a squat I can't work out I can't skate I can't do anything.

All summer long. So now I'm worried. I'm coming off a season with two goals. Our team sucked. I didn't play. So I don't know. So I'm telling my wife, like we're going to L.A.

I'm going to try to make this team, but we might end up in Manchester and Hampshire too, man. Like, I don't know what's going to happen. They wouldn't let me get a place to rent because I didn't have a guaranteed spot on the team. So I'm living in a hotel. We just had a baby.

So it was like all these things, man. It was really hard. Like I didn't know what was going to happen to me. So the first squat and the first workout I did was mid-September when camp started when I was cleared. And so for the first till mid-November, I was bag-skated and lifted weights every single day. It was the worst time of my life. It was hard. Mentally hard, physically hard.

I did not know if we were going to play. And then I went to Dean Lombardi's. office who's an awesome guy honest like direct whether you like his answer or not is irrelevant he just lays it at you so i went up there said hey dean i'm i'm ready i'm healthy uh i got to play i want to play if it's here it's manchester somewhere else like i don't care i just want to play he goes give me one more week i said okay the next game scott parce blew out his hip and ended up not playing him um so needed hip surgery yeah i was in the lineup the next game and i never missed a game the rest of the season and we won the Stanley Cup and June.

Yeah. It was like this time of my life where there's like a lot of adversity living in a hotel with my wife and a newborn, not a newborn baby, but less than a year old. Sure. And then we rented a place for like two weeks at a time and then we flipped to a new place. And it was like, I tell the story because everyone sees the NHL and they're like, oh, these guys make millions of dollars and they just got their feet up and everything's good, man. everything's not roses for me man it was really hot i didn't know what's going to happen i did like they could have gassed me the next day i could have been traded telling my wife were moving again you know like it's kind of a wild there there was there was also a coaching change there that probably

also worked in your favor is terry murray is gassed and in comes darrell sutter yeah so we so terry was really good to me he gave me the chance to play i got nothing but respect for two when i was healthy I played and he never took me on the lineup either. So he's kind of like Darrell not as not like as hard on you, but like very detailed old school oriented. So they always like my game. And then yeah, Darrell came in there and kind of the rest of his history.

Kind of took the team over and we, yeah, we took off. And you knew Darrell enough by then, right? Just through the years in Red Deer and with Brent. Yeah. Yeah, a little bit. Like not a lot. But yeah, there's the Sutter connection and the Red Year Connect. Certainly, madam and all the things.

If you're comparing the two, like Brent is a lot, yells a lot more. Like, he's a lot harder on you in that regard. Daryl's more of the sarcastic, like, quiet, like hits you with the daggers, like, right in the ribs a little bit. Yeah. Like Brent is getting mad where this guy's like, he's giving you a little bit extra, a little bit extra where it hurts a little bit. So you guys that year with that team, you were one of those teams where like we sit here in Calgary. It's like, oh, they're fighting to get into the playoffs.

Oh, if you can just get in and do that sort of thing. It's like, no, don't do that. A little different. You've got Copa Tar and Drew Dowdy was a top five pick and all that. But you win the last game of the regular season to qualify as the eighth scene. You sneak in. Then you beat Vancouver in five and you beat St. Louis in four. And then it's Phoenix in five.

And then it's New Jersey. and there was something about that team. What made that group special? Obviously, everyone, and you do, you point to Daryl. He harnessed what was there, and he kind of did the same thing at Calgary, fell one game short, but it was like, maybe if you just have, if you could just get in,

just get to the dance, you guys were one of those teams. St. Louis, remember everyone talks about how they were dead last in January or whatever when they won the Cup. You guys got in the last day of the season. Yes, so we struggled, our team was good. We just struggled.

We couldn't put it. it all together. So for whatever reason. And when Darrell, like the trade deadline on, we've made the trade for Jeff Carter, Jack Johnson for Jeff Carter straight across the board. And that's kind of when we started taking off. So we weren't just like limping into the playoffs. We were, we were on a run heading into the playoffs the last six weeks. So we were good. I think we would, I think we lost her. I can't remember. Anyways, we got Vancouver in the first round, but we were like excited about it. It wasn't like this. Oh, man, we're in Vancouver.

It was like, we were excited about Vancouver. Because they had lost in the final year prior. Yeah, to Boston. And we just like, at that time, everyone hated the Canucks. Like, they had rivalries of everybody. Like, you just, the Kesslers, the Burroughs. They were hateable. Burroughs, they were hateable.

Good team, good players, right? And, man, we just, we were built for the playoffs. So not that I'm a general manager, but being involved on the scouting side in hockey it's like you need like two different teams you need the team to withstand the regular season because it's a grind because you can't play like how florida or us kings played yeah for 82 games it's not possible but but you need those big heavy bodies in the playoffs right you can see the shift already with all right needs to get bigger everyone needs to get bigger yeah there's not enough big players to go around and we have this like team that was built for the playoffs with skill

it's size. Our skilled players were big. Our D were rugged. They were heavy. And then we had Drew Doughty and we had John Quick. So yeah, great goaltending, great defense, three solid lines. Like through the middle, you had Copa Tar Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Jared Stoll, interchangeable, clean center. Like, we had Justin Williams, who's a gamer. We had Dustin Brown. Like we'd get really a team, right? So and we could have won 16 and all. We had all three. teams three nothing or all four teams so three nothing they're going to 16 crazy is that crazy yeah first eight seed to win in north american pro history first to start by winning all three games all that sort of thing so yeah i mean you play what roller coaster right

yeah cargo life's great stanley cup played three games didn't play along the way but a stanley cup awesome edmonton all right awful year the next year injury surgery surgery this is the working out like you say this is the worst time me the worst time my life yeah and then you play the entire way and contribute to every to the entire playoff run yeah i've talked to you about this before but what how sweet that has to be after you you've got the cup ring and the championship but now you really feel like you were a part of why this thing worked yeah so if people ask like what's your favorite one that's my favorite one just selfishly personally just because I was in the lineup and contributing and playing.

What I also learned is, again, bringing it back to that role standpoint and a coach liking you, not liking you, whatever the case may be, I could play on the first place team, couldn't play on the 30th place team, and can play on the first place team. So I just fit better into that, both those teams. I just fit better for whatever reason and had good wins. And we were successful. And we were even us like we play like me is me, Kyle Clifford, Jordan Nolan, like we played. We didn't play three minutes a night.

Like Darryl let us run and we played hard. And it was fun. And they didn't expect any goals out of me. I could care less. Obviously I want to score goals. I scored two goals. Like I wasn't like expected. There was no expectation.

It was just like, don't get scored on and go provide some energy. energy and give us some juice. So Darryl Sutter once told us, he goes, when he was bad at us, it was, uh, uh, you guys are only here to give the good players arrest. Yeah. Don't be scored on. And I'm like, remember, like, feeling like it hurt a little bit, but then I'm like, God, that actually makes a lot of sense.

Yeah. They can't play the whole game. Like, look at the Oilers. Like, McDavid can't play 30 minutes a night. Yeah. Lots over times plus 82 regular season games. Like we need some help out of you guys to give this guy a rest. Yeah.

He has to do this. So that was that was the great thing about Daryl with backup goalies. It's like you're only here to give the good guy some rest. And we're not throwing games away. If we're just going to lose when you go in, then you're out of here. You're not pretty simple, isn't it? Yeah, it kind of is. Yeah.

Because I want those guys to play too. because they're good. They should play. So how's life in L.A.? Obviously, you got a young family there, but it's Chicago's great city. But, you know, traffic's kind of a nightmare. And you've got your practice rink is one place, but you've got to play at Staples Center at the time.

And how's that for a kid in Surrey? Like, awesome, man. Like, this is the best place in the world. And I get why people live down there. So your biggest decision of the day is flip-flops or shoes today. What a going to move? Do I wear a hoodie or do I wear a t-shirt? So that's kind of nice.

The rink setup is awesome because we live in Manhattan or Hermosa Beach. So it's just south of the airport, 10 minutes to the airport for any road trips, like eight minutes to the rink. It's right there. We only went to Staples for games. We even pregame skated at the practice ring. So the setup is outstanding. And when we first got trade to L.A., you think L.A. like, you know, all the craziness

and all the cool stuff. But when you live in Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach, it's like picture like this small town in a big city. So you never leave. We never really left Manhattan Beach. You start seeing the same people over and over again. Grocery store, doctor, dentist, everything's in your little community, yeah.

Small community, big city. So if you want to do all the baseball games and hockey games and whatever, all the Hollywood stuff that you want to do, it is right there if you want it. but we just stayed in our own little pocket and go down to the beach. Like, big decision is, we'd take the kids. So by 2014, we had two kids and we'd go to the beach for sunset. So it's winter, right?

So it's setting early, five, six o'clock. We'd bring a six pack of beer and kick the soccer ball around and hang out on the beach. And then my wife would have a couple of drinks. And then we'd go home and have dinner. And it was like, less life ever, man. It was. I remember it was one of the years. it was before this started it was like i think it would have been like oh seven because i was working

in edmonton that year and i was up on that press box with uh it was jared stole and they weren't making the playoffs and he wasn't playing and we were just chapped and i remember it's like well kind of you know kind of shitty way to end the year he's like you know i'm going to go home and i'll wake up tomorrow and i'll have a coffee and look out over on the ocean and life's going to be okay yeah especially for to dole and he can look over the ocean he's got a really nice I bet he does yeah he might by now so defending cup champs the next year there's a lockout tough start to the season you get game 300 of your career um you make the playoffs as a mid seat again you lose to chicago in the western conference in five like here and watch it remembering these teams

and that if it wasn't for chicago you guys are the florida panthers of that time right it's we got an unbelievable goalie and we've got we got we got you know, stars. Eckblad is the first overall pick. Dowdy's, what, fourth, the third overall, that kind of thing. Just, and we work hard and we roll four lines and we love one another. It's, it's, it's almost like the recipes right there for whoever wants to get it, but it's so hard to do.

Chicago was good. Like, we went head to head with them, right? Like, a little bit not as big and heavy as us, but like, probably a little bit more skill. And, uh, good series could have, yeah, could have won three in a row, really, right? And they could say the same thing. So the following year, which I'm sure we'll get to. But we beat them the next year. But they, I don't know.

It was like short and season, 48 games, whatever it was, heavy season, like tight games. Like the schedule is heavy. My daughter was born that November. And we started playing in January. And we make jokes. Like, I don't really remember that point of her life, January to June. Like, I felt like it was like really heavy. We were playing three and four.

five games a week, whatever it was. So dialed in. Yeah, yeah. And it was like it was happening fast, right? Because they're kind of cramming it all in. But same team. We pretty much had the same team for the most part. I know, you know, you're that close.

Chicago's good too. So Chicago takes it the next year. So the first cup run, first time you're up three nothing in all those series. You then become the first team to get to a Stanley Cup final by going to seven in each round. Like the complete opposite. opposite, 21 games to get to the Stanley Cup final. No team had ever done it. Some over and beating Chicago.

I mean, you lost them the year before and especially for you. That had to feel pretty sweet. Game seven double overtime to advance to the cup final. Yeah. So like for me, this one was similar to 2010 where I didn't. So I was in whatever trade deadline. I was actually waived to the minor. So I finished the season in Manchester.

Yeah. And then they traded for Marion Gabbrick at the deadline. deadline and salary cap reasons they're only carrying I think they're only carrying 12 forwards even down the stretch because they can carry extra players so um but then in the playoffs as we know there's no whatever the salary cap chain there's no salary cap so get called up played the play I didn't play any games but I would take warm up every game I've still felt a part of the team much like in Chicago yeah and then playing in Chicago in the conference finals game seven Alec Martinez and double overtime game seven off Nick Lettie's back crazy times I actually were down by two goals

early in the game too and kind of came back on the road to win and said special like I don't know you got to be lucky lucky to be good good to be lucky and we kind of so close right like even in the playoffs now like you look at the teams and the stand he's so close I guess a bounce here

bounce there whatever it is so we helped me get a little bit lucky there double overtime yeah yeah and then rangers in the cup final martinez again in overtime it's by now it's this is you know you okay so you didn't play there's three cups in a very short amount of time in a lot of ways this is and you've had that not just to pick an embiton but you've also had the other tasers like it's this is the shits and you've had rehab. Just every emotion. Kids, success, failure, moving, wild time.

I just, I can, like, as I became a scout and after hockey and like, you reflect back in life, I, I, um, I consider myself, like, really fortunate and lucky, right? Like, I was in the right place at the right time. I was lucky to play on these teams, fortunate to play on these teams, fortunate to play with really good players, superstars. You know, not everybody can. be Connor McDavid or your superstar players. So did I want to make more money?

Did I want to play longer? Absolutely, of course I did. But at the same time, as a scout, I realize how hard it is to make it. And so to play whatever, I played 350 games. And then to play on those teams, probably take it a little bit for granted too in the moment. It's crazy, man, because the thing's going to be easy. You look back, two dominant teams for such a long span and you played for both.

Yeah, and it tells you something for any kids that ever why, if they do watch this, like just fill a roll, man. Like, what's like, how are you going to get on this team? So can all be the superstar. And if you're not playing, yeah, and if you're not playing, be the pro. Have a good. Be a pro. And just work, man, and whatever.

So if you can at the end of the day, no matter what happens, look yourself in the mirror and say, hey, I gave it my all. And you gave me your all. That's it. It sounds like Shane sounds dumb, but it's true. So if you're sitting there being like, I could have given a little bit more on that one. Well, then you're selling yourself short.

So. Now, were you, not, did you, were you almost, did you, you tried out for a media gig in Chicago too, right? How close was that? Well,

I didn't try. I do, I still do, I do, I do, the panel. So, um,

I didn't try out. I just, I just thought, I, they were looking to replace. It was, you're going to be the color guy. It was going to be the color guy.

It was going to be fine kind of thing or, I did spot duty. So I'm scouting for Chicago. That's my real job. And, go back to maybe just after COVID and they were they were trying guys out yes myself there's Andrew Shaw there's a number of guys but I was I was never going to do that full time I was more just spot duty and then Troy Murray color the color radio guy

Troy Murray got cancer so he was going through treatments that year so I was filling in on color duty on the radio too just whenever just kind of whenever so I would meet the team on the road. I would do a game. I'd do a couple games. I do it because it's fun to me. I love it. It's like just different and fun. And then this year I did, well, let me do eight or ten games on the panel. So if it works in my scouting schedule, I'll pop into Chicago for a day. I'll do the pretty good post game, the intermission, and with Pat Boyle and Tony Granato and we have a little bit of fun. So it's great. Was it you? Because I'm just trying, you remember Andrew, you mentioned Shaw's name. Is it you that he borrowed your shoes?

Not Shazzy. I never played with Anderson Shaw. I'm trying. Oh, maybe it was for, oh, it was for Stieg. Because Verstieg was playing with Shaw somewhere and he had borrowed his dress shoes and then got called up. Oh. You've got my shoes. He's like, dude, I need them now. Your shoes are getting show games. I mean, you should be happy. Your shoes are getting show games. He's like, going to the NHL. You know what?

That doesn't make me feel anything. These shoes are gold. My shoes are in the show, but thanks. And were you there when they locked Daryl out of the dressing room? No, I left that year. I left that season, yeah, but it is a true story. He's so hard, man. Daryl's theory is like you could, when you're winning one, two, three, four, five, six,

seven, eight games in a row, he's doubles down. He's harder on you. And then when you're losing two, three, four, five, six games in a row, he builds you back up. Yeah. And that's his concept in his theory. Like it or hate it or great at that. But man, he is like the deaf opposite of Q, he's on you, on you. pushing, push him.

I was one of the people you had to learn to speak Sutter when you were coming into the rink the next day while they've won three in a row. You'd think, oh, coach is going to be in a good mood. No. Nope. Be careful with your questions at the scrum today because you might take one. And if they've lost a bunch, like, oh, boy, coach is going to be surely, oh, he wants to talk about Chuck Wagons and rodeo and he's in a great mood.

We caught on to that pretty quickly. Yeah. It's all, you can't take it personal. And so we had a Stanley Cup reunion in L.A. 10-year reunion, in 2020. So we all go to L.A. and Daryl, Elves, everyone's there. And we're having drinks and having fun. And all of a sudden, so Daryl's there telling stories.

He's awesome guy, man. He's so good. And all sudden, Trevor Lewis, I don't get it. I don't get it. How do we hate this fucking guy and love him all at the same time? Yeah. He has, that's how he is. Like, you want to knock him out.

And if you, like, if you got into a fuck you wore with him, he loves it. Oh, yeah. Because he's got you. I got you going. Yeah. He does care, though. Like, he's not out. Like, it's not personal.

No. You're taking personal. You're dead in water, man. No, he wants emotion. I talk about the opposite of love is not hate. It's, it's apathy. It's when you don't care. If you're fucking mad or you're pumped right up, that's raw emotion and he loves it.

That's what he needs out. It's when you stop giving a shit, look out. He used to go to Drew Doughty. He'd be like, Drew, you want Jerome's autograph after the game. And then Drew would be like, because he's a fiery guy too. yeah he's funny in the media like media likes him but he's got a lot of fire in him and he's sitting there slamming the game he's like fuck you fuck you fucking asshole he's like slamming the game he's true stories there's so many of those there's probably laughing on the inside oh yeah there's so

many of those we talked to mcgratton the other day and he was talking about he happened to during warm up be stretching and talking to a guy on the other team oh yeah Well, shit, but he's coming off the ice and Daryl is on the speaker phone in the coach's office. Oh, do you want to get his fucking autograph? Oh, you guys going for drinks after you got a hot date coming up. Hey, you know what's crazy today? They all take pictures together. Yeah.

They all stand on the freaking red line and take like they post for these pictures. I'm like, what is happening here, man? That's getting off topic, but. Oh, that's good. I appreciate your time, man. You're always one of my favorites. It's still one of my favorites. It'd be great to catch up in person soon.

And good luck with the Hawks. And who knows, maybe what do you got there? The young Russian kid and Bedard, it's maybe a renaissance, 2.0. I've got a few. We got the Sam Renzel. We got Lev Shunov. We got Kortinski. We got Nazar, who's really starting to come now.

Obviously, Bedard. And then we got some guys still in college. This boy, there. We got Van Acker. We picked, pick the swede this year. Well, I heard her on Spitting Chicklets that Biz Nasty's helping Bidar at the faceoff dot,

maybe you can get out there too. He definitely needs help at the faceoff dot. I don't know. Spood about the skates, you can get down there? I could, yeah. I teach my kid. You want to play more? Yeah, then win some face off.

Went to draws and blocks of shots, bud. Yeah. Prez, love you, pal. Good to chat. Thanks, man. Keep it easy.