Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Former Calgary Flames Head Coach Dave King (FULL INTERVIEW) | FN Barn Burner

Episode Date: August 30, 2023

Pinder sits down with former Head Coach of the Calgary Flames Dave King!Shoutout to this episode’s sponsors:The Hearing Loss Clinic: https://hearingloss.caMcleod Law: https://www.mcleod-law.comBK Bowfort LiquorOutdoor Dental: https://www.outdoor.dentalBon Ton Meat Market: https://bonton.caTower Chrysler: https://www.towerchrysler.comBetway: https://betway.com/en-ca/ Mad Rose Pub: https://www.madrose.pubVillage Honda: https://www.villagehonda.com/enVena Nova: https://venanova.com________________________________________________Visit  www.nationgear.ca for merch and more.Follow us on Instagram @flamesnationdotca Follow us on Twitter @flamesnation @barnburnerfnFollow us on Facebook @FlamesNationReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Well, our next guest, grab a glass of water. We're going to read through the resume. He's accomplished an incredibly large amount of success in his coaching career. Five different countries outside the NHL where he's coached. He's coached for Canada many times a gold medal at the world juniors. Three silvers at world championships, silver and bronze at the men's Olympic tournament. Started at the University of Saskatchew in 1972 in his coaching career, at least as far as my research, latest action 2018 at the Pyongchang Olympics.

That is five decades of coaching hockey. He is a former head coach of the Calgary Flames, a decade a half in the NHL. He has received the order of Canada and the order of hockey in Canada. Dave, this is a tough intro to get through. You've accomplished a ton. Mr. Dave King joins us from his summer cabin in Wasketsu, Saskatchew, Saskatchew, and how are you today?

I'm great. Thanks, Ryan. And just what you just said, proves one thing I have fooled a lot of people over the last five decades. Well, you would joke, but I mean, longevity and coaching is not easily done. And I think that's a huge feather in your cap because it probably means you've had to evolve with the game. And you've probably seen a ton of evolution within the sport from your time in 1972, coaching university hockey all the way through to the group of amateurs you took to North Korea at the Olympics a few years ago. You know, Ryan, you're right.

I've really enjoyed my coaching career, and I've always felt coaching is a little like sailing. You know, you can't control the winds, but you can adjust the sails. And that ability to adapt not only long term, but short term during one season, that's really important for coaching staffs because you can't control injuries. You can't control certain player having a great season or not such a great season. There's a lot of things out of your control when you're coaching. And so that ability to adapt and adjust, that makes the difference. I've always enjoyed your perspective on the game.

I think probably when you started, the profession was filled with a lot of like dictators and sort of autocratic type coaches. And I've always felt like you've been incredibly open-minded to new ideas. And, you know, maybe it would have many different methods of communicating when in the 70s, 80s and 90s. That seems like that maybe was against the grain. Is that fair? Yeah, you know, it doesn't matter what generation you coach in or what decade you coach in. You know, the ability to communicate is really, really important. And our clientele has changed.

Players are more entitled now. I think they're much more intelligent now. They're well coached all the way up through the game. So they know the game when they come to you. And so coaching is, it's not an easy profession. There's times when I've always felt for coaches, one of the keys is to be hard to please. but easy to play for. Now, that's a nice little expression. And every season, there's times when that's what it is. You are hard to please, but you're easy to play for. But there are times that arise,

Ryan, where you're not so easy to play for. And performance fluctuates. And that's why coaching is so difficult. Performance constantly changes. And you have to, as I said before, be able to adapt. And it's really interesting because you establish relationships with players. And that's a very important part of creating a good environment to play. Because I really believe the more and more, I've stepped back from the game now, but the atmosphere, the environment you create is really important to your success. And that's built and predicated upon trust. So when you have to bench a player or you move a player off the power play or whatever

it might be, essentially in his mind, you've broken the trust. And so now you have to not just, you've established a, relationship. Now you've got to repair it. And so coaching is, I'm not sure people understand how difficult it is because it's really, and it's very interesting. That's for sure. I think our audience is primarily southern Alberta, lots of Calgary folks. Our studios are in Martin Loop here in Calgary. People certainly would remember you for your time with Hockey Canada, where you were based out of Calgary for ages. And then also when you got your big NHL opportunity with Calgary Flames, 1992, 93 season, one of three seasons, you were the head coach,

the flames. But how did you get to that point? I mean, I don't think people under 30 would really understand the concept of the Canadian national team and what that was and how that worked in it. You spent nearly a full decade running that program. What did it mean? How did you get there? And what type of a coach did you have to be working with those athletes that weren't NHLers, but kind of were pros in a weird way that I think it made all made sense of the time. But looking back, like what the heck was this national team? Well, you know, that's a very good question, Ryan. And Father Bauer back in the 60s to compete at the Olympics,

pros weren't allowed. So Canada wasn't very competitive. So they formed an ongoing full-time national team. That lasted for five or six years. And then it was disbanded. And then back in the early 80s, hockey Canada decided again to be more competitive. we should attempt to establish a full-time national team, let it evolve, recognizing players would leave to go to the NHL if they got good enough,

but hopefully you'd have a core go with you for three or four years and establish a pretty competitive Olympic team because the competition was really tough. When the NHL teams played those national teams from Czech, Russia, Sweden, in the World Cup or Canada Cup, you could see how difficult it was. And imagine younger guys, less experienced, not as good players playing against them. It was challenging. So I guess to answer your question,

I really enjoyed it. We had a lot of players that had a cup of coffee in the American Hockey League, a lot of ex-college and junior players, all very excited to develop their skills and get better. And the program kind of gained a reputation. Because we had so many players every year leave us and go to the NHL, we got a good reputation for developing players, and that was really critical.

So we were able to keep some players for three or four years, establish a pretty good team, and compete on behalf of Canada. And it was an interesting concept. And in those days, Sam Pollock, Alan Eagelson were the guys that were the head of hockey Canada. So it was a really good learning experience for me. And it made me a better coach. People think I became very defensive coach. I guess we did because we didn't have the puck very much against some of those Russian teams. And so we did play pretty well defensively.

It's funny because right now, the best players in the world, they just generally all end up in the NHL pretty quickly. And some of them have to wait a few more years until they're out of contract in Russia. And some might cook a little longer in Sweden or Czech or Finland or go to the American League. But all the best players, just they get to the NHL. That seems to be how it works. But in that era, I mean, I feel like this whole national team program was built upon, we got to go play Russia and their best guys aren't over here or there's still many of their best that are over there.

And you noted some other countries as well. But because Russians couldn't freely come to the NHL, that wasn't a thing. That almost forced you guys to build a national team. It's weird how it was almost reactive in a sense. What did those teams look like? And what was that like? Because you have Cold War stuff going on. And then the way that the Russians did play and still to this day play quite differently,

as we'll talk about when you get to the KHL. I mean, that would have been just an eye-opening. mind-blowing experience. Can you walk us through that dynamic of, you know, the 70s and 80s with what Russia was doing? Well, the Russians were very good. They had really, really solid teams top to bottom. The best players in their country were always gathered with Central Red Army. So it was like the Central Red Army team was about two-thirds of their national team. So they were really strong. A lot of great names, Tretzac and those guys, you know, that were really, really good players. It was a challenge for us.

And so we had to really work at becoming very fit because their fitness was terrific stuff. And in those days, still in the NHL, fitness hadn't really hit the backboard like it has now. Now it's, but they cover every base. So we were a very fit, young team, very inexperienced. We had to kind of learn on the run. But every competition we were in, Ryan, I thought we came out of it better, mainly because not through coaching. It was just the players starting to understand how they played and not being surprised by certain tactics. They reoccur during a game.

And so our players became really, I thought, capable to play against the Russians. It was hard to beat them. We could compete with them. But our success in terms of winning against the national team was not impressive. But our effort was really impressive. Who were some of the names that people would recognize that joined you? Maybe it was a player with a contract dispute or maybe someone that just needed a little seasoning before they went on to bigger NHL careers. Like what would some of the names be that joined you on the national teams over that near decade?

Well, over that period of time, we had players like one of the best goalies I've ever coached, Sean Burke. Came out of junior, played with New Jersey, had a bit of a contract dispute. He came with us and played so well for us and just a real young guy, 1920 at the time. And so Sean was real good. Cliff running played for us. And he's a little guy at a junior 5'7, the one thought he could play. And so he was just available.

And he came to us and just set the tone scoring and was just a buzzsaw on the ice and eventually was signed by St. Louis. Trent Yanni played four years for us. And Trent played in the NHL for Calgary, Chicago, and has coached now in the NHL for a long time. We had Eric Lindrosse who was with us and, you know, in 92, Joe Juno, guys like that that came to us.

And we had a really, our teams got better and better as we went along. In 84, we were young, kind of over our head, Ryan. And we just competed our butts off. And we had James Patrick. We had, oh gosh, Dave Donnelly, we had Mario Gosland goal. We had a real good young team. But the average age was about 22. And then in 88, we had a real good hockey team.

I think the pressure of playing in Calgary wasn't terrific for us. We won the Asvestia Cup that year in Moscow, came back. The expectations were high, and it was hard for the guys. And then in 92, we had a real good team. We had a team. At that time, NHL players were now eligible. So we had a couple of guys like Dave Tippett came back. Kurt Giles came back to stabilize our roster and give us some experience.

And boy, that really helped us a great deal. Man, I mean, it would be so fascinating because I think when people think about coaching these great players, and you mentioned some guys that are Hall Famers that were on the national team. I mean, this wasn't just riffraff. It was guys that were in unique spots. To your point, Ronning, oh, he's too small. Well, he needs home. Lindros, others, contract disputes.

But you would probably have these, the season would feel like maybe two-thirds training camp and one-third actual playing because these are short tournaments you're taking these teams to. or multiple short tournaments. That's got to be a very, very different approach than, say, an 82 game schedule. It is, you know, our schedule was about 70 games, Brian, and we played probably 13 or 14 games in Canada. The rest of the games were played in Europe. We would go over. We'd train in Calgary for two weeks, and we'd head to Europe during their schedule break for their leagues,

and we'd play their national teams in tournaments. We played their club teams sometimes during the year. They would work us into their schedule. So we were able to develop a real good competitive schedule. But it was very unique for a young player because they'd have maybe two weeks of training in Calgary, twice a day, really hard work. God, I was a numskill. But anyway, it was hard on these kids and we pushed them hard and they reacted well.

And then when they got a chance to play, they were so damn excited about it. Having trained for two weeks, a game was a great thing. And so it was a really good developmental schedule for us. and it worked out really well. And as I said, we became really competitive. And a lot of players really developed and went on. And a lot of them are in coaching. That's one of the interesting things.

A lot of guys I've coached are in coaching. And I kind of always excited about that. Yeah, no kidding. That's good stuff. So then 1992 arrives. You are brought in to coach the Calgary Flames for the 92-93 season. That is not far removed from the Stanley Cup. This is still a very good team.

You still have the likes of Vernon. and Suter and McKinness. I'm looking at young Theo Fleury, who I think was a rookie that cup year, is there, Makarov, the Russian. Like, this was a pretty darn good team. Roberts, Reichel, I'm looking through,

like a lot of holdovers from that cup team, Newendike. And yet it was part of a tough run for the team where they were good, but there was sort of these first round demons that got you. Where was the team at when you arrived? And what were you looking at and dealing within that locker room?

Well, you're exactly correct. It was a very good team. on the ice. They had had a difficult year the year before and the bottom kind of fell out after winning the cup a couple of years previous to that. So they were an excellent group of players. We had great regular seasons and no excuses. We got into the playoffs and we just found ways to lose. We just absolutely didn't play poorly. We had, I don't know how many overtime games we had in three years, but it was amazing. And, you know, I mean, teams like LA went on to the Stanley Cup final, Vancouver went on to the Stanley Cup final. So we lost the teams that went on and went

a long way. But it was disappointing for all of us because we did have good teams. We just didn't get the job done. And, you know, I'm largely responsible for a lot of that. Barn burner comes to you from the Tower Chrysler Studios. Tower Chrysler, voted Calgary Sun's Reader's Choice award winner for Southern Alberta's favorite Dodge Chrysler dealer. We've been very lucky and proud to have had Tower as a Barnburner partner since day number one as our studio sponsor and vehicle supplier. How great did the nation truck and nation Jeep look. Tower Chrysler, 10-901 McLeod Trail South at the corner of McLeod and Southport Road. The Hearing Loss Clinic has been helping change people's lives for the better since 1993.

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Make a healthy choice and book an evaluation today at hearing loss.com. Well, that's probably being a little too critical. I mean, it was weird. Since 1989, they didn't win another series to low four. That's a long time for a club. It just felt like you couldn't get. to bounce here there. And you noted a lot of overtime in there.

What was young Theo Florey like? Because, you know, he's written a couple books and talked about his trials and tribulations off days. But at the time, I mean, you've got this young dynamic player, but he's probably also a handful off the ice and you're trying to keep him out of trouble. That would have been a really, really interesting relationship with him, the team, yourself. Yeah, it was. Theo was like just full energy.

Just he was off the ice like he was on the ice, just full of energy, just full of energy, ready to go and I liked him as a player. He was high maintenance in terms of you get into a difficult game and a close game. He might sometimes, you know, get fired up on the ice too much and maybe take a penalty. However, many, many times in a course of the game, we weren't playing kind of lethargically and Theo would go out and start a mess in the corner. And somebody else had to go and clean up for him. But he got us going. And that's, one of the strengths of Theo's game, a terrific player, hardworking guy,

but he was a real catalyst. He could take a game that was not unfolding the way you wanted it. He could change it. Now, sometimes the other way too, we'd take a penalty at the wrong time. But for the most part, boy, he was a real terrific player. And I followed his career a lot after that, you know.

And when I coached in Columbus, we had good talks when they came in to play us. And, you know, Theo was a guy who, he was a real model for a lot of small players. Like he played and played very well at a time when small players couldn't play. He played before the rules were changed to allow small players to play and play effectively. So you've got to give this guy a lot of credit. He was a great competitor.

I'm always confused why he doesn't seem to get more love for the Hall of Fame. And they don't ever talk about their process. But I thought, man, if you want to talk about a guy that broke the mold, people his size just couldn't make it in the sport at the time it was incredible what he accomplished on the ice yeah Ryan i totally agree with you i think he's a natural for the hall of fame because i'll tell you in that era you know a stick interference uh clutching and grabbing some guys who played in that era couldn't play now because they couldn't skate at the tempo that they play now so they had to use their sticks use their hands grab and hold and

uh slash and so theo played through a lot of stuff and uh he was terrific and so it is is good now that the rules have changed. I like the way the game is gone. Now that's a game of more skill makes a difference now more than ever before. At one time, it was just toughness. It was just the ability to check and hold. And the rule book was there, but no one enforced the rule book for the most part. That's fair. Okay. So bigger picture, you're three years in Calgary. You know, I think to this point, we've already seen Gilmore leave. You will lose both of those great defensemen and Souter and McKinnis. You know, New and Dyke will be gone. I believe it also sort of coincided with salaries becoming public at the time,

which is a big deal in the NHL and Calgary at that point, for whatever reason, was a small market and not really willing to pay market prices. You could make more playing for the range of the Leafs, huge markets. There wasn't a cap. I mean, walk us through what that sort of did to the room as you slowly saw this trickle of these veteran cup winners leaving. Yeah, it was a fact of life.

You're correct. Suddenly, salary information was available. it looked like a couple of those players you're talking about wanted the million dollar mark. And that made us all nervous. Ownership, everybody was nervous about kind of breaking that million dollar barrier. And where was this going to go? Where would it stop if it started? And so we did make, there was trades made that to retool get younger players, you know,

maybe get a couple of players in terms of letting a big salary go. You could add a couple more players and win through depth, things like that. But it did change the flames, but they lost. I mean, we lost some really good players. And Al McGinnis was a big loss. Mike Vernon was a terrific loss. Mike was a really good goalie. But again, salaries became a factor.

We were a small market team. And there's no question. The attraction of playing in the U.S. in big markets was something all players wanted. So, yeah, it was difficult to watch. And then, as you said, Ryan, for nine or 10 years, the team struggled to make the playoffs. And it was a tough time. loyalty of the Calgary fans was certainly tested, but they passed the test well. You know, you're right.

There was some lean years from there. It was a quiet building, but you still had that 12, 13, 14, 15,000, even if the teams weren't making the playoffs, that would have been sort of from 97 through to 04. But it was challenging times. What was your relationship like with ownership when that was happening? Because you noted that, like, there's got to be a lot of, I guess, uncertainty and fear when all of a sudden it's like, oh, this guy in the Rangers is making one and a half. if I'm better than him.

Like, come on, guys, pay me. Yeah, our ownership was, oh, gosh, they were terrific. It was the Seaman Brothers, people like that, Harley Hotchkis, just some wonderful. Bill Hay was involved in us as an advisor. There were some really, really good people. And, you know, the flames was established as an NHL team, but the philosophy of the ownership was they wanted the team to do something for the city

and do something for the province. They wanted to see sport, not just hockey, sport grow, within the province. So a lot of the profits were plowed right back into amateur sport in the province of Alberta. So it was a very unique situation with that Flame 75 project that they established to funnel money into youth sports. So it was difficult for these people because they had this philosophy they wanted to maintain. Salaries were starting to move up to a level made everybody very uncomfortable. And so the decision was made. We're going to have to, you know, adjust. And we can't keep everybody. If somebody breaks the mold in terms of 1.3, 1.4 million, that sets the bar for

everybody else. And they didn't want that to get away. They wanted to keep things operating at a budget that they felt was fair. So yeah, it's a lot of teams suffered that, not just Calgary. This came up the other day on a chat we had with Jason Weamer. The other thing, too, is your exchange rate was a big thing because, you know, a lot of guys would be getting paid in US dollars. Today, everyone is. But I think back then it might have been a mixed bag. So you're collecting tickets and popcorn revenue and TV and radio rights and Canadian dollars. And then you're paying out your expenses in American. And if the exchange rate ain't right, you might lose 20, 30 points off what you had budgeted the season prior, whatever it may be.

Yeah, there was a lot of those considerations, Ryan, that went into operating a franchise because you're right, some of your players made Canadian dollars. And a lot of your players, there are not a lot, but there's enough players that were on two-way contracts where you could send them down and back and forth. So it was a time when the game was really changing financially. And all of a sudden, the game was going to, and for the players, obviously it's a better deal now because they are getting paid well. But that was the start of the process. It really affected the Canadian cities a lot because we had to deal with that Canadian dollar versus the US dollar. But, you know, we had strong ownership. We had stable people.

They, flames knew exactly what they were doing. And, you know, we had some agenda. adjusting to do, but we did it. There would be a work stoppage of all, which isn't surprising giving all the topics that we talked about. And that came the season after your three seasons had finished in Calgary. You ended up in Japan for that season, if I'm correct.

Tell us how that came to me. Because to go to coach the Calgary Flames and then your next stop is in Japan, that's safe to say that's a non-traditional path. Yeah, I had a chance to go coach the Los Angeles Kings, but the gentleman who owned the Kings, I think was thrown in jail. that time. So I just felt like that didn't sound like a good one. So I had through my international

hockey with hockey Canada national team, we had played several tours every year in Japan. So I knew the Federation well. They contacted me. They were going to host the Nagano Olympics. They were concerned that they were going to be embarrassed, not competitive. Would I come over and help with the national team? But more importantly, help educate their coaches to coach at a higher level because they knew Nagano was coming up. So I got a chance to work there for a year and a half and I really enjoyed it. That was one of the nice things about my coaching career. I had a chance, as you said earlier, Ryan, coached in five different countries and really enjoyed that. I found that to be really interesting because every country has its own hockey culture,

distinctly different. And so that was really a terrific experience for me personally. Now, was that something where where was awareness about the sport at at that point? And maybe what were some unique experiences that you could only have had in Japan being a hockey coach from Canada? Well, first of all, the Japanese players were small, quick, and very polite. So small is not good. Quick is very good. But polite is not good. So I can remember thinking, my goodness, how can these guys ever compete against these big, strong international

teams at the Olympic Games because we had some huge competition ahead of us. And one of the most interesting experiences, the first practice, Ryan, I ever watched. I went over in the summer and the national team is practicing. So I'm watching the team practice. And they're doing some line rushes, you know, breaking out, going down the, through the middle zone, attacking three on two or five on two. And it struck suddenly it struck me. I said to my translator, am I clear here?

the same fellow on every line, always shoot the puck. Oh, he said, yes, yes, that's right. He's the oldest. And I thought, oh, my God, there's culture for you. I mean, all he goes check the oldest line and no one's going to score because they always pass to the guy who was the elder, you know, and that's the respect in the country. So, wow. It was really interesting to have to change that for hockey. We didn't want to change their culture, but for the sport, we had to be a little bit more aggressive and get away from some of those things because it made us very predictable. You got to just doctor the birth certificates and they'll start checking the wrong guy. That's wild.

That concept is just out of left field here. But for in Japan, respect is so huge. And, you know, people older than you, you know, like you look up to it. It makes sense. But you never would think it would be applied in sport to that level. That's incredible. Oh, yeah. Like, Ryan, we'd have a time out.

in practice a water break and all the veteran guys would head to the bench and sit there. And all the rookies would grab all the water and the cups and serve them and give them their towel. And I thought to myself, my goodness, this is going to have to change. I mean, they're all players and they're all equal in our eyes. We can't have this cast system within a hockey team and be successful. So, yeah, it was terrific. Well, and just as a place to live and travel and and take your wife, Linda, and maybe, you know, your family as well. That would have been an incredible experience. Hockey really did get to show you a bunch of the world.

And Japan might be the most unique culture you visited in terms of how opposite it might be from here. Yeah, it really was very enlightening. And, you know, we lived in Tokyo, which is a great big, huge city, which we really enjoyed very much. I got to travel up to Sapporo to the northern island of Hokkaido. And so really educationally, it was terrific experience. And just to see how the Japanese. It's such a, so many people packed into Tokyo.

If there wasn't respect, I can't imagine that city surviving, but an immense amount of respect for everybody for each other. And really, there's not much crime in Tokyo. It's a pretty good city to live in. I believe it's the largest concentration of humans on earth, like the biggest city. And it's also like the most polite. And if you leave your wallet on the ground, it'll be there tomorrow. There's almost no crime.

Like I visited as well. And it feels like humanity's greatest feat is Tokyo. That that could actually, engineering-wise and socially could work, is remarkable. Yeah, I found it. You know, the Japanese, I learned one thing from the Japanese, and that is nothing is impossible. You know, they built that surfing machine in the Tokyo Bay so they can surf and have big waves. They built a big, a ski tunnel. It's this huge ski tunnel.

It's indoor. It's refrigerated. And I think there's as many as three or 400 people. but one time can ski down this big tunnel and snow ski. So nothing's impossible in Japan. It was really quite a culture. So you did some work in Japan. You're back in the NHL, assistant coach in Montreal,

head coach again in Columbus. What did you notice in terms of the difference of being a head coach internationally, a head coach in the NHL, an assistant in the NHL? Those are very different roles. And you're dealing with different players, especially when you're talking about a short international tournament versus this guy's making X amount of dollars and may or may not have any interest in listening to you can't just demote them.

Those are very different jobs, aren't they? Yeah, I found, I'll talk a little bit about Montreal. First of all, great place to coach, one of the most historic franchises in existence. And to be an assistant coach with Alainzano as the head coach there was terrific. All of a sudden, I had never been an assistant coach before. Ryan. So it was a new role for me. And I got to spend more time with the players. Yes, as a head coach, you spend a lot of time with the players, but there's always a little distance there. There's less distance between coach and player when you're an assistant coach. So it gave me a little bit of

a sneak peek of maybe taking a little different approach should I become a head coach again. And I realized at that point in time, you know, I can be a bit. You know, you can be closer to the players. nothing wrong with that. And I think I learned a lot about just having a really good rapport with the players and how important that was when I was an assistant coach in Montreal. Is there a place where hockey means more than it does to the people that live in Montreal? I mean, just the history, the only French-speaking place. I mean, I feel like you can't duplicate that, can you?

No, gee, every night, like especially Saturday night games in Montreal, my goodness, the lead up to the game, everything, like before the game, the spectators outside, they're early to, ready to rush into that arena. The first five minutes, Ryan, they gave you five minutes, and that was it. Like, if you didn't play well, right away, you heard from the fans. And I'm telling you, so we'd always tell our guys, you know, first five minutes, if it moves, hit it, if you got the puck shoot it, skate as fast as you can.

Give them every impression you're working your tail off because that was really important because they are very critical. But I'll tell you, what a wonderful place. I can remember having some terrific seasons with Montreal, really enjoyed it. And it was a classic hockey environment because it means a lot to the people. It's a cultural thing. They're very proud of the fact that their French-Canadian history is strong within that franchise. I can remember there's a room down by the dress room called Leszacian. It's old

timers. And if we lost a game, as the guys walked, as the old timers walked by the dressing room doors to go into their their private room, especially the pocket rocket, Richard. He'd stop for a second, put his hands out and like, and then just go, you know, you guys. Well, she won 11 Stanley cups, you know. And so it's a few. It was interesting to have that environment, but really, really terrific. And both Linda and I really enjoyed Montreal, great city and great culture. Call Peter Klein at McLeod at 403-2543864 or go online at macloud dashlaw.com. You can also find them on social media at McLeodlaw, LLP. You know Peter Klein at McLeodlaw, personal injury guy, but also he's the go-to guy in the city for your disability insurance claims.

If you're long-term disability insurance companies refusing to pay insurance benefits to you, contact Peter. He's going to help you out. He'll get you the disability benefits you paid for and you deserve. He'll get you your peace of mind back, the peace of mind you paid for. It's time to discover or rediscover the legendary St. Eugene Golf Resort and Casino. Planning a golf trip, a romantic getaway,

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Did you learn French? Did you already know French with your time on the national team? You would have had some players from Quebec. I mean, I know for head coach, that's important there, but I'm more curious about you and your approach. You usually like to immerse yourself as much as possible. Yeah, I knew enough French. If they spoke at a reasonable rate, I could understand. And I'd taken French starting in grade seven in Winnipeg when I lived there.

So I'd had three or four years of high school French. So I had enough to get by, although in meetings, if they broke up into French and got passionate, I mean, I was out the window in terms of trying to figure out what they were saying. but they were terrific. The team, you know, has a French-Canadian connotation to it, strong one. But they operate, really speaking in English. And, you know, Rajinot, who was the GM and a wonderful man, Alan Vignon, really a good young coach.

It was a great situation. And I was always very proud to be part of that organization because it is so historic in hockey. Yeah, that's fair. And your next stop was not historic and you didn't need to know much French. off to Columbus where the Blue Jackets were not an expansion team, but not far from it, I imagine. Where were they at? And what kind of a situation were you walking into there with, I believe, Doug McLean running the show? We were an expansion team in that era.

Ourselves in Minnesota came in the same year as an expansion team, Ryan. And they weren't hospitable to the new franchises in those days. You didn't get a lot of really established players now expansion is designed so that the team coming in and expansion has an opportunity to be relatively competitive in fact quite competitive right away if it's operated properly we had a real difficult time as did minnesota we both came in uh jacques lamare was coaching there i was coaching in columbus and it was a battle all year we wanted to see which of which of the expansion teams could finish in front of the the other and we finished ahead of them which was our big satisfaction. We finished pretty well. We had a record for a little while for expansion

team points. And it was a good group. And I loved coaching that team because Ryan, we had so many guys with so much to prove. And it just gives you that impression that when guys have an edge to their game and a reason to really show people what they can do, they take advantage of it. So we had a wonderful group of guys and it was a real good experience and I really enjoyed it. And, uh, but they still, they still struggle. They struggled for a long time. I mean, they, they've had a up and down, uh, seasons there. And I think now with Mike Babcock, uh, you know, I think they're ready now to maybe, uh, take another step and get back into the hunt.

Did you find any similarities to the national team and an expansion team, like sort of these castoffs in a way that, you know, we weren't wanted elsewhere and here's a place where we can band together and sort of you share that common identity or am I off a bit? No, you're right on, Ryan. That's a very good comment, by the way. I think, I think that's your ace in the hole when you're an expansion team in those days was, you know, we have to prove to people that were better than they think we are. And so we were all on the same page. Everybody played for each other. It was really easy to coach that team in terms of there wasn't a night that we wouldn't compete. We always gave our best.

effort. We had Dallas, Detroit, and they were loaded with great teams in those days. You know, when we played Detroit, they're five guys on the ice, if they had the top five on the ice, made more than our whole roster by a good portion. So, you know, this was the edge we needed. We had to compete. And I really enjoyed it. I thought it was terrific. And, you know, Gerard Gallant was on our staff, Newell Brown, some really good assistant coaches. And I really enjoyed it. It was terrific. That's interesting. You're nailed it where like we watched Seattle and Vegas.

And I think anyone that, it's been a while since there was expansion prior to that. But it is so night and day what the expansion teams in the 90s and the 2000s were given. Like it was scraps. And now it's like you might get a top four defense. I'm like, Mark Jordan, a captain. You know, a top pair captain was was available in expansion draft. You have, you know, guys that came in and scored 40 goals. Like it is an entirely different universe that these new expansion teams,

are operating in versus the one that yourself, Minnesota, you know, Tampa, Anaheim, all those, people forget how bad those teams for San Jose. Jose was miserable, I believe, in one of their first couple of years. Ottawa was awful. Like, it was so much tougher then. Yeah, Ryan, it was it? I didn't make, you know, I know they had their expansion fees

that went to the league and that every team got a portion of that. And so it was a payday for everybody in the league. But to have teams so over their head didn't make a lot of sense. And I thought when they changed the expansion, rules to make teams more competitive. It was very exciting because to see, for example, Vegas in their first year go so far, very impressive. Seattle last year going as far as they went.

I think it adds a real reality check for everybody. Yes, they have talented teams, but they really work too. I mean, even with the talent level they have, when you are an expansion team, you never talk to your guys about working hard. They know. Yeah, yeah. You can't control skill level. You control your work ethic.

And that is, that was always the rep, right? These teams are going to work, but maybe we won't have the skill we have. That comes to an end. What was your one like there with in terms of the sport in Columbus in the state of Ohio? Ohio State football's king there, obviously. And then where was the state of the sport when you left? Because to your point, you were handicapped by the rosters. The league would allow you to collect.

But at the same time, people were starting to learn about the sport and probably enjoying coming to live hockey, which I always think is the great. a selling point of this game. It's not watching on TV. Get people in the building and they love hockey. Yeah, Columbus is a wonderful franchise. I mean, the fans embraced it. They understood an expansion team. It was easy for us to sell because when Detroit came into town with all the Russian players in Dallas with defending Stanley Cup champions, things like that, it really made it a very marketable games to go to. And the fact that we would compete so hard, was very entertaining for fans. And Columbus is a great franchise. It's a beautiful building. We had

really strong ownership. And I just felt it was going to be a really, really good franchise. As I said, they've had a couple of blips where they've had pretty good years, but they've not been consistent like I think they had hoped. And so, you know, I think now it could be a new era there, hopefully. But with Ohio State football, believe me, you are competing against a huge Genity. My goodness, I went to some games. It was unbelievable. I can remember driving down the freeway one morning and Ohio State was playing Michigan that afternoon. I was going to the morning practice and people were throwing these Wolverine teddy bears out the windows of their cars and driving over them on the freeway. I thought, my God, what have I got into here? But that was Columbus.

They hated Michigan. They hated everybody. They had great teams and it was terrific. It's great sports talent, really a great sports town. We had a soccer team that was the best in the MLS and won the championship a few times. But hockey became a really important entity there and still is. And you guys were getting attendance bump when college football was done, I imagine. They always talked about that in some of these markets where college football is king, you get into December, January, February, and all of a sudden you'd see bigger crowds and you could schedule a game on a Sunday afternoon.

Yeah, we had great spectatorship in Columbus. Even during the football season, our games would sell out. I think we sold out almost every game. It just, we were something new. It was a top professional league. It was well marketed. We had a great marketing staff. And yeah, it was a terrific situation.

I just think there was so much optimism. It's a great time for a franchise to be part of it. Because even in the toughest times, everybody's optimistic. It's going to get better. Yeah, interesting. You eventually get over to Russia, and I know there's some stops along the way, and you can talk about Germany if you'd like. And you've coached internationally to great success.

You've coached a national championship at Canadian University. You've now been to the pro ranks. What did the KHL offer you? And what was the thought to head over? Because you were the first. You broke the mold. There were not North American coaches in, I guess this is prior to the KHL, the Russian Super Elite League.

How did that come to be? and walk us through that decision tree because you were the first to do it as a North America. Yeah, it was really interesting. You know, I knew of the, of the KHL or Super League at that time. And there was no North Americans ever coached that. There was a couple of check coaches, but that was it. And just out of the blue, I get a phone call from an agent, Serge Levin, from New York.

And he says to me, there's a team in Russia, Magnita Gorsk, would like to talk to you at the world championships about being their next head coach. And I thought, gosh, I've coached against the Russians. I was fascinated with Russian hockey because they taught us a lot. And they've changed our game over here as to how it's played and all the fitness and those kind of things. So, Ryan, it was a great experience for me to think about going over and getting inside behind the scenes to see how they develop their players.

So not only was I looking forward to the possibility of coaching in their top league, I was looking forward to seeing how they develop their players because the Russian players do develop on a different model. And I was looking to see that and get firsthand experience with that. So Linda and I moved to Magnita Gorsk. No one on this broadcast will know where Magnitogorsk is. It's a steel city in the middle of Russia. And gosh, it was the most unique experience. Every day, Ryan, was an interesting day.

I don't think we ever had a day that we felt like, was repetitive. It wasn't. I've got a bunch of buddies that played over there. And I don't think there's better stories than KHL and Russian stories. Because it's just it's yeah, Ron, I can tell you said to me, the longer you live there, the less it makes sense, which feels like the opposite. But that's how upside down it can be compared to the life that we enjoy here. One of the important things about any change of culture is don't always ask why, why, why, just accept it. Because it's the way they do things. I said I'm going to try to change things within the team. But in terms of everything else, it's going to be whatever they think is right. I remember our

first road game, a preseason road game. We were had long training camp. We were going to fly to Moscow to play in a tournament there in the preseason. So I go to the more, I go to the rink in the morning to catch the bus to the airport. And I thought it was the set up group for a rock band, the way they were dressed. God, guys had hats on backwards. They had all these jackets with genes that were torn. I thought, they travel like this? I mean, I'd never experienced that. I was surprised. But that's the way it was. You know, it's changed a lot since then. But I remember Dmitriuskavich coming over to me because he knew he was, I could see him looking at me. I was kind of bewildered as to how we were dressed. And he came over and said, Kinger, this is the

KHL, not the NHL. And so I learned right away, things are going to be different. And I also had a chance to coach Malkin and Nikolai Kulam with that team. And they were fantastic young players. So it was a great experience. So young, Yvgeny Malkin for Mettlerg puts up 47 points in 46 games. What was he like? And did you,

did everyone seem to think he was going to go on and have the career that he's had to this point? Yeah, he was, oh, he was 18 turning 19 when I had him. so he was still a young, young guy. He had had that great season, as you mentioned, as an 18-year-old. And he decided games in the last three to four minutes so many times for us. We only lost five games that year. And he was a guy who struck late in a close game.

Malcolm would find a way. He'd evaporate one-on-one, beat people with his skill and his speed. And not only was he a great player, an unbelievable person. And a lot of Russian players are quite dower. They grow up in the game and they're constantly being pushed. And so they do get that demeanor where they're reserved. And they're almost robotic. You know, they march to the tune of the coach is playing.

But Malk was really different, very outgoing, big smile on his face. And he was a really important part of our team because he was our best player, but also a very different character. and truly a good hockey player. And he's had a great career in the NHL. So that was the lockout year. Who else would you have seen over there? 5.06.

It's a year after the flames. I guess that would have been 4 or 5. So it's a year after the lockout. So he's still, he's 18 and 19 in the Russian League. That's what you're saying? Yeah, yeah. He's just a young kid. Like the year I coached him, what happened for Malch was he played in every senior

Russian tournament that year. Plus, he also played in the world junior championships. Plus, he played in the KHL. So the guy was just completely overplayed. And in the playoffs, it became a factor because he just was dead tired. But he was that good. And he was just a guy who the, you could tell right away, this was going to be probably a legendary player in Russia.

And that's what he's become. I mean, you can talk about Ovechkin, but Malkin will also be revered over there. in that same class. Outdoor dental is dentistry with no needles, no drills, and no stress. Their Salelea laser treatment is an excellent solution for people who experience dental phobia. In one to two minutes, you'll be relaxed, comfortable, pain free, and back onto your day in minutes. Also, outdoor dental does snoring treatments. Two 15-minute sessions can increase the tension in the soft palate in the back of your throat, which reduces snoring. It's non-surgical and pain-free. again, just two 15-minute treatments. Outdoor dental does snoring treatments as well. Two 15-minute

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It's almost like if he didn't have a certain team, we might talk more about him, but I think he might find that a okay. Yeah. The league over there isn't built for a coach that does to speak Russian to come in and start coaching. How did you get through that as the first? Because the pioneers are always the ones that have to like break through these doors and figure out solutions to problems we didn't know exist. you're going to rinks and nothing's written in English. You're not able to communicate like you

would anywhere else in your coaching career. Walk us through some of the challenges of year one. And then maybe how you were accepted, as you noted, the team had a great season. As you started to win, what changed? Well, you know, it is interesting. I had an off ice translator to do all my off ice things traveling, all that kind of thing. On the ice, I used, I had Demetri Escavich, who had played a long time in the NHL for Toronto and Chicago, teams like that. I had Igor Korlev, who also played in Toronto, Chicago. So I had a couple of other players that spoke English, but those two guys that played in the NHL, Ryan, they knew the type of game I probably was going to try to help us deliver. And so they were really terrific because you could use any slang expression and they could put

it into Russian. They understood the game. Technically, they were well coached when they were over here. So they were terrific. They were more than translators. They were actually translators, assistant coaches, because they had to do a lot of work on my behalf. But it worked out well. And I think, you know, it was interesting because we went through the preseason. And I think we played 21 preseason games.

Oh, like in the NHL now they play three or four. We played 21 games in the preseason. God, we were playing from early July right through the land of August. We played 21 games. all these tournaments. So we really got it down to a fine art though in terms of the translation. And what I did, I learned all the Russian, all the common hockey, reoccurring common hockey situations. I learned in Russian how to say that. So I could behind the bench talk with short expressions in Russian that would get me through some situations. When it came down

to really giving a player feedback, I had to use my transitors. And that's what we did. But it worked out well. And then we started to win. In the preseason, we won every tournament we were in. And I used video, Ryan, which these guys have not. The only time the Russians in that era had video is when they played poorly, the coach would put it on and make them watch the whole bloody game

as he ranted and raved about how bad they were. Okay. So the video was something. I used it to teach. And short vignettes, you know, maybe 10, 12, 15 clips. And some of it positive, some of it here, since we have to improve on. And it really got interesting. In fact, one day I'm doing a video session and I look in the back and our equipment guy has got his own little video camera.

And he's videoing me doing the video. It became fascinating for everybody around to see this stuff. And so being the first North American coach there, we all used video. That was nothing new. It wasn't that I was unique in any way. But they really enjoyed it. They embraced it. And that really helped our team a lot.

and it was great to be the first North American coach there. And what a great country to live in. It was terrific. And I got to tell you, I have a lot of very good feelings about coaching in Russia. What were your rapport like with the other coaches? I mean, at the beginning, you're kind of the outsider. But by midseason, they're like, oh, well, maybe there are some things to learn from Coach King.

Yeah, no, I was really interesting. Like, you know, Yerzinov was coaching. He was the assistant coach with Tikanov, and he was still coaching Moscow Dynamo. and a lot of old established coaches were still in the league. And I'll tell you, I found them very terrific. Like often the morning skate before, like the day you arrive and you have your afternoon skate, the next day you're going to play. They'd often stay and watch the practice, come down and talk.

And I really had a great rapport with a lot of these guys because I had met a lot of them in my time with the national team because they had coached National B teams as well as maybe helped teak enough with the A team. So I had a rapport with them from over 10 years. with the national team. So it made it very easy to be able to talk to these guys and really enjoy myself. And I coached in the All-Star game that year, the first All-Star game they ever had. And my assistant coaches were Peter Vorobyov and Yerzinov and we had so much fun that night.

So it was a great experience. Unreal. And so it's two years there. Are you, yesterday on the show, I mean, we're going to play this next week. but when people are watching it, a week ago, we had Jeff Glass on and Jeff played Net over in Russia for years. And he said, when I came back to North America at 30, it was just time.

And he was at a total different stage in you, but he was like, I want to have a kid. I'm not doing that in Russia. There's just a level of chaos that you have to live in. You're not a local there. You're an outsider and you can do it, but it wears on you a bit. Were you ready to come home after a couple seasons?

Or was there a relief of coming back? Because you certainly achieved a lot, but Russia was never going to be home. and you were never going to be a Russian, right? Yeah, that's right, Ryan. I think, you know, we enjoyed it. We never, ever felt like it was a hardship to be in Russia. We had to adapt to my wife, Linda, adapted to so many things. Just going grocery shopping was a real challenge in Magnetogosk, a steel city with no westernization to it at all. So it was really fascinating. It's a good word to describe the life there. But, you know, I just had a chance to come back and get

involved with Dave Tippett and Phoenix and decided that that would be a very interesting experience and get back into some NHL hockey. And then again, I got a call eight or nine years later to go to Yaroslavl. And Yaroslavl was an interesting experience because they were the team that a year before had had the plane crash. And a good friend of mine, Brad McCrimmon, had coached that team. And Igor Korolev and Geisla, who played for me were on that team and they all died in the plane crash. So going to Yaroslavl was very unique because I knew it was a team that had struggled to get back into the elite league. Hockey was a big part of their culture too. And so going to Yaroslava was a really good experience and I really enjoyed it. It was wonderful to be with that

team. And we had a terrific playoff. Went a long way in the playoffs. And it really uplifted the spirits of those people within that city. And I'll tell you, Ryan, if you've ever seen anything, you've seen nothing like it when you go to Yaroslabo. The respect for all the people that died in the plane crash was profound. And it goes on every day. It's not stopped since. Lighting the flame, the flowers, all that stuff goes on every day. And so it was really a very unique experience.

I really enjoyed it. Well, and I feel like that would feel like you're part of something bigger than sport. I remember in Vegas's expansion season. They had that horrific shooting at the concert outside of a hotel. And, you know, that was something the team rallied around. And more than that, the community, they found hockey is in a way to escape or to start a healing process. It was a place where community could gather.

You would have been a part of that healing process in your Oslovel as well, I imagine, especially if the team was doing well. I mean, this was part of getting better, at least, I think. Yeah, you know, the team has struggled all season, but in the playoffs, we just caught fire. And we, you know, we beat Moscow Dynamo finished first in the league. Then we played St. Petersburg who had a lot of NHL players on that team. And, you know, Panarin guys like that, Kovalov, Kovalchuk. We beat them in six games.

And then we went to the final against Lev Prague. And that's where we lost out at that conference final. But that really started people like it just. The city caught fire again in Yaroslavo. And, you know, people didn't come up and say, congratulations. They said, thank you. And I had so many people come up and just, they just touch your arm and say, thank you. You know, spasiba.

Because it, yes, they were, it was part of the healing process. So for me, that was a very emotional time. I went to the cemetery and, you know, put flowers on Brad McCrimmon's grave site and things like that. And some of the players I had coach who had passed away in the crash. It was really a sobering thing. I'm really lucky to be able to have coached there and I really enjoyed it. Your first book, King of Russia, was phenomenal. One of my favorite books in sport because you have so many great anecdotes about your time over there,

first in Metalurg where you sort of broke that North American barrier as a coach. And just the anecdotes of something as simple as like going out and seeing stray dogs or how do we shop for food or, you know, you don't realize how, you know, it was not necessarily a first world city that you lived in there relative to what we're used to over here. I can't encourage people enough to go find that book and read some of the anecdotes. And you've sprinkled some in as well in your new book called loose pucks and icebags. How and why the game is changing. Tell us about the new book, what you've set out to accomplish and what readers can expect because you frame it right at these here. And I'm not drawing drills here. I want to explain the thought behind stuff.

You've got great little stories, anecdotes, one-liners. It's a very easy read and a nice page turner for all hockey fans, in my opinion. Yeah, you know, Loose Pucks and Ice Bags was the title I chose for the book because it's a very sophisticated game now. I mean, we have large coaching staffs. We have a lot of technical video, computers, analytics. We've got a lot of things to help us analyze the game. But it still comes down and it always will to Loose Pucks and Icebags. Loose pucks means that you get to the puck first, which allows you to be in control of a difficult situation or a very productive possibility.

Ice bags simply means you competed. Like I've always felt when I come back into the dressing room and guys are putting the ice bags on, I just impressed me, you know, that that's competing. So I chose that as the title for the book because, and the book talks a lot about, you know, the game, how it's changing tactically and the evolution of the game and how the record. affected our game and it talks about old time hockey and how we've changed from the 50s and 60s where players were mainly, it was serfed them in those days to now where they are in control of the game to a great extent. So I really enjoyed writing the book. I tried to make it readable. There is parts of the book that are quite technical and tactical, but still I tried to get the message across that the game is changing and it's changing in a very positive way. And it's an exciting

product now. I really like the kind of game we're getting. I think the players, just Ryan, the players are so much better now. You know, it's interesting. My son coaches in Moose Jaw, with the Moose Jaw Warriors in the Western Hockey League. And when I watch those kids practice, I mean, their practices are so sophisticated and organized and the requirements to play the game. They're dealing with, like if you want to be good, you've got to be good at things that happen a lot in the course of a game. That's simple. And these kids are because they're well coached right up from midget up now. The quality of coaching in our country has just gone through the roof.

We have some problems with our game. We have some problems with some behavior. And that's the side of the game we have to look at. And so, yeah, it was an interesting book. And I really enjoyed writing it. I have to give my wife, Linda, a lot of credit. She proof read a lot and did a lot of typing, but it was fun. So you can add editor to the travel assistant and coordinator. I know you never fail to point out how integral she is, not just to helping you in terms of moving around, but the glue to the family to keep everyone together. I don't imagine you can live in six,

seven different countries and coach around and three different continents without massive amounts of help from Linda. Yeah, you have to. I mean, I think, you know, the ability to adapt is really important. And, you know, she has that in spades. And Linda can adjust to any situation. And she had fun. I mean, she enjoyed every one of our coaching escapades.

and so that was good for us, really good for us. A couple quick ones. You spend a lot of time in Arizona. You hang on there as a development guy and then as an advisor. That's probably, I bet you you'd have a ton of anecdotes about how skilled the young players are that you would get to deal with, be it at the NHL or prospects that are on their way up. And then beyond that, the Pyong Chang experience would have been just a fascinating one that you get sort of brought in for one final Olympics.

And I don't know if that was planned or how that came to be. But I feel like if that's the last, you know, place that Dave King's name gets put on as a coach, that that's pretty cool that you get to close it out at the Olympics, if that's the case. Yeah, I was really a cool experience. You know, I was very honored to be asked to be part of that coaching staff, along with, you know, Willie Desjardin and Scott,

and along with, I forget the other name. Anyway, but it was really a good experience. I really enjoyed it. I felt that we had a good group of players. It was a very unique situation. Sean Burke was the GM. And Sean did an excellent job of doing the international scouting,

evaluating players, which is very difficult because they're playing in different leagues. And so our team didn't get much time together. We had to bring it together quickly. And it was a wonderful experience. And they played very well. We lost a real tough game at the Olympics that probably took us out of the gold medal game. But we really bounced back in the bronze medal game and won the bronze. And those kids were terrific.

And what a great experience. The Olympics has changed quite a bit, Ryan. There's been, you know, examples now of where the NHL players haven't gone. So it's gone in a different direction at times and certainly makes it very exciting for everyone. Yeah, interesting. What makes you happy now? I mean, you're 75 years old, if I'm correct. You've coached for five different decades.

Is there still an itch or a party of you missing, or are you happy to kick back and, you know, maybe show up for the odd practice. Your son's running in Moose Jaw. You know, you're spending a lot of your winners in Arizona where you've got great relationships with, you know, a lot of people that have worked over the team there for years. You know, what keeps you busy these days?

Because I don't see is the kind of guy that's just going to sit back in a lazy boy. No, I'm a guy who is busy for sure. I have this streak of high energy within me that I just have a hard time sometimes to bottle up. But, you know, when I look at the situation, it's funny, Ryan, I don't watch a great deal of NHL hockey. I find it too hard. I get in front, I watch, I'll change channels

and change games all the time, but I have a real hard time watching it because I miss it so much. You know, people think I must be glued to the TV. I watch enough, but I don't watch. as much as people think I would watch. I follow it very carefully. I still read a lot of hockey, write a lot of hockey. I still do a lot of coaching seminars and clinics

because I really want to try to help our coaches that coach the kids and allow them to do a better job and have more fun for both the player and the coach. Too many times now you see coaches, I think, not enjoy the experience. And when a coach is not enjoying it, for sure, the kids don't. So I spent a lot of time doing coaching clanks, a lot of podcasts like this. And I really find that very, very enjoyable.

Guys, it's Pinder. Looking at the Betway app. Ooh, there's some fun to be had on some season win totals for NFL clubs. Yeah, we've got kickoff. What, like next week? Unreal. Can't wait. Let's see we can find some numbers here.

Ooh, look at this. Steelers win total, eight and a half. I'm going to take the over from my boy, producer Jack. It's minus 150. So people are leaning over. but I think they can get to nine wins. A nine and eight season, that would be not horrible, but I think they can do that. Nice little picket to pickings combo. See if you can go find that one on Betway. Bet the responsible way.

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you know, when you start at the University of Saskatchewan and you do a decade with the national team, like you've always felt not just this obligation to go out and win and have good teams, which I'm sure is important, but you have to develop players and you want to leave the game in a better spot than you left it, whether that's a team or a philosophy, be you can bring somewhere, be it to Russia or back from Russia to the national team. I mean, where does that come from?

I feel like you feel a debt to the sport that I think is very admirable. You know, when I was a young coach at the University of Saskatchewan, there's a couple of people that I think people in Alberta will recognize. One was Claire Drake, coach of the University of Alberta, legendary, George Kingston, the University of Calgary. Both of these guys were senior coaches, way more experienced. than I was, Ryan, way more capable than I was. And I was this young guy in the new coaching ranks at the college level. And these guys would share ideas in the summertime doing coaching conferences. After a game, you could talk to them and they would give you feedback on your team.

And I just felt, wow, this is amazing. These guys are, they're worried about their teams and they want to do well, but they share. You know, they're very willing to try to help others in the game. And I just caught that loud and clear. I've always felt I should try to do that. And so that's what I've really tried to do. And in many ways, that's my legacy in the game as I've tried to be helped to other coaches, help with hockey curriculum for kids, for adults.

But I am concerned right now with trying to help shape the game in a better way. I'd like the game to become a place where kids can play it. And we pay lip service to some of the. the values of the game, we have to work harder to deliver some of those values to the game. And it all starts with coaching. And I think so, you know, that's one of the focuses for me right now is, can we make this a better game for kids to play, whether they go anywhere in the game or not, they should have more fun playing it, want to play it longer, maybe play it in the old timers type of situation. But we have to make it a better game for boys and girls to play

because it's a wonderful sport. If it's treated properly and the right etiquette, you know, has applied to it. Well, I mean, it's incredible. The passion you have for the sport is really one of a kind. I always enjoy our chats. And great to get you on the podcast here. I want to encourage everyone to head to Amazon.com or dot CA and grab the book, Loose Pucks and Icebags by Dave King, how and why the game is changing.

Coach, you've given us a lot of your time. I'm glad it's a rainy day in Waskosu. If this was a beach day, I'd feel very guilty. Ryan, you're exactly right. I probably would not have done this if it was a great beach day. But thank you so much. And yeah, it was a real pleasure to be on your show. Thank you.

All the best to your crew. Thanks a ton. And we'll continue to see your influence on the sport. Thanks so much for your time today.