Empty Netters Podcast - 44. Chris Chelios explains the cycle sauna and crashes a car on draft night. His son injured Pavel Datsyuk and his mom is a better cook than your mom

Episode Date: June 30, 2023

The boys sit down with NHL Hall of Famer Chris Chelios. They discuss everything from Connor Bedard fitting in with the Blackhawks to drinking beers on the bench at the Winter Classic. Expansion teams are good for hockey, partying with the cup in Montreal is almost as good as partying with it in Malibu, and a definitive ranking of D Men in the game today. Plus he's got the best tequila in the business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are currently sitting with former Montreal Canadian Chicago Black Hawk and Detroit Red Wing, three-time Stanley Cup winner, three-time Norris trophy winner, Olympic silver medalist, eighth-most-most-moth's career NHL games, most playoff games in league history.

This is my favorite one. 12th all-time in PIMS. Sick. Well done. Tied with Mr. Hockey Gordy Howe for most NHL seasons at 26 and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Chris Chelyos, welcome to the Empty Netters podcast.

Thank you, guys. Boom. Awesome. It's great, great, great to have you here. This is an absolute blast. How are you feeling? How are you feeling being in Nashville? I'm good. I mean, I'll just start off with the bang, Connor McBadar. We got first pick overall.

How about it, huh? We got bragging rights. So it's exciting for obviously the city and our team. And then to have it in a place like Nashville and have Badard out, you know, as number one, it's going to be a fun night for us. Yeah, that's for sure. Going to be incredible. Okay, well, while we're talking draft, you went 40th overall, 81 to the Habs. What do you remember about that?

Like, what was your draft night like compared to, what's going down to countdown today. It started out with me, I was playing in Moose Jostas, Saskatchewan, and I was playing the two guys, Gord Flagle, and Jim Archibald played a little bit in the Minnesota North Shars, but we all three grabbed a case of beer each, and we drove down.

Back then, there was really, I didn't have any money. First of all, it wasn't really a tradition to go to the draft. We didn't even know if we were getting drafted, quite honestly. So we decided we were going to take the case of beers. It was a beautiful day. We went and parked by some, you know, water out down in Moose Jaw somewhere.

And just listen to the radio until, you know, I was the first one to go. Archie got picked second. And unfortunately, Fleggle never got drafted, so that was kind of a buzz killed. That kills the vibe. And then it continued, and we went, the Moose Jaw, they decided they're going to throw a, they called them cabarets or socials. Yeah. It was basically a party.

Yeah. And they had it one of these convention halls for us that night. They just put it together within, you know, three, four hours just because they knew they'd never see us again. Yeah. And the night ended with me totaling a car. Didn't get hurt, thank God. There we go. I'll keep the details out.

It was probably the best and worst day. I had to leave Moosechow the next day so I wouldn't get caught. You can't return. You can't go back. Do you remember what kind of car it was? Yeah. Oh, yeah. My friend Mike Drager is my teammates car asking to go pick someone up.

And it was a Monte Carlo. Oh, my God, dude. 77 Monte Carlo. But we, you know, we reported it stolen, got away with it. the rest was history. So, yeah, it was a hell of a draft day. But again, I knew I was going to get drafted. That's the one thing because either Chicago had talked to me,

Edmonton had talked to me, didn't realize I was going to go as high as we did, quite honestly, coming out of tier two. But again, being American, you know, growing up where I did and coming from San Diego, you know, real lucky if it happened. Yeah. Were you psyched? I mean, like, you had a crazy come up with the, you know,

youth hockey played then in and out of college stuff and then playing juniors. And was it when that came up when you knew you were going to get drafted because some teams were talking to you, were you like, I'm all in on this. I'm going to go to the NHL. What was going through your head? Honestly, my goal was to just get a college scholarship and I didn't care if it was in baseball or hockey. Yeah. And like I said, I'd moved out to San Diego at the age of 15 and that kind of killed hockey. Yeah.

Really didn't play for two years other than senior leagues, you know, with older men. Yeah. For sure. I skated a lot, but nothing competitive. And then I met, you know, I don't know for the story, I met a kid on a beach. His name is Bobby Parker. And ended up being his partner in Moosechow for two years

because he quit going to the university in San Diego. But once I saw the light, you know, I watched Western Canada League with, you know, Wickenhizer was a big name back then, Doug Wickenhizer. And then I figured I didn't even know how the draft worked. You know, American kids didn't have any idea. Exactly. Definitely.

They really didn't know the junior leagues in Canada. At least I didn't, and no one in Chicago did. But once you see these kids getting drafted, then two years later you see him in the pro, I got drafted on things. If I get over college, maybe I do have a shot. At least I'm going to get a tryout to go to an NHL camp, which is Montreal. And once I got chosen for the Olympic team, I had a really good feeling. At least I'd get a legitimate shot, you know, whether I made it or not, you know, that was up to me.

And I got lucky. Yeah, no doubt. did it at the time obviously now you think about teams like the habs teams like the maple leaves they have those crazy fan bases did you feel any of that pressure getting drafted by the habs back then the 80s or were you like i don't want to go to can no no because i like i said i didn't know what to expect when i got drafted i'd never been to montreal other than i tried out for a junior team there the year before i went to moose shun got cut so all i remember is that bus ride from hawksbury is all the way back to san diego um but wait you took a lot's miserable

And ran out of money in Detroit, borrowed money from somebody in the Detroit bus station, and then got the rest of the way home. Freshly cut, too. Yeah. Yeah. Right of a savage bus ride home. Yeah. And quite honestly, when I got to Montreal, I had hurt my ankle in the Olympics. So I watched the first five games and the Canadians were fourth place, fifth place, fighting for a playoffs.

And they were booing Larry Robinson. They were booing Bob Ganey. I'm going, this seems like a tough place to play. If someone misses a pass, they boo him. Yeah. So I figured it out quick, listen to the radio and the tension, and I compare it to the Yankees, you know, how they have to deal with their media in New York. And the one thing I really didn't understand was a separatist where Quebec was actually trying to separate from Canada.

And I'm English and American getting caught up in that too, where home fans actually hated you because you were English or American. You can't see the trunch, right? But the hockey part, like I thank God that I broke in with a team with that type of history and learn from Bob Gainty, learned from Leonard Robinson. I play with Giel Fleur, which is embarrassing.

It makes me sound even more old. But I got to learn from some of the greatest players what it means to be a professional. And, you know, I got to sit with Maurice Richard and Henry Richard. So I listened and I absorbed everything. And I got lucky that had I broken in with Chicago or some team like that, like Eddie Olcich. I would have a tough time, you know,

adjusting to that without the leadership that I was. taught with. For sure. That makes sense. Amazing. What do you think about the draft now? I mean, it's, it must be crazy looking at how much exposure these guys get. We, you know, we were laughing yesterday.

We went to media, and it's wild seeing these kids sitting at these little podiums with a thousand microphones stuffed in their face. They're 18 years old. You can see the pimples on their cheeks. And then Connor comes out, and he's got a whole room to himself with an entire panel. And it's just nuts to me to think, you know, you get drafted. you're saying you're drinking the case. You found out you got drafted on the radio.

Yeah. Like a rack of beer. And now it's like Connor Bdard has 500,000 followers on Instagram already and he's not even in the league yet. It's like the way it's changing the exposure is crazy. Yeah. And I mean, I guess at his age at 17, we all know social media is such a big part of our society. So it's probably nothing to him to just, you know, see whatever he wants,

whatever's being said about him. And he's going to probably have a staff, you know, an entourage around him just for that part only. But I think that the NHLs learned from the NFL what they do. That's such a big deal, that NFL draft, and they've been doing it for years. For sure. And every year it just seems to get bigger and better. But I've never seen so much hype over a first pick overall in my life.

And I mean, a lot added pressure. He seems to handle it. I saw him on the telecast with Biz and those guys during the finals. And he seems to have a good head on his shoulders. and I think it'll be fine. But at the end of the day, it's still, there's pressure and there's distractions. I thought I had thick skin, but we talked about Montreal earlier and the pressure and stuff. Once in a while it gets to you and you don't leave the house and that's no fun.

You know when to leave the house. You lose and you just stay in, you win. Maybe you go out to a restaurant or a bar once in a while. But like I said, he's a, I don't know, I'm not going to say I wouldn't want to be in his shoes. And I look at Jack Hughes, what happened his first year. You know, it was an adjustment for him. Definitely. Biggest bust ever, yeah.

So I think he's going to be fine. Quite honest, I've only seen the highlights. Every highlight's an unbelievable goal. So it's hard to judge a game like that. But he's got everything it takes to be a superstar. Yeah. Well, I mean, on that topic, so you're in Montreal. You become the first American captain of the Habs,

which is another, what an awesome notch on the belt. Then you get traded to, Chicago. Home town team, how did that feel? Like, was, was that something that you, you know, because I always wonder, you go to an original six team in Montreal, you have an incredible career there, you win a cup there, you're the captain, then you get traded to your hometown team. Was it bittersweet or were you just pumped? Like, what did it feel like going back home and playing for the Hawks? Yeah, honestly, totally unexpected. I was getting traded. No idea it was going to happen. Sirsavard was a gym at the time, and he supported me. There's pressure from other

things and then when you lose a Montreal, someone's going to pay. It was just the player's turn. And, you know, I don't know if it had anything to do American or English captain. That was in the media, though, again, because the French media would always go against the American media and they'd supported each other. And it was, it's unfortunate that that's the way it is because it's hard to get guys to go up there now because of it. But had I gone anywhere else and I was this close to going to Winnipeg for, for

the L. Howard Chuck, but Serge on the phone call, he said, look, I could have trade. to Winnipeg, but I sent you home. And the conversation, I didn't know what to say, I go, okay. And I hung up on search. So, you know, to answer your question, I could have been happier to be going home. I'd been gone for a long time. Nobody knew where I went, you know, once I left Chicago to move to San Diego for my last

two years of high school. Yeah. And then I popped up in the Olympics, and they're going, Jesus Christ, God, to be him. Is that our boy? Yeah. And when I made it in Montreal, and I thought I was going to get drafted by Chicago, but I didn't want to leave Montreal. I loved it.

Okay. The only thing that, you know, that saved that trade was that I was going home and that, you know, Mike Keene was there. He supported me. And from the day one, the first game, I had a goal assistant a fight. Yeah. And it just went uphill. Yeah. We won the president's trophy that year. Yeah.

Yeah. But, you know, it helped that we were winning for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So it was, it was a worst and best day of my life kind of like when you buy a boat, right? Yeah. Or like when you get drafted and then total a car. Yeah.

You've got a bunch of us. $300 deductible. It was pretty good. Compare those cities in terms of the fan, and the pressure, like you're saying, in Montreal they boo a miss pass. Were you guys feeling that in Chicago, too? Or is it a little different?

Well, like I said, my first year, we won the president's trophy. We had some strong teams. And the Chicago fans are tough, but not as knowledgeable. So if you're losing the game and you go out and hit someone or fight someone,

they're going to forgive you. So most of my penalty men, as we, you know, You mentioned that earlier. We're not quality. They were just at the end of a game to give the fans something to go home and talk about in the car. But again, it was a different type of pressure, but not sure all the difference was you couldn't hide. You couldn't walk the streets.

Yeah. Anywhere. Chicago, you just blend in. And it was a much better relaxed feeling for me. I was as intense as anybody. But, you know, I didn't like the attention off the ice. And when you're young and someone's giving you shit, yelling at you for the game the night before, that didn't happen in Chicago ever. So that was probably the biggest difference.

Do you feel like because of that, or at least in part because of that, it was a better experience playing in Chicago than Montreal? Not necessarily better, but for me, it's motivation to be better. It puts that pressure on you, but obviously some guys can't handle that. And I see some, there's a lot of guys, you know, Canadian teams, they haven't won the Cups since, what, 93. They know about that now, these kids. They don't need, like, Austin Matthews is just a perfect example. You know, and the media should back off on these guys. And I think they've started to realize that, you know, because it's added pressure.

You don't need, and they get personal, which is the worst thing, you know, to any athlete. Yeah. If you start getting personal and just, you know, it's opinions, not fact and, you know, rumors and stuff like that. So I use it as a motive. Like I said, thick skin. So for the most part, I could shake off everything. But when it became personal, I don't care who you are. It's unnecessary a lot of that stuff.

Yep. Definitely. Definitely. What do you think Connor can expect, you know, is going to Chicago playing for this, you know, amazing franchise? And what an interesting time, too, because we had Taves and Kane come through and, you know, totally revived the organization, win a few cups. And now they're leaving and Badaard stepping in.

What do you think it's... And frankly, he's not going to have the luxury. of a huge leadership corps. Yeah, right. Yeah. So, yeah, what do you think that's going to be like for me? Well, you know, we made those two trades for, yeah, Hallsies, yeah, yeah.

He's got a senator to play with. And, you know, maybe now they're just the fans, you know, the ticket sales went up. Yeah, yeah, I saw that. Yeah, yeah. So maybe they're thinking, and I'm just, just as a fan, I'm thinking, well, maybe they're going to be more aggressive now

and they're going to try signing some guys. Yeah. You know, there's still some, you know, talk about Max Domey. coming back, it would be a great fit for Stard. Absolutely. To play in the line with him. He finished off really well with Dallas and Chicago previously.

But it just remains to be seen, but the fans, they're looking back, you know, when we got Tays, Kane, Seabroof-Feed. And it's, they're having that, now you have hope. Yeah. You get that first pick your overall. And Kyle Davidson said it, though, it's a great start for the real. Oh, my God. Yeah.

But they do need to surround him with some talent. And again, I don't. don't know if Taylor Halls the answer, but at least it's someone that can get him in the puck and, you know, because you don't want to, you know, you want to put up in a position to succeed, not to fail. And I don't care who he is or how great he is. You have to be surrounded. He's going to make players around him better also, Connor, but he also is going to need some help.

Yeah, absolutely agree. What do you think about a kid like that? We've all seen the highlights, right? He comes in. He looks so flashy because I've heard you say before, and I totally agree with the structure because I'm such a thing in the NHL, right? Like coaches are like, it's less like, go be creative and make your, your own mistakes. It's now like be here at the right time and do this, do that.

With a proven guy, McDavid, go do whatever you want? But with a rookie, do you hope they give him the freedom to be like, go do whatever you want and make mistakes? Or is it going to be like all structure, structure, structure at the start of his career? A million dollar question. Like that's the biggest issue most coaches, I think they're false, is trust in players. Yeah. So at first, he's going to have the longest leash in the world. And he's going to have to be a two-way player. They all are. You see how Vegas wins. They all play the same. They all play D.

They all hit. Now, I don't expect McDart at his size. Do a run guy sure, but finish guys, get in the way, slow him down. But there's no question. He's going to have a little bit more of a leash, especially playing wing. Yeah. If he takes off and wants to, I call it cherry pick a minute. Yeah, yeah.

Or if he, I'd like to say it's called anticipating a play. When he sees some, he has a vision, right? Yeah. Just like all the great players. And it looks like a push going to get turned over. And Kane's a perfect example. He got to allow him to take off and get behind defensemen and do that. So, you know, it just remains to be seeing how patient Luke Richardson's going to be.

I think he's going to give him the longest leash in the world to just let him play. He's going to work hard. The kid works hard. So that's all you can ask you have a guy. Just give him a little bit of structure. That's what you do with great players like that. Yeah. That's what I'm going to tell the boys in men's league.

I'm anticipating. I'm not sure of the clubblet. I'm anticipating. I'm not floating in the neutral zone. Christ. I'm anticipating a turn. I watch Connor McDavid in Detroit. Detroit, and Detroit end up beating them, but I didn't realize how much he anticipates.

Yeah. And with his speed, anticipate, you're not going to catch him ever. But again, his numbers don't lie. I'd love to see him, you know, his plus minus get a little better for a guy who gets that many points. Yeah. Yeah. You know, stick somebody on his line to plays defense. Yeah, there we go.

Yeah. Just get the balance. You stay back. Get it to him and stay back. Yeah. But you're right. I mean, I think it's interesting. You see guys like a vegkin.

We always talked about that. He was popping 50 goals a season, but his plus minus was terrible. And then he actively worked on that defensive side of the game, and then, boom, they went a cup. That is an important thing to kind of grind in. And I think Connor will step into that role. I like the move so far. I mean, Halsey is a great winger that he can play with. I think Falino is such a good locker room guy, such a good leader to surround him with.

So the moves are right so far. And they've got the freedom to make moves. There's no one on the roster. Exactly. Build the team you want around the game. That's cool. Yeah, Felino has that toughness. I don't care what anybody says.

And they got Tenority who'll step up for anybody too. If you don't have that, they'll take advantage of Badar in a sense, like they did cane in the beginning until they added that toughness with, you know, the Blackhawks did. These guys have seen it. They know what they need. Most of the teams now that are winning the cup, they're big, strong, North American-style physical teams. Yeah. Buffalo is a perfect example.

All that skill in the world, but they don't, you know, all their D are mobile. and very talented, but they don't play D, and they're not hard to play against. Yeah, yeah. That's so, so aggr. We're Bruins fans growing up, and it's like, we watched them lose a cup, that Blue 2019 Blues Cup.

We just got beat up. Like, there were a lot of series that this Bruins team just hasn't quite been tough enough. In 2013 against the Hawks, too. It's true. It is interesting. I think it's so cool how similar the Bedard situation is to Kane. Yeah.

You just said it, and it is, you know, they're relatively similar players, but even just the structure of the team when Kane came in, it does feel slightly reminiscent of that. time. So you're right. Like they've been through exactly this. Yeah. So it's going to be exciting to see what happens. Yeah, but at some point the good has to outweigh the bad by a lot. Yes, a lot. You know, that's the thing. So like I said, you can't, you have to be a two-way

player. I don't care now to win. You cannot, you can't not come back like in circle. Yeah. Yeah. And some guys are still doing. That's why they're not winning. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's true. Speaking of winning, three Stanley Cups to your name. You obviously won one very early in your career, than two in Detroit. We were just on this insane tour with the finals and then I ended up being with the guys for the Cup celebrations in Vegas. What was it like in your day?

Because I'm so interested with, you know, you won so early. And I want to know what the partying with the cup was like in Montreal. And then especially compared to what it was like in Detroit because these boys in Vegas are like a week long better still. Yeah. So give us some more stories.

Like I want to hear what was going on. Well, Montreal, I was single. Yeah. So I'll start with that. And young, man. How old are you when you won that one? Probably 24. Yeah.

Wow. What a time to be alive. Yeah. You know, they didn't have the tradition, though, where you could take the cup out. Now, we stole it once from the back of the town car at the forum, and we only had it for an hour and a half until they figured out what happened. But it was not a tradition to bring the cup home. Like the cup is running down the street.

It's a little hour and a half. It'll flirt. did the same thing. He stole the cup and took it to his hometown and no one knew, but it just, you know, they would take the cup all over the place in Quebec. Yeah. But it did, generally, it didn't leave Quebec. Interesting. It wanted, but

it didn't matter because we were going everywhere in the bars without the cup and it was equally and they knew. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In Montreal, I don't think there's a better place to win the cup. I can't imagine. A Canadian city. Has to be, right? Vegas must have been something, though. You know, to go down the strip with that. Yeah. It was a hoot for sure.

But yeah, and it was everything it should be. The parade, you know, over a million people, should have been an hour and a half to get from, you know, the east side of town to the Molson set, or the forum, but because of the traffic and the people beat up the car so bad, it took four hours, and by then,

you know, I hadn't drank, I never drank during the playoffs, so it was a 75 degree sunny day and me and Tom Kervers were in the same car, and everybody's handing you drink. So after an hour and a half, I checked out and ran out of film, so I'm just like the living dead making it all the way to the forum but not ever I couldn't get down the stage and I felt

terrible about it the next day but I just wasn't ready for it like it's not like I was going wild I just hit the wall in the sun yeah there's no excuse but no no no that's an excuse fell out of the bus exactly like it's you're drinking out in the sun and and you like you said if people are hand in your drinks it's hard to say no after you just want a cup that's you know my excuse was I just said someone put something in one of those drinks because I got and I just He went as far as tell him I got tested the next day. And someone had slipped something in my drink. So I got away with that too.

There you go. Car stole it. It was amazing in a sense to see that many people got. I won NCAA championship, but it's pretty big. Hell yeah. Nothing. I've never been in a crowd like that with, you know, celebrating with a million people. And it was special for sure.

And then, you know, I thought, geez, I'm going to win a lot of these. This is going to be awesome. Yeah. Never won for something. 17 years. Yeah. And then fast forward, I got four kids. You know, I'm in Detroit.

We're an older team. And it was exactly how you'd want it as a father and, you know, have a family and my parents and much more laid back. And I've had some great parties, especially the ones out in Malibu. Yeah. You know, Sylvester Sloan shows up. And Tom Hanging Show, not invited. It's just word got out in Malibu.

Sure. That the cup was on the beach. And, you know, throughout the day, easily. a thousand people walked up to my house took pictures with it and it was just for me to see everybody I sat on my deck and watched everybody that cup has some effect on people

even if they didn't know what it was that trophy is beautiful yes it's it is and it was something to see my friends and family at that time because I didn't get a chance to really appreciate it much at all with friends and family or just me and your teammates yeah that was the biggest difference between the two times

yeah and you feel like it felt I mean, obviously with your family, they're way more impactful I bet, right? With getting to share it with your kids. Yeah. Parents and my sons were probably like, they might have been 12 and 10 or 13 and 11. I'm not sure, but they're old enough understanding, as were my daughters. So, you know, the whole tradition of bringing your family on the ice after, you know, we didn't do that in 86, obviously. Yeah, sure.

It's great how they included the families and the wives and the kids now as much as they do. You know, they started those mom trips and the dads. Yeah, those are awesome. Oh, my God. They're reading the lineups, yeah. But again, it's all about, at the end of the day, it's all about sharing that with your coaches you've had. Yeah.

How happy they have it for you that you've got it to that level. Yeah. And then what? You've got your little crew out there in Malibu, huh? Like in your little... We've kind of, you know, we had the Malibu mob for years and now we're disfunked. I think ever we've burnt out. No, we still got a core of them, but it's just hard.

I don't get out there as much. You know, I got grandkids. and I love my instead of spending my winters, you know, or my summers, I should say out there where I used to train in Malibu. That's why I was doing it to get away. Now I'm spending summers in Chicago with the family and get out there, you know, during the winters occasionally. So it's hard to get everybody together, but, you know, it's still John McEnroe and, you know,

Laird Hamilton, and D.B. Sweeney, Randy Gerber, the guy from the cost of me who goes, we've adopted him even though he wasn't the original. but it's a fun group. You know, we train together, you know, for mountain biking to surf in, you know, we have lunch together. We eat together six days a week. Yeah, that's so sick.

You know, different guys' houses, but, and it was great. I had a mentor. His name was Don Wilde, and he passed at 84, but he started Bally's health clubs, and he just, all he did was work out this guy. If you ever read, if you just Google Wildman, his life story is amazing. Yeah. And he did it from beginning to end. And this guy, there wasn't anything he wouldn't try as far as training.

And when I met him, he was 60, and I started training with him in his gym and mountain biking, that's when I really physically was so strong. It was crazy. Because along with my trainer, I started doing his, and it just took me to a crazy level. Laird's a bit of a wild man with that stuff, too. Yeah, he's crazy because anybody who serves 50-foot waves and does what he does, you've got to have a screw loose. But he's got some extra things helping him, too. So surfers are a different breed.

Oh, yes, that is for damn sure. Was the mob with you? Any of the cup celebrations? Oh, yeah, both times. It was two different houses. I had a smaller house. It didn't matter because you're on the beach anyway. So we got the whole Beasurer.

But the second one, you know, Kid Rock played on the beach. Sick. I like it. I hate name dropping him, but it's, it was fascinating. Chicago, quite honestly, you know, bringing it back to Chicago. The only bad thing was it was with Detroit. So, but the Hawks hadn't won a Cups in 60.

It would never been to Wrigley Field. It had never been to White Sox Park. So I did the tour with it. And again, we had parties with, you know, Eddie Vedder playing, big and rich playing, kid rock playing all the same time. So that's pretty wild, you know, we could throw a party. And I'll guarantee no one had a better cup party than I did. You can ask the cup guys.

Yeah, yeah. Ask Mike and Jerry and those guys. They wanted to come to my parties. Yeah. They were the best parties. Like take it as many days as you want. Yeah. And they did.

They would call me, go, I'm sick of the cup. I don't want it, so I'd hang up. I go, I had it enough. Can you imagine? You just mentioned Wrigley. And I know you've told the story before, but I got to ask about it. The Winter Classic game at Riggily. Yep.

You were about to get health bombed, didn't. Benched after a couple shifts. Then you started gas and beers on the bench. Yeah. Tell me all about that. Were you, like, was that a premeditated decision? No, no, no. Did you go back into the law?

And like, who knew? Like who, like the trainers? Like everyone know? Only one player knew. Brian Rolfsky because he was sitting next to me on the bench. And he's like, dude, your water smells weird. You smell like beer. I go, shut up.

Lower your voice. Obviously not planned because I didn't know I was getting benched until, you know, halfway through the first and I didn't get a shift. And I look at Brad McCrimmon, God bless him. And he goes, and he says he told me not to play the rest of the game. I'm like, and then I sat there and my kids, I looked down to my kids. they were standing on the boards, you know, 25 feet away. And my son's going like that, and I go, come here, go get the trainers.

So they didn't know what was going on. So I go get me a couple of Gatorades of beer. And so I just sat there and enjoyed the game. Yeah, you had the best seat in the house. And they tried to make, you know, we got a penalty with two minutes left. We're up seven, four. And Babcock looks down and goes, go out there. And I'm like, nah, my feet hurt.

How many? How many you think you went through? No, three. I had three. Well, three gator. Yeah, yeah. It's maybe like six beers. Yeah.

But that's not a lot over the course of the period. Yeah. Listen, I'm going to be honest, it's a pretty cool tip of the hat for you. You're the first person to ever turn a winter class game into a beer league game. Because that's... Best seat in the house. That's pretty incredible. I absolutely love it.

No, but it was embarrassing because all my... I bought 50 tickets for my friends and family to come to the game. And then he pulls that. So, unnecessary again. You know, we never... I'm glad that I'm... And Anders Lilly got to suit up, though, because we never suit up 70, or at least Babcock never suited up 70. And at least he got in there, but it would have been nice to rotate.

Yeah. How hard did that have been. It's insane. Whatever. It's made the best of it. Yeah. Hell yeah. It's the best pivot of all time.

My God. Okay. I want to ask you about, so Vegas wins the Cup, right? They win the Cup this year there. Six year in the league. They've been to four Western Conference finals. Seattle, which we actually had a ton of fun watching this year. But Seattle had a great beat the defending champs during the second round.

how do you feel about the expansion teams having these immediate success? Like is that, is that cool? Or you're like, ah, this is unfair. These other fan bases that have been toiling forever. Well, just because the way it's set up to lose, you do all that homework on the draft pick and then you lose a guy, you know, just plopped. Yeah. I mean, but on the other side of the coin, you don't want an expansion team to come in like

all the rest of them did and lose. Yeah. So I think it's good that they do that. Well, they talk about parity in the league. That's another reason why. I look at Seattle, you know, the first year, they're exactly how expansion team. But Francis goes out and gets all those players. Fucking it, huh?

What a pedigree. And now they're a legit team. They're probably one or two, a superstar away from being a contender to agree. The way they play is incredible, how hard they played. Somewhat like Vegas. Yes, yes. Chris, I said that during the playoffs, I was, I mean, I think a huge part of Vegas's success was how deep they were. They were rolling four lines.

better than anyone else. And that was Seattle. They were such a tough matchup just against Colorado. You looked at the way that they lined those four lines up against the former Stanley Cup champs. It was unbelievable. And I think you're right. You put a superstar or two on that team and they're a huge problem. Yeah.

They play hard by, you know, and they were banged up a little bit, but their power play was, you know, you got to have something. You got to be there. And it was horrendous. Horrendous. So that killed them. There's a couple of whispers of Carlson Possible. getting moved to Seattle and that would be a, if you talk about the power play,

that would be a pretty huge. I like it, man, because a lot of, we were with the Vegas fans around the run when we're in Florida and everywhere else, it's like, it's not fair, these Vegas fans, immediate success. But I'm with you where I'm like, what do you want them to just suck for 10 years?

What is the point of that? What is the point from the league standpoint? If they're like, hey, we had this team and they're horrible. So of course they have to do this. I think it was a good thing. They changed it right before Vegas. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. So it worked. I think it's a good thing. And as a player, what's it? Because, I mean, here in Nashville, the Predators came into the league in the middle of your career. Do you notice it as a player?

Like, is it a thing when a team shows up or is it just, you know, whatever. It's just another team on the schedule. I mean, it's a hard ring to play in. They've got a great fan base. They really do. They support it. They're wild.

You know, the Broadway street. It's not like it's in the middle of nowhere. These people are tailgating, you know, for three hours before they got the weather. And then they go to the game, and it's a great atmosphere. And then David Poyle, you know, built a real competitive team.

You know, they haven't done well in the playoffs at all. Other than the year, they went to the finals there. Was it the finals? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the penguins. But they haven't had much success in the playoffs. And they got some, you know, Roman Yossi and the goalie and the goalie. And then some other, there's a bunch of guys.

Yeah, Forsberg's great. Yeah. But they, you know, they run in some tough teams. Definitely. Also. But it's a great city. You know, it really is. And it's the demographics is, I think, which helps a ton.

because there's so many young people downtown, and it's a scene. And they don't have the entertainment factor like, you know, Vegas does or who does. But Seattle, you know, it's a great place to watch a game. And, but I think slowly but sure you see teams, I called it cheesy, but it works because people like cheesy. You know, and it's, you have to make it fan friendly. And everybody's going to learn from Vegas. Yes. Oh, my God.

It's the pregame. We were joking. We were there. The pregame show alone. It's like, I'd pay the price of entry to watch the pregame. It's ridiculous. That's unbelievable. That's unbelievable.

Give you a little tire pump quickly. You are still in amazing shape. Hell, yeah. So congrats. Don't let the tan foy. I couldn't run a mile if I tried. But I think, you know, in your career, felt like you and Brindamore were two of the, you know, main guys in the league that were like you take training super seriously. You just mentioned stuff with Laird working out in Malibu.

How was that always a part of your regiment? Like when you were in college, were you doing that? Did it start up more when you got? to the NHL and how much do you think that that's translated to now because I feel like you know back in the day guys weren't training yeah maybe as seriously as they are now you look at a kid like badard he's got tree trunk thighs he's 17 years old so it's how did that really get into your regiment I mean hard work was because of the you know my parents and my dad working in restaurants and bars my whole life and I started when I was six seven you know where it was carrying you know

empty boxes and bottles and stuff so and if I didn't work hard I get a you know a backhand of the side of the head. So that's, you don't want back hands from your dad. But, um, no, I think I think I was ahead of the curb. There's no question. When I was in junior in college, my thing was just running, you know, and I had, and I could run, like, I never got beat as a kid. I was on the track team. And I just was gifted with like speed and my legs. And I figured running would be the bad. And I ran, you know, the Walter Payton up San Diego. So I, I ran up, you know, foothills in San Diego. That was my thing running. Back then, like Bob Ganey was considered, you know, in the best shape and gil, but all he did was bike and bench, press and run.

So, but that's, you know, evolution, obviously, that you're talking about Connor. There's so many more ways of training. Yeah, it's crazy. And your diet and I don't know what else you're taking. Oh, my God, dude, nutrition. If it's illegal or not. Yeah, yeah. Seriously.

Yeah. And had I been in this era, I think I would have adapted to that, too, just like these kids are born, you know, doing this training. And they're 12 months out of the year. I did 12 months out of the year training. Yeah. I took no time off. I always skated in the summer.

But it really turned around when I met my trainer, T.R. Goodman, who's done a ton of NHL players out in California, out in Venice at the Gold's gym there. I saw Alan May, he was in the telecast, Chanel. And I saw him and his trainer on the other side of the gym. I was just doing heavy, you know, bench and curls. And I watched them start doing the circuit training. So I walked over and I said, hey, listen, my name's Chris Chelyos. and just wondering,

could I train with you tomorrow? Yeah, and he goes, yeah. So I did it one day and I fell in love with it. It was like a boxer's type of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This trainer, T.R. Goodman, had played hockey. So everything was directed towards hockey, the legs, your hips and movements and balance and prep.

So I just got obsessed with it. And I decided, okay, I'm coming out to California. The minute the kids get out of school, I'm going there from June to September, two and a half months, no distractions. and I stuck with that. And like I said, I think I was just way ahead of everybody, you know, starting circuit training.

And eventually my trainer got pissed because people started copying. Then we moved down the parking lot of Gold's Gym and set up our area out there. But what really pissed me off about my trainer was I was, you know, whatever, 10 years older than Rob Blake and these other defensemen. He started training them. Well, then Blakey won the Norris Trophy. I go, where's my advantage now? I was the best kept secret, T.R.

But he had to make 11, TR, and he, you know, he got such a big, a number of players, Paperson, one of the top agents. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Every one of his guys, he'd have 30 kids there come every summer and train with TR in different circuits. So I even started going to 6 in the morning so no one could see me to see what I was doing.

Yeah, got to keep it in the wraps. Crazy, I was thinking I'll lose this advantage. But like I said, that's what really turned it around. And then since then, you know, I can't run anymore because of my knee and hip and just if it hurts, don't do it. bike a ton. Running's overrower. I took Clint Eastwood's advice at one point saying moderation. You don't need heavy weights. You just stay, you know, where you are. That's where I'm at right now.

Yeah, I love it. Did TR show you the sauna cycle or was that all? No, no, I invented that. Just like Rocky invented hitting the meat slabs. Yeah. I invented, I didn't actually invent it, but the guy who did, he was a football coach at Wisconsin when I was there. It's not a good story, but me and Gary Suter walked into the sauna and this guy, Danny McCrub, claims riding the bike in the sauna but he's got the wrestling rubber suit on oh my god he wasn't in crazy out of shape you know he wasn't yeah he was 46 years old but they found him slumped over that bike the next week hard a heart attack and died on the sauna and then you do and then you kept doing it no but me and gary suited to look to each other and goes okay just don't wear the rubber suit simple so and quite honestly all that does the training in the sauna is it's an easier way to sweat

And obviously you get the flu, your body automatically, you sweat it out. So I've always had that mentality. The surface stuff, you know, I believe in sweating once a day. And the sauna just makes it easier. Yeah. Then I took it to a different level, started training in the sauna, got in the sauna business with some guys up in Ontario, building quality barrel saunas with windows and TVs and folding benches so you could have more room. And, you know, my kids all do it.

My daughter's doing it. And if you want to cut weight, there's no better way than bike. and then the sauna watching TV. Have you ever passed out in there? No, but dizzy, you know, walking out, you know, sideways like you're coming out at a bar at three in the morning, yeah. But that's what the cold tub is for. Exactly.

Snap you right back to life. That's incredible. How long will you be in there? How long are you on the bike in there? Honestly, like it just depends on the temperature. But if I'm watching TV, I'll watch a movie, I'll watch a ball game. But if I hit the wall like you talk about and I start feeling a little, I just jump in the cold tub, take about two, three minute break and come in.

And then you go back? Oh yeah, two and a half, three hours. I finished the movie. You're out of your mind. Yeah, sure. The movie's on. I tried call them for a place today, though. It's like, it's not, you can't just, you have to have an appointment, so I didn't have the time to do it.

Unbelievable. Keep going. I'm going to. The spear's going right through. One thing I'm interested in is, I remember you talking earlier about, and especially with the move to San Diego, you brought this up. The, you weren't, like, obsessed with being an NHL player as a kid. You were doing all these other things, right? And I think you'd said, too, that there's, you know, there weren't a lot of American

playing, you were smaller, all that stuff. Today, like, I don't, I don't think there's a single kid in there tonight that hasn't been obsessed with being an NHL player since he was five, right? Do you think at all that it's like, we overload the kids? Like, it's hockey, hockey, hockey all the time? Or did you like that you had other interests growing up? And what did you do with your kids when they started playing? Yeah, every kid's different.

You know, for me, like you mentioned, there's no expectations for an American kid my age making it at the NHL. And I swear to God, I love baseball. I wanted to be a major league pitcher. That was my dream. You know, like every Canadian kid wants to be a pro high, we're playing in the NHL. Well, mine was to play in the MLD.

And that's a socks. I'm a South Saturday. Okay, nice. I would have took either because I'm in Chicago, and I love both teams. But white socks were my team. And, but I was small. I was a late bloomer.

You know, I had a January birthday, so I was a youngest kid in my class. That hurt me with baseball. It didn't affect me with hockey because cut off at eight was January, so it was actually great for hockey. And then, you know, moving to San Diego, it didn't disappoint me one bit that I was out of hockey. I just, then I took up surfing. And I, geez, I just went to an all-boys Catholic school for two years, you know, getting the paddle, getting whipped.

And I'm like, this is unbelievable. Yeah, it was amazing. I was having lunch outside and, you know, 1,500 people and all, you know. Blonde chicks everywhere. Yeah, yeah. Just like I thought you see California in the movies. And I was distracted. And, you know, even when I got cut the first year, I went to Canada.

I came back. I didn't care. Like, you know, I tried and that just didn't make it. So big deal. And then, you know, I just, like I got lucky with the time. I grew two inches, but, you know, while I was in Moose Shaw. Yeah. And then we talked about that early about becoming a reality of, you know, maybe making it.

Yeah, the Olympics and everything. When you don't have expectations, there's no disappointments. And then you, but you look at these kids and trust me, these parents from day one think their kid's going to be the next way in Gretschie. It's crazy. And these, and it's every. sport, not just hockey. Yep.

And that added pressure, and I've known some kids that played with my kids, they just got burnt out. They could have continued to play hockey, you know, in a minor league level or even, maybe even got a chance to play. But they just had enough of the pressure. And, you know, and it hurt a lot of kids. But then those kids, like I'm sure Connor Bedard from day one, like, and it's his obsession and he's made it.

And he's, you know, and a lot of kids do. But you got to be realistic. there's only, you know, so many seats of the 700 spots in what you want to do. And it's a tough way, you know, it's a tough to get there. And if you can't handle adversity, you know, you're going to have a tough time.

That's the scary part because the success stories, you always hear that. Like, oh, yeah, I played all the time. That's how I made it. So then every kid thinks like, oh, I have to play all the time. But it's like, it burns you. It's like in Hollywood, you know, they're like, you hear the famous screenwriters.

Like, yeah, you just drop out of school and write movies. And everyone's like, oh, that's the formula. And I'm like, no, no, that was the formula for them. Yeah, please be careful. So true. It's not the same for everybody. So do you play anything other than pitcher? Yeah.

When you're not pitching, you're the best player shorts. Of course. Yeah. Action, man. And actually, I would catch too. Oh, really? Because it's the other position that's not boring. And even now when I go to these fantasy camps, now I catch, I love it.

That's awesome. Yeah, it's just you're right in it. I can't pitch anymore. My shoulder shot. God, same. Yeah, but I guess I still enjoy watching baseball more than any sport because I think it's the most pure sport. Because it's not a physical, you know, there's no physical contact, like football, baseball, baseball, not baseball, football, hockey, and basketball, you're always talking about the refereeing or the umps.

And I hate that. Yes. And they found ways to not rig it, but, you know, control it. But sometimes rig it. Rig it. Yeah. Let's call what it is. The supervisors are there for a reason.

And you want to blame the refs all time, but these reps are being told what to do. Plain and simple. So yeah so yeah I play baseball too we both did but I was always shortstop I kind of got too tall for short stuff Yeah but yeah but I always wanted to catch and like when you're little everyone was like you can't play catcher go play shortstop You're good I'm a lefty and I was the same deal I there's like three positions that I could play in baseball and it was like Right you can't well no third base you can't yeah you well third is you know disaster first you could yeah they let you play first And then you know I I remember I played first in little league and I pitched that was my big thing But I remember playing first base,

and then eventually one of my coaches was like, you're too fast to be sitting at first base. So I got thrown in center field. And I remember being young. If you're in the outfield, you're like, I'm a plug. Like, if you get thrown in the outfield in Little League, it's like no one's hitting the ball out there. So, oh my God, it was a disaster.

Yeah, especially right field. You're the worst player on the team. Exactly. You're an absolutely. Grocery stick in Toss in right field. It's unbelievable. So I wanted to know specifically from you, because you were a guy.

I played defense growing up. You were a guy that I loved watching and kind of modeled my game around. I'd love to hear who you think right now are roughly like the top five defensemen in the league. Because it's such a different thing. I'm such a, Wayno went on that rant a little while ago talking about the Norse trophy and saying there needs to be a Norris and a Bobbiore trophy. And I couldn't agree more. And I look at, you know, the three guys nominated for the Norris this season, all unbelievable players. But call it what it is.

Carlson, Foxy, and McCar, their game is really all about their offense. Carlson's a dash 26 winning the Norris trophy. And I'm like, if I'm to give my top five, isn't that insane? It's unacceptable, frankly. You have so many points, right? Yeah. So if I'm to give my top five defensemen, I think it's way different than the league consensus. So I'm curious what yours would be.

No question, McCar. Yep. Taze's his partner. Really? Yeah, he's unreal. Is every bit as good? Yeah. And defensively, he's like Littstrom was, right?

Like it doesn't make mistakes because he's never out of position. Fox, I think, has a hard time skating. You know, he got a little bit exposed this year in the playoffs because he didn't have the support. They just, you know, but he's still unbelievably smart, gets out of situations. I've never been a fan of Carlson because I, like you, I like guys are two-way defensemen. Yep.

Carlson's a winger. He's literally a right winger who plays defense. The kid from Dallas, Heskinen, sick. So good. How good he is. And the guy here, Roman Yose, I love the way he plays too. Even though it looks like he's getting caught up, he doesn't. He gets back and he's so talented.

I wish he was a little more physical, but he's not soft. But I love Heskinen. That's probably the guys, if I was to see a list right now, I'm drawing some blades because even the way he, Martinez and Petrangelo played today as a tent. They're up against the other team's top line and they had no problems.

None. Just smart D. Which is such an underrated piece of it. I feel like when the Bruins were, when they did win that cup, it was like Char and Seidenberg were just like every top line is like goodbye. You don't exist.

I love how you mentioned Taves because I do think there's something so important about a good D pairing. I don't think that gets talked about enough. You look at a lot of teams that shuffle the pairs and if you find a good tandem that works well together, it's so valuable. It's unbelievable.

But yeah, no, I love that list. I'd throw McVoy in there selfishly as a bees guy, but also I just love Charlie. All the way, by coaching World Juniors, he just skates himself into a frenzy once in a while. Yes, he sure does. And as he gets older, I know he's been in the league long enough, but he's got to learn to get rid of that puck earlier

and join the rush, not lead the rush, the old saying, because he puts himself in a pickle and ends up on his back hand and right in the middle. He'll figure it out. Like, he's such a great kid. Oh, my God. I thought after this long, he would have learned it by now, but he's still. But that's a problem. Like, I was a forward until I got to Moosecha.

Yeah. When your team's struggling, all a D can do is get himself in trouble, you know, when you try to do too much. And that's what I think, Charlie, you know, there's times you have to take some chances. and like I said, he's incredible, but he's got enough talent up front, you know, that he should just be more patient and manage the clock a little bit. Yeah.

And I think for the most part, he's gotten better every year. Yes, he's going to get better. He really has. That's awesome. Okay, another top five for you. Because we're here in Nashville. It's an awesome town.

We were just talking about, like, going out last night. It's going off every night on Broadway. So hit me with top five road cities. Like when you're on the road, your team's out. And I want in your playing days. Yeah. Like not now. Okay.

When you were playing, what were the five cities you liked going to the most? Well, I'd have to say because we used to do the Western swing, right? So we're always in BAMP for four days. That's what we stay. We're out to Kelly. And whenever we played Emerton, Kelly, so Bamp. I fucking knew it. Before you came in here, when we were talking about this question, I was like, he's going to say like Calgary or something.

And now I need to know why. So it was a riot. Bamp, we got to ski. You know, it was amazing. quite honestly like Vancouver another great city LA no I would I'd say LA was terrible

It was driving it closed early Yeah You ask anybody Montreal You know everything's close As far as American cities Chicago's a great city Yeah yeah Everything's condensed and close

It's a five minute You know walk to everything New York Still one of my favorite cities to visit Never want to live there But And playing in New York out the gardens was by far one of my favorite places to play other than the Chicago

Stadium yeah yeah no question um you know Texas is good you know Nashville you know once they got in the league we couldn't walk by Broadway you know yeah not going to bars and everyone out the night before game but this is one city when Nashville wasn't playing good this is one city we'd always go out the night before game yeah Detroit wow incredible love to hear that's awesome where do you feel like you got in the most trouble uh Jesus Montreal yeah Well, I was single. No question. And, you know, it didn't matter when you went out.

Even if he didn't go out there saying you went out. And it got to the point where I was calling Serge the next day or he would call me and I would tell him where I was. So because people were calling in saying they were seeing me at places that I wasn't. Yeah. And Serge finally figured it out. Even his friends were lying to him because they wanted to get me traded so bad. So out of here. But that's where, you know, we had eight rookies, you know, then Corson, Keene.

that group of that swing of guys came in and everybody was single. Curvers, Maly, Carlson, Tercott. We went out together every day, not necessarily drinking, but dinners and no one was married. So no one had girls. So fun. My God. Did our thing. So that's where I got.

I didn't get in trouble, but I got blamed for a lot of stuff in Montreal. You needed the share location back in the day. You know, like, hey, boss. This is where I have. I'm not many of these places. Yeah, I'll be on Crescent Street. That's where I'll be. Were you in a surge cool by the end of it all?

Did you guys have a good relationship? Absolutely. He never wanted to trade me. He had pressure from other people. I won't mention their names. You can if you want. Just soon. No, it's all good.

I never left on bad terms with them. And there's some other things that happened. Like personal things too that I just, like we talked about earlier, I didn't want to deal with it. Yeah, of course not. And whether they're true or not, didn't matter. It was out in the media. And I had enough.

so um but uh i'm sorry i now i just drew a blank there no just talking about surge yeah oh no and i i actually just ran into him and he says it in his book i haven't read his book yet but he says it's the worst trade he ever made and i just saw him at bobby hall's memorial about a month ago and i was with him the whole time that's so cool like he was had my back every time so love that that's and it's hard for a french guy you know to stick up against the french media and support me and he did it right till the end so i love that amazing um all right your last top five give me your top five u.s players not counting yourself not counting yourself because you are in there you are one by the way but because i really want to know because you know my papcock your old

your old coach is like you're the best american player of all time and you played with some epic ones yeah leach madonna bob brett hall you just named you just named two i don't know if i want to code holly he's Canadian blood that's kind of what i think i was telling you that the other day i don't know No, Holly, you have to count because he chose Team USA over Team Canada. Couldn't make Team Canada for some reason. But we've seen such a cool boom in it lately, right? Like Matthews and the Kachuk Bros. Eichol, all this.

Yeah. So I'm curious where these guys, the young guy is ranking compared to the boys you played with. No question as far as defenseman Leachie. Yeah. Like the second and none. Yeah. What he did on that cup run. Madonna, being a score.

I love JR. I still don't understand why he's not in the Hall of Fame. Same. We talk about it all the time. I didn't play against JR a whole lot, so I'll include Keith Kachuk because I had a hard time playing against Kachukuk how big he was and tough in front of the net.

So I had a hard time with him. Goaltender, American goalies, you know, Barrasso is getting in the Hall of Fame this year. I'm trying to think what other great, Mike Richter won the cup, you know, you won one cup. So Ricky, because he won the World Cup with us, I'm going to be a little biased. That's okay.

that's the only time we beat Canada you know and it it is their game Jesus Christ is their only game curling maybe but but no like that what Ricky did in World Cup and that was spectacular

and his record trying to think if I'm missing anybody I mean I don't at the older guys Neil Broughton was a hell of a player at the time not as long as a career but Joey Mullen you know late start he was like he's amazing

I think he's in the Hall of Fame, Joey Mullen. I think he's Joe. He is too. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, so that would be the five guys, I would say. I'm sure I'm freeing out. Housley, again, he should have been a forward. Yeah, yeah.

He put up numbers in seven hat tricks, eight hattricks, but he wasn't a defenseman. Yeah. You know, he just took off and, you know, he never had a lot of success in the playoffs, Housley, and I love Phil, but I don't, like I said, you've got to be balanced and you have to be two-way. And he was amazing. amazing though the skill he had yeah no doubt anyone anyone in particular you like of the young boys the young american kids out there now um she's on defense maccoy yeah yeah you know i think he's top

one of the he is the top american defense man there the success well him and fox his team has yeah yeah yeah yeah out of control like he said foxy like again he just he had he had a tough time maybe he did no you're right he really struggled in the playoffs i'm trying to think he was partner was too they just had a tough they're in a tough series. They sure did. They sure did. I'm trying to think of that short-handed goal.

Who beat them? No, Jersey. Jack Hughes. Yeah. Yeah. That speed gave them fits. Oh,

God. Yeah. So, yeah. But McIvoy, he doesn't have a problem with speed. Yeah. This kid can skate.

Oh, my God. I mean, I guess that thing that keeps track of, you know, how much you've skated miles or whatever. McIvoy's like double anybody after a day. Oh, true. I also,

he throws the body, too. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, you're not afraid. He engages. And McCar will do that too. Yeah. But as far as Americans, he's got a lot of grit, you know, Macavoy.

Yeah, I love that. Definitely. How special was playing with the U.S. team for my God? Well, I mean, anytime that's the greatest thing you could do is represent your country, whether it's in sports or, you know, the service and stuff. And then you're one of only, you know, 23 guys are chosen. Yeah, it's amazing. That was, like when I got it.

chosen. I think I was halfway through my second year at Wisconsin. Yeah. And the minute they told me that I'd made the team, I'd quit going to school and just started working out. I knew I wasn't going to graduate. I knew I wasn't going to go back. So everything, you know, instead of doing

homework, I was doing push-ups, sit-ups, running, and, you know, it sounds stupid, but that's what I did. I was totally committed because I realized I wasn't going to graduate. So, and to make the Olympic team four times captain twice and the last one was quite a surprise when her Brooks picked me uh for salt lake and uh and i still think that's the greatest i was going to say what a time i've ever played you know disappointed we lost to canada but of course they have they had a great team too

but uh yeah and i played for you know two of the greatest american coaches and badger bob johnson and and and uh and oh jesus i just said his name her burbrew brooks and uh to captain it And even winning a silver medal, I know your mentality for NHL's, you know, it's Stanley Cup for nothing. Well, if you could place a medal and you look at all the other athletes, you know, whether it's bronze, silver, gold, that's something to be said that you win a medal for your country. So it was a great honor, you know, the fans were very supportive everywhere we went and some disappointments. But when you get into, you know, those round robins and single game eliminations, you know, anything can happen. And my first experience was making World Juniors. Unfortunately, our first game was against Russia in Minnesota.

We were losing 8-0 after the first. Got booed out of the building. Russia never scored another goal because they didn't try it. They just never shot. And that was a horrible experience. It was really embarrassing. But then, you know, years go by and you look back and say, well, at least I was lucky enough to play for the World Juniors too,

which has become an amazing tournament. It's so fun. Before that every year, yeah. Yeah. It's fantastic. All right, we're going to close you out with the last segment we do. Do it with everybody. It's called pass shoot score.

Basically a ranking system. We're going to give you some things that we know that you love in your life and you got to rank them. Pass. We love passing the puck around, but maybe not our favorite. Shoot. It's great to get pucks on net. Then score is obviously the ultimate goal. So that's going to be your high.

Score will be your highest. Shoot in the middle. Pass is the lowest. So we're going to start you with, I know you're a huge outdoors guy, big activities guy. So pass shoot score. Surfing. snowboarding and mountain biking? Mountain biking is the best.

Get out. Passes. Pass is least. Shoot is middle. Score is best. Score mountain biking. Shoot is for sure surfing. Okay.

And then pass is snowboarding. Okay. Mountain biking. I would have guessed surfing. Me too. I thought surfing would take the game. No, because I'm not good at it. Oh, really?

You're doing the stand-up? Are you doing... Stand up, paddle. It's not like I can catch... I can catch a 20-foot wave. Yeah. But it's not pretty, and I can't get out of that wave

with that big board. I'm going to say... Oh, yeah. It's a night, dude. Oh, my God. But I'm ready for that exit. Like, I just push my board ahead. See ya.

Talk. Yeah. Yeah. Swallow a lot of water. Is the mountain biking a pound, though? Or is the bike so good now? Not that on the knee at all? No, but what I've come to notice is over the last few years,

my wrists, my neck, and the knee, not so much. I don't know why, but the pounding on the bad trails and technical, I'm starting to slow down on that now. Any fire trails that are flat and stuff? You're golden.

And I go down slow. I'm not one of those nuts. Like these guys, I just see a big circle of dirt. The falls are insane. You watch some of those videos and I'm like, what the hell are these guys doing? I got friends like Timmy Comerford from rage. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

This guy's got metal plates in his head. You know, and you watch him still. still go down and like I hope I don't have to carry him out of the canyon. Like come on. It's now worth the risk and they don't, they can rehab. They don't, you know, obviously him, he's got a working tour, but like I got a play still. So now that I'm this age, I take my time going down. Yeah, good.

Yeah. What's your favorite place to Mountain Lake? Right across my street in Malibu. There are thousands of trail. I mean, I'll do it anywhere. But that's my favorite place. Just convenience factor. Dude, one of our buddies is that he lives in Manhattan Beach and he's always

mountain bike in Malibu. He's trying to get me to come out, but I've... You can't beat it. I've got to try it, I think. Yeah. You're looking at the ocean. It's unreal. Okay, your next pass shoot score.

We're going to talk a little El Bandito Yankee. Okay? We're going to talk about it in a second, but first. So I know that you prefer to just drink it on the rocks. Yep. But tequila drinks. Pass chute score. Margarita, Paloma, Ranchwater.

Paloma would be pass. Okay. I feel like it's a woman's drink. That sucks for you, buddy. That's... Dan Lerner. I just didn't know that I was going to get stuffed in a locker by Chris Chello us today. It is a great drink, though.

I don't like sweet. I like bland. Okay. Margaritas would be shoot. Yep. Ranchwater. That is my, that's my favorite. Ranch water.

So can you tell everyone who doesn't know, because I love the origin of the name of the company, Butchcast. So tell everyone about it, how you started. I want to know about this whole venture. They say late night decisions. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if it is my best, but I had this guy come to my car. golf tournament had never met him.

He's named Jim Bob Morris. He played a little bit for the Packers, played in the CFL. And we were sitting out one night after the tournament, like two in the morning. And he's drinking. Literally first day you've ever met him. Yeah.

Okay. He played the golf tournament. The group of people with the bus, we went back downtown in Chicago. And we're drinking tequila. And he blurts how this tequila takes like shit. Yeah. And you agreed.

I agree. He goes, well, we should make our own. I go, that'd be cool. He goes, well, what would you name it? He just, he can talk. talk. I go, and I just off the top of my head. Get the fuck out of here. The first night. I go El Bandito to kill. He goes,

what's that from? He goes, I said, Butch Cassidy's a Sundance kid. And he goes, I've seen that movie a thousand times. I don't remember that. He goes, well, when they robbed the Bolivian bank and the Polyvian police run into the things, Al Bandito Americano, Yankees. So this guy, he's crazy,

Jim Bob, and six weeks later, he calls me six weeks later. He goes, hey, I got some samples like what are you talking about samples what he goes i got the tequila i got some i got some shot i've been going back and forth to guadalajara i mean i got some great have you like not talked to him in this six week period not once dude my god what an animal so he goes and we do i go out what the hell i'll do the tasting with these guys it's five minutes from my house sure tequila we do the tasting not great you know we just and then he goes again comes back goes again comes back finally you know it was about christmas he brings these samples and

And there's about eight guys. And not blindfolded, but, you know, knowing the girls are bringing the tequila out, not telling which is which, knowing. So all eight guys pick the same Blanco. Wow. So I'm like, you know what? This is pretty good. So let's just stick with this.

So within weeks, he's got ownership papers. And I'm like, I've never had a partner. I don't know if I want to get into this. It took me a year and a half to sign the ownership papers because this guy was so whacked out. and we came up with a repo, which is really good. My thing is it's added a free and it's clean. You don't get hung over. There's no bite.

It's just smooth. And just knowing that you're not going to be hung over the next thing. You could drink it on the rocks. So our recent, our newest partner is jelly roll. I don't know if you heard of jelly roll. We were with him the other day. Monday, yeah. There you go.

You were with them? Yeah, he was at the awards. We were at the award show. He presented some. Are you presented, right? Yeah. I think he presented one of them. And then we did that.

Yeah, I'm pronounced to me. I just found out also that. he's, you know, join the company. And, you know, I don't know much about him. I know he's got a great voice. I listen to some of the songs. And so who knows, you know, he's got a huge following and he keeps getting bigger and bigger like these country guys do. Maybe he'll put us on the map.

Absolutely. So I'm, you never know in this business. Like, you know, I was with Randy Gerber who owned Casimir. He goes, I'm really close friends with him. And I don't know Cluny. I've met him, but I don't know him. But I watched these guys for five years, what Randy did. And it's all randy.

He did all the marketing. He did all the artwork. He designs everything. And he just has that gift. And I helped him, you know, move it in Chicago. And not that he needs my help anymore, but, um, and it's just ironic that we, you know, come up with a tequila. And at first he's like, I, yeah, but he, he agrees.

It's really good tequila. Like, we agree. Yeah. Tequila is my drink. Yeah. And I will be pushing it now too. Thank you. I mean, it's unbelievable stuff.

Yeah. We got the juice. We just got to get the word out. Yep. Yeah. I think jelly roll is the best way to do it. Yeah, me too, me too. And you're like in 15 states, that what you said?

15 states right now? Yeah, 15. Okay. I wish I got, I'm going to call someone who must have it. Come on. We need it. Maybe Kid Rock's got a few bottles like drop-top.

The jelly roll, Chris Shelley, has empty-netters crossover. We all need it. We all need it. We all need it. Yeah, I'm trying to think of a tea jelly, jelly, something. There's got to be some time.

Oh, there we'll get on that. There's got to be something on that. We'll think about that for sure. All right. Your next one, Hawks fan growing up, obviously a Chicago guy. I know that you had a bunch of, you know, iconic Hawks players that you love.

So we're going to pass your score Stan McKita, Bobby Hall, and Keith Magnuson. Well, all of them include, like I liked everybody. Bobby Hall, obviously the big name, Stan McKee, Tony Esposito, I started as a goalie. Oh, did you? Tony Esposito. Not long.

I figured that out. That was a bad position early at the age of seven. It's because you want to be a catcher too, dude. You just like the action. Yeah, yeah. Plus, when you can't afford skates, and my dad wouldn't buy me skates, so you'd get stuck playing goalie with gym shoes or boots, obviously in the winter.

But, yeah, I mean, I could name every player from the late 60s early, including Doug Jarrett, Jim Pap, and Cliff Coral, like Phil Russell. I knew every player. Unfortunately, I'd get a chance to see him on TV because back then they weren't televised. So one of our neighbors had this antenna that it was sold out. You can go to his house.

and watched the game. But unfortunately, the Hawks never played or only played weeknights. You know, they all suck. Yeah, yeah. So my parents wouldn't let us stay up late either. So that kind of stunk. But they did have hockey that Peter Puck show. You're too young to remember it.

But there was a game a week that you could watch and have this cartoon character Peter Puck and they played showdown back then and hardest shots. It was kind of cool. Yeah, it's awesome. But yeah, I love the Black Hawks. They couldn't get by the Canadian. ever. You know, there's one year in 71 where they should, they were up in the series and then forget Lamar scored from, you know, Center Ice on Tony and they've never gotten close since then.

But if you're ranking those three guys, what do you do? Well, I was a center when I started. My number was 21 for seven years. Right up until college, so Stan McKita's my guy. Yeah, got to be. Bobby Hall and then Keith Magnuson. There you go. Maggie was my best friend in Chicago. I worked with the alumni a lot with him, and he was a heart and soul of that team. He was like 165 pounds when he started.

And they had big guys in the team, but he was the only one that fought and stuck up for his teammates. So he had heart. All right. I like it. I do have to ask you because he's one of my favorite players growing up. What was it like playing with Datsuk? Unbelievable.

He's a freak. He's a freak, dude. So respectful. He had this crazy. He had this crazy unorthodox stride. Even the way he walked in the dressroom, he's pigeon-toed, and dardy and weird, but he just got there and gets it done.

And, you know, his skill level was above and beyond everybody. And after a couple of weeks, in college, I used to play, at the end of practice, we called it King Hogg. Just play keep away with the puck. Okay. You know, one-on-one. Everyone out there?

No, a one-on-one. You can do three guys once in a while, but one-on-one to see who the best was. Yeah. And I challenged that, all I could do is start hammering him. Yeah, coming down. But it was awesome to play against him.

And, you know, we became really good friends. He lived real close to me. I'll never forget my son was playing hog with him. And he stepped on my kid stick during the playoffs and sprained his ankle and sucked it up. Like, he just got through the playoffs. Yeah. And we didn't tell anybody he was made. Did you guys win that year?

We didn't win that year, but we won that series then. but it hurt his ankle bad. That is so funny. Felt so terrible. And then we still, you know, I texted him every once while he was a plane against my son two years ago. Oh, no way. Yeah, so Jake's playing in Russia.

Yeah, hell yeah. Jake's in Russia. He's been there four years. So I got to keep in touch and every time. That's so awesome. You know, they got together. He'd take a picture, but I called him the bear, and he called me the Eagle, the representation of Russia in the U.S.

So, yeah, he was something else. Just a totally different dynamic than Federoff. and, you know, style. And he had, you never wanted, you know, anybody to yell for the puck. You know, he hated that. And Holly would be all over him. Really? Yeah.

So, but he was... That looks like, I see you, dude. You're giving it away. Yeah. And he had a great sense of humor. You know, you'd never know it. And first he knew English. He just didn't want to speak it and do it.

And eventually his, his personality came out towards the end. And he was really funny guy. Yeah. That's so awesome. I would have never expected that. I can't believe the sprained. These Russians, they know more. English than they let on.

Yeah, for sure. Fucking unbelievable. Incredible. Okay. Last pass you'd score. We're going some classic Greek dishes, Greek foods. Okay. How do I say the first one?

Spanacopoda. Spanacopoda. Pass. Ooh, really? Love it, but passes. Okay. I'm hoping you'd have something better. Oh, well, I hope so.

Suvlaki? Well, we'll say shoot. Okay. And Musaka. Yeah, I don't like Musica. What about pastici? Pastici. That's number one.

That's number one. That's number one. Okay. Mom's Pistichio is number one to this day. Really? Yep. She still bangs it out every holiday. You know, and if I go to her house, that's the number one dish.

And my kids love it. Really? Yeah. Whenever there's any left, kids take it home with them. So, yeah. Pistichio, she's got the number one Pistichio. Okay. So talk to us, because obviously your dad had a bunch of restaurants growing up.

Talk to us about some of your favorite Greek stuff. Do you cook it still? How does all that work? I do not cook. cook one Greek dish because I'm a barbecue guy. What I do is prepare Greek style. So I don't put sauces. Greeks are just lemon, oregano, salt, pepper.

That's it on everything. So that's how I raise my kids. They like that type of bland food, also. They don't like sauces. But my wife, you know, from my mom, I didn't have to cook the Greek dishes because my wife was taught by my mom. Perfect. And she makes maybe a little better some of the dishes.

There's stuff called Rizaki, Helipetus. Okay. And my daughters obviously make it for their kids, too. And there's not a dish, a pasta dish that they make that kids know what, they all love it. And there's dishes you guys haven't had. They just, it's not in restaurants. What are they? I want to know them.

It's just like some of these square pastas with tomato sauce is the, is the helipetus. And most of it's chicken and rice a lot of it. Okay. The riszaki. Yeah. So. All right. We'll come up to Malibu.

And then have some Greek food with you. Yeah. They got a great Greek restaurant in Malibu, quite honestly. Tony's DeVos. Tony's. I go to Tony's all the time. Yeah. It's a different owner now ownership, but it's equally as good.

It's just different. It's a little more modern. But in Chicago, there's still a few restaurants in Greek town. My dad's generation, which is more traditional Greek. That's cool. You would know the difference because you're younger, but the traditional people, like for me, I love it. The hummus at Tony's is out of this world. Yeah, their sauces.

Yeah, they charge you up to, you know what. Oh, yeah. They sure do. But they're good. But Milos is probably the most well-known Greek restaurant. There's one in New York that's world-renowned. And Montreal actually had the first Milos. And that was amazing.

Montreal had an unbelievable Greek town. That's awesome. Is Greek cuisine your favorite food still? It's a close with Italian. But nothing beats my mom's Greek food. But Italian food's right there. And then you've had your fair share of restaurants too. You know, what's that?

Chicken wings. Yeah, yeah, buddy. Dry ribs. I adopted from the Canadians because I love dry ribs. guy too, a little dry wing. I tried to get the dry wings. I was in Saskatchewan last week, but no one had dry ribs. Really?

Which is weird. They might be more Western. I don't know. But yeah, I mean, it's all sports bars and I opened them. And I would go to them. I would freak with them all the time with my teammates. And it made a big difference with the clientele. Fans, if you interact with the fans, you're going to, you got to be at your restaurant,

first of all, you own it. But if you're an athlete and you're there all the time, they were both successful. I had my parents running the one in Chicago. the one in Detroit, we had to bring in the cup there. It was amazing. Probably had 2,000 people in the parking lot. No way, really? Spraying everybody.

Yeah, that was a big day, too, in Detroit with the cup with those guys. And the tiger celebrated with us, too. But I'm not really, there's no money in the restaurant business. I was going to ask, dude, it's a brutal. It's a brutal game. We grew up working in them too, man. Our whole lives, we grew up in a little beach town in Maine. Yeah.

you know, from little dives to five-star restaurants. We've done it all. And it is, it's a grind. I was lucky because they're both, I sold more liquor than I did food, which is very rare. I just happen to have the huge parking lot in Detroit

and had a huge warehouse in Chicago. And quite honestly, once the Hawks started their decline when I left, the bar was done and I had moved. And then Detroit, same thing. We started, you know, slowly but surely, the team started, you know, falling out of the playoffs. and it really hurt the business

and then I had to sell that too. Yep, yeah, yeah. All right, well, before we let you go, we got a little gift for you here. Oh, alright. Yeah, you got to, you got to make a little slogan at Empty Netters. Ice is Ready has become our slogan.

We sell a lot of T-shirts with like iconic photos on it that say Ice is Ready. So we have this one that's just hit our store that we made specially for you. Thank you. Yeah. Ice is ready. Yeah.

It's like, see, though, almost Friday. That's like the flagship of the company. so we do ice is ready on all of ours and this has quickly become our number one selling ice is ready can you believe that you're saying that my daughter where did you get that picture

must have got my hair the hair is going off that's yours can you believe that that is a fan favorite immediate I just don't understand it's like you got a fan Chris we popped that up you couldn't get me with an L bandito tequila yeah we can make it all

we need that too We we tossed that up and our Instagram was just flooded. People were like make that shirt immediately immediately. So there it is. But you got the first one. Isn't that great? I don't know if I'm going to wear in public, but that's awesome. I'm just going to cringe when she sees it.

You got to toss it on for the wife immediately. It's unbelievable. Oh, I think I lost my mind. That's funny. All right, but before we let you go, other than El Bandido Yankee, which we're going to plug all the time, is there anything you want to give a shout out to, anything you want to? anything you want us to know about? Yeah, what do you got going on coming up?

I mean, oh, God, big, big weekend in Chicago with NASCAR. And then we got a wedding, Jake's, get my son's getting married the next weekend. No way. When? Rock the following weekend, yeah. Oh, my God. It's just back to back summer. That's on.

And I guess the, I mean, I didn't share this. I have a boat in Chicago. And it's turned into like a, like, I can't charter more than 12 people are bringing. I could put 40 people on. the boat but I just happen to get lucky, you know, and find this old boat that no one, you know, I just really lucky. And it's been the greatest thing in my life on Lake Michigan. I take it to Charlevoix, 12 hours.

And my passion is water. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And this boat, you know, it's been too good to be true. And I've had everybody from Bono to, you know, the whole YouTube band. Yeah. And the pictures are amazing, you know, just getting hammered with these guys and Eddie Vetter and Kid Rock. and it's a joy in my life. Yeah, I love that.

My wife, unfortunately, doesn't handle the boats well with the emotion, but it's been awesome. So that's what, if you ever go to Chicago, I'll be an area called a playpen just off the coastline. And you'll see, there's boats in there, but I got a beautiful boat. It's called Caltera. It's named after my daughters. So it's been good luck. But that's what I do most of the summer.

I love it. That is awesome. I love a good boat, so that's perfect. Yeah. Sun Seeker Predator. It's a really cool, kind of a James Bond. Yeah, yeah. It's just a real practical, entertaining, for entertaining.

There's no better boat. Lake life is my favorite life. It's good. It's truly the best. That is really good stuff. But this seat where you see me sitting there on the beach there, that's my favorite seat. That's, you know, from morning, you know, with coffee and then wine at night. Okay.

There you go. Point Doom, you know, which has all the brakes on the cliff and the cliff. when the sun hits in the mornings, it's like a bright red. It's pretty spectacular that Malibu. Yeah, I love it. Well, man, Chris, this has been an absolute blast. Can't thank you enough for coming on. Thank you, you guys.

Hopefully the beginning of many things. We'll get you back on again. You bet. I love to. Beautiful stuff.