Empty Netters Podcast - 6. Jeremy Roenick is in the Hall of Fame of Partying

Episode Date: November 17, 2022

- Gritty has blood feud with Chris- Gordie Howe bullied JR- Keith Tkachuk's name is Walt- Rod Brind'Amour should be in the Hall of Fame 3 times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Daniel doing a little remote pod here we're trying it out I thought it'd be a good mix-up for everybody look at you just being a little East Coast boy I'm freezing to death by the way I bet it's I mean here's the deal I was there recently

and when I left I can't begin to describe to you how cold the bus station was I was to get me the fuck out of here as fast as possible I would say we got lucky over the weekend because we were both here over the weekend. And we were ready for the freezing, and it was 75.

And I was like, oh, this is fine. I went swimming. I went swimming in the Atlantic Ocean in Maine in mid-November. It was so nice. And then I left, and it was like New England knew that I was bailing. So they just cranked down the temperature to about 20 degrees. I wanted to kill myself on the bus. It's been tough.

Sleeping's been tough. Showering's been tough. Sitting here is tough. And the bones, the bones of this house are cold. You know, it's not just the wind chill. It's the bones. You're in an old New England home. You have to deal with that brutal walk from the shower,

that nice warm shower into your bedroom. The temperature drops about 40 degrees. Tell me you're in an old New England home without telling me you're in an old England home by having a portrait of two sailboats above the mantle here. Yeah, look at that. And then when the sun goes down, you've got creeks and cracks and ghosts everywhere.

That's New England, baby. Don't even try to go up the stairs quietly. Sea coast and ghosts. That's it. New England. Happy to be here. But, Dan, I'll tell you what. This morning I got out to the Sagamore Golf Club,

heated driving range, heaters above every stall. And dude, if you are a northern golf course and you don't have a heated range, then fuck yourself. Yeah, what are you even doing? I've got an idea. Get rid of your job. driving range. Agree.

You don't deserve one because it is a luxury. And I was in, I went there in like, um, it melted multiple layers, loose enough to swing, but, but, uh, thick enough to stay warm. And I, by, by my 30th ball, the sweatshirt was off, dude. The heater is so good, I was golfing in a t-shirt. It's like 20 degrees outside. I mean, that's just class. Yeah.

I did throw out. That's high class golfing right there. Yeah, I did throw out my back. Um, which, which. Which was it rushed over that one. Oh, the heaters were great. I was spraying balls into the fairway. It was beautiful.

I did, however, throw up my back because I'm an old shithead. The back injury was a steep price to pay for the heater, but I paid it. Yeah. I mean, listen, you got to get those drives out. You can't let that game slip just because you're in cold weather. Exactly. So you get it. I do.

Let's transition away from cold weather and talk about some hot stuff and get it to hot ice. We got some crazy. hot-eye stuff. Did I? I mean, I know what you were going to say. Yeah, you do. First and foremost, I'd like to apologize. A couple weeks ago, I demanded apologies from everyone.

I demanded apologies from the listeners. I demanded apologies from you. And we're talking about the Buffalo Sabers. Dude, do you remember the game Oregon Trail? I sure do. And you'd take your wagon. and you'd be bumping in around the country, headed west, shooting Buffalo as often as you could.

Yeah. You declared the Buffalo Sabres a wagon. I think... I said that they were looking like a wagon. Four games in. And we're a month in, dude, and that wagon just tried to wade one of those rivers at grueling speed,

and you just might have sunk, my guy. I just died of dysentery. Yeah. I'm pretty sure what happens in the Oregon Trail. The Sabres might have dysentery. But listen, I'm going to pull. up here. Here's the deal. The sabres are on a skid. They have five games. They've lost five in a row. But those losses have come to Tampa,

team that was just in the Stanley Cup, have won two of the last three Stanley Cups. Good hockey team. The Cains, who are an Eastern Conference Titan, Vegas and the Bruins, who are the two best teams in the league, and it's not close. Don't hide from that fifth loss, though, Dan. And then the Yotes. Tell me, say it again. Dude, the Yotes. I got to say. though, pretty sweet that their other loss came from my

other team. So the desert dogs this is what a coyote does, dude. It's like a hyena. They see a team getting banged up by the big kings of the jungle. The lions are coming in there. The leopards are coming in there. They're tearing the sabers to shreds. And then the

desert dogs, they just sit back and wait for that carcass to be just enough with a little bit left to pick on, and they swoop it and they steal a win. Got a respect. that move from the yotes. We were in Africa the summer down and we saw how long buffalo meat can last. And there's a lot of meat

and there's a lot of animals coming to get their fill. There's nothing wrong with the coyotes. There is no shame in the game of being a scavenger. And the yotes were scavengers during that little skit. So. The playoff yotes by the way too. Yeah, I was going to say that's a playoff team

the Sabres lost. Their five losses are at a five playoff team. So I'm not making any apologies actually now that I think about it. Sorry, the Yotes, who I said are a bubble playoff team and I think they're going to get in. They lost to five playoff teams. I'm not apologizing for that. Do you have, I have two reasons why I think the Sabres have dysentery. Do you want to talk about it? Do you have any reasons? What do you think, what's your diagnosis, doctor? My diagnosis is, it's a long season. We've got a new young team

and they're coming in, they're scrappy. They're getting great wins here. And yeah, they're going to fall to some of the top teams in the league, but at the end of the day, all they need to do is scoop one of those wild cards. And they're not far off the wild card. So I'm not worried yet. I think, like I said, in the beginning of the season, goaltending was going to be a big issue. Maybe depth on the blue line would be a big issue. It's starting to look like those things are happening. Goaltending has been a problem. They signed Comrie this summer to kind of replace Craig Anderson, right, and be the guy. And he is not it so far. And what's crazy, I know, dude, and I have it here.

He's got, he's right now, he's an 885 save percentage and a 3.62 goals against, which you cannot have to, dude, look at this. 8.85. Take two of them. Take two of them from me. You're going to have two extras. That's four. That's four total, sir.

885 save percentage ain't going to cut it. Yep. And, you know, it was on the Jets last year. I didn't play a lot, 19 games, but had a 920 save percentage 2.58 goals against. And that's what, that's what you signed this summer. that is a major problem because there's no help. They don't have another option. And if he's not going to get it done,

then they're not going to get it done this year. How bummed do you think the Sabres are looking at Linus Olmark in Boston right now? Dude, especially because that signing felt so irrational at the time. Like you had Tuka theoretically who was like, he's definitely coming back, who cares? And even if he doesn't, the Swayman is the guy moving forward. So now you're paying OMA. Swamen wasn't the guy.

Until halfway through last year. Halfway through last year, they were like, oh shit, he is. He could be a real deal. But I think they thought they would get enough out of Tuka to get to him to get to Swayman being the guy. And then you don't need O-Mart. As much as we shit on the Bruins front office at the end of the day, that was a great signing because Tuka lasted about one week. Four shifts. And then O-Mark is the second best goalie in the league.

It's fucking ridiculous. Behind the otter, obviously. And everyone better be getting ready to cash those Ves. the checks, by the way. The Eichol and Otter checks are coming in big time, and I hope people listen, which no one did. They are. So listen, I do want to apologize slightly. I got a little excited. I'm not going to apologize for being excited because I do think the Buffalo Sabres are on the right trajectory. They're just going through some growing pay. They got a ton of young players. They've got new players. They're just figuring it out. They went through a tough skid against five playoff teams.

Again, five of them. Those are their five straight losses, five playoff teams. And also, Tage Thompson is a problem. Dude, he is so sick. You were so right about that. I was so right about that. Tage Thompson is a weapon. He is buzzing around the ice.

One of the, I think Maddie Kachuk last week called Brady Kachuk, the best power forward in the league. I've got news for you, dude. Tage Thompson is the best power forward in the league. Yeah, sorry, Maddie. He is scoring. big boy goals and is just racking up points. So I'm pretty sure.

Go on, go on. Him, Dahlene, Skinner, and Tuck are all delivering. You made a point about the devils the other week being like they're getting production from the guys they need production from all of them. Those four guys I just listed are delivering. Like we've seen Skinner have bad years there. Everyone they need to be good is good currently. They have a goalie issue and they also have a tier two issue.

They need a little bit more from everyone else that I didn't just name, but they are getting everything you need from those four guys. Yeah. I mean, Tage is a certified All-Star, and I told you that from the beginning. I told you guys that before the season even started. Tuck is playing out of his mind. Dahlane is a top defenseman in the league. Yeah, they're going to be fine.

I am not giving up yet. Buffalo is going to pull up. They went through a tough patch, but we know that the city of Buffalo has grit. So I'm not worried yet. No one's ever made it to Oregon with all the people they started with, dude. You know, you're going to lose some young daughters along the way. But you just got to get there. Just get there. This is war. Yeah. This is war. We're trying to get into the NHL playoffs for the first time and a long time, Buffalo. And we can do it. We can't, we can't let this skid

derail the entire process. That's all I'm going to say. I'm super excited to make a Buffalo Sabers Oregon Trail graphic. moving forward here as they bounce their way along to the playoffs. Just slowly losing people to dysentery. It happens, dude. It's going to be fine. Dude, it's part of the process. You can't expect to get to the end of the Oregon Trail with everyone on your wagon. That's just not how it works. It's unbelievable. All right, you got any more hot ice?

Yeah, I got a few. Here's a real quick one that I just wanted to have a quick laugh about with you. The Bruins and the Canucks had a hockey game last. night and they came out or whatever that was a night or two ago and they came out uh in both wearing whites and the Bruins were the home team so naturally they changed into blacks because i'm sure they just had it in their locker i mean who cares but the nchl made such a massive deal about these reverse retroes which we i'm i'm here for we all love them and they're sick and they scheduled these games like hey these are each team's reverse retro game and they don't get that many they get like eight five to eight or something.

So I don't know how it's literally possible for the Canucks to show up at that game, not knowing that this is a B's reverse retro game without having an alternate. Dude, that is what I wanted to talk about. That little wardrobe malfunction for the Vancouver Canucks. Do you think someone gets chewed out for this? Or do you think they're like, oh, whatever, it's no big deal? Because I feel like the league and Adidas, Adidas especially. If I'm the Adidas rep who works with the NHL,

I'm losing my mind at someone in Vancouver. Someone's fired, dude. You think someone's getting fired for this? If I'm Adidas, you're right. If I'm Adidas, I am fuming mad. And obviously, they're just going to switch it. Like, they'll give the Bruins a different reverse retro night and they'll get their game back.

But this is such a simple thing that could not be screwed up. And I feel like every team got their schedule at the beginning of the season. It was like, this is when you're wearing your reverse retroos. And I just need to know who, and the Canucks was like, is in charge of what jerseys were wearing and packing those things up. Because the second, the first Bruins player, actually, I don't even think a Bruins player needed to step on the ice in their sweater because they were warming up in their sweatshirts. Yeah. I feel like the second that hit social media, someone in Vancouver must have been like, oh, fuck.

We have made a fucking huge mistake. And you know when, you know, in men's league you go out and like you're in a dark blue and the other team's in black and you're both like, yo, does anyone, have you guys got to go change yeah like everyone's like humming and hawing about who's going to go change like this is an nchl game dude and like the i feel like the canucks are just playing chicken like um you guys change you got blacks come on warmups warmups was the funniest looking thing ever it did look like these guys were all skating around just waiting to see who was going to break first and i don't know how this works dan but it's it kind of is fascinating to me that the canucks even on a road trip don't have darks at their disposal like that's what it felt like they're like

oh, hey, we just have the whites. Sorry, we don't have a choice. Because otherwise they would have switched. That's actually a fascinating question. Do you think stuff happens enough for that to be worth it? Because I think if you just bring your darks to every away game, eventually someone would be like, why the fuck are we lugging these around? There's no need for them.

Yeah. It's once in a blue moon for sure. But the blue moon is you've humiliated yourself. So I think it's the bluest moon, though. Take the insurance policy. Oh, my God. It is, again, someone at Adidas must have been flipping out. Oh, dude.

Just being like the rollout we did for these reverse retro jerseys. And you idiots just can't remember which games you're supposed to wear them. And this is fucking remarkable. This isn't that big a deal, but I'm pretty bummed if I'm a fan. Like if I'm a B's fan and I showed up to that game, like I'm sure there were a handful of people that circled that ticket for reverse retro night. You know, like, oh, sick, I'm going to see that sweater. And then just gets taken from you. Yeah.

You're like, oh, thanks, Vancouver. That was awesome. That's definitely a big deal. I think it's cool to say in, you know, this season, yeah, I was at a game with the reverse retroes. Two of the best ones, too. Vancouver's got a, despite Vancouver's struggles this season, they've got a great reverse retro. Boston has a great reverse retro. That would have been a sick reverse retro matchup to watch.

And then because some dipshit in the Vancouver equipment room was having a, having an off day. You know what? I blame the Sedeen brothers. kidding kidding hey Vancouver fans just kidding just kidding Henrick and Daniel we love them

they're the best wonderful induction ceremony wonderful wonderful guys all right what else you got okay I got another one for you Dan I think you're going to like this one a lot and I'm really excited to talk to you about it thoughts on the Montreal

Canadian's new mascot new old new mascot yeah metal his name's metal he's been frozen under the forum since 93 just thought out can I read something for you please okay so according to the Canadians

and Emily we're going to we're going to broaden your NHL knowledge here and we want you to look up metal and when we make a clip here talking about metal you can take a look at this new mascot and just you know

educate yourself we've got a new weird mascot in the NHL. And it's for a team called metal? Or the mascot's name is metal? The mascot's name is metal for the team called the Montreal Canadiens. M-E-T-A-L or M-E-D? M-E-T. And he loves metal. He loves metal. He loves metal. He loves to rock. Yeah. I'm sorry, but like what are these NHL mascots? Like, why are they not normal? Okay. Look at Emily being a hockey gal, because that's something I want to talk about here. Me too. According to the Canadians, metal was named after escaping from the nursery at birth in 1979 after being drawn to the sounds of renegade by

sticks playing on the radio, bobbing his head and throwing two fingers in the air to the beat, he was spotted by a janitor who laughed and cried out, that's so metal. A source close to the team revealed that after a night of bad choices partying with the team after the cup win in 93, metal fell asleep in an ice machine in the forum basement and only emerged this summer during renovations. Here is my main gut feeling upon the reveal of metal.

After metal was Austin Powers pulled from the ice after being cryogenically frozen and gone through the thawing process. I initially wanted to full Captain America, full Austin Powers. I initially wanted to say Montreal

is trying to piggyback on the success of gritty and booie. but then they included this origin story and I'm all in. Dude. I'm all in on metal and I'm all in on mascots getting more involved. I don't know if you saw the king's mascot. What's his name? He's awesome.

He's the lion. Barclay, Barclay, I think. Barclay got put on the IR a couple weeks ago. That was really funny. And the Kings, like, tweeted out, like, really sad news. Barclay was on the IR. He'll be back stronger. I'm so sorry, but his name's Bailey.

Bailey, thank you. Why the fuck am I saying Barclay? I don't know. You tell me I shouldn't be correcting you right now. This is, not only is Emily a hockey gal, she's also an NHL mascot. That's big time producer stuff right there. Yes. Bailey was put on the IR and that was such a funny tweet because it was like from the King's

official Twitter, big deal. Super bummed about it. Wishing Bailey a speedy recovery. I'm loving this clown show with the NHL mascots. And metal is, you know, initially, like I said, I was a little wary. But after that hilarious origin story, I'm all in. And he better on reverse retro night, they better blast sticks and let him just go to town. So a couple things here, Dan.

Few things here. One, as you just said, he's only making appearances at reverse retro nights this year. is I think their rollout policy, but I guarantee that change. I guarantee that changes next year and he's he's the guy. Because I can't even believe they had, I was reading that they've had a guy named like UPI or something who was the former Expo's mascot has been like bopping around the Canadians games. That's pretty cool.

Yeah. So I'm glad metal's back because he's like, this is my job, pal. Second thing, Dan, the, I said to you when we had our first buoy discussion, this, I am, I want this to become the WWE, dude. Like, this needs to become the thing. The fact that every team doesn't have a ridiculous mascot, and there isn't inter-mascott wars, there isn't events for families and kids.

Like, this should become a spectacle of fighting pageantry, the whole thing. Like, the mascots should be the main event. And then after we play a hockey game, if anyone wants to stay and watch. I completely agree. I think that when Bowie was introduced, I said, if we don't have a grid,

Bui rivalry for the ages. It'll be a mistake. Because Bui came into this league being like, yo, look at me. I'm this funny, creepy,

wacky mascot. And Gritty was like, are you fucking kidding me, dude? Are you stepping on my turf here? And if we don't get, look that up right now because I think we talk,

I think it's in February when Seattle and Philly play. I remember, yeah. It is February. I need whichever one, I think it's in Seattle. Is that right?

That's the, yes, because we said, we wondered if Gritty would travel. Gritty has to travel. Gritty has to travel. But what I love now is we've got a scenario here. Maybe it's at the All-Star game. Who knows? We've got a scenario here where we might have a W-W-E Smackdown level event with Gritty and Booby, and then all of a sudden, cue glass break. Is that Meadows music? And now Metal enters the chat, and we've got a three-way brawl going on

with the goofiest mascots in the league. I need more. I need more of it. And Dan, My last thing on it is how perfectly has metal played this as a, I don't know what to call him, a creature? How perfectly has metal played this as a creature? Because as you brought up a few weeks ago, Bowie signed a blood feud with Gritty by being the first guy in this arena. And now metal pops in and like he's, he's early enough. He's an early investor in this. He's going to be a super popular mascot. and he's going to be one of the first to be this really cool thing that's happening in the league.

But he doesn't have to have this truly like death, life on the line situation with Gritty for the rest of his life. Because that's Bui's crossed to bear, dude. He's going to deal with that forever. Metal just gets to slide in, be the guy. And maybe big mascot, crazy mascot, four coming into town. But Bui really took one on the chin here for Metal. Metal time to this perfectly. Listen, that's true, but you made a grave mistake here.

You're underestimating Gritty. Gritty is a... Gritty is... And buddy, I've got bad news for you. Undersimating Gritty is a death sentence in itself. There's a chance that I'm now on Gritty shit list. I was going to say, Gritty is a Philly boy. He is a dirty, dirty dog, Philly guy, salt of the earth, rust belt, just bad Mamma Jama.

And if you think Gritty doesn't have a shit list that has absolutely booey right the top. And while he may be focused on buoy right now, metal got his name etched right in there in that number two slot. And again, I'm really sorry to tell you, you're now at number three. I'm three. Because Gritty's got ears everywhere. Gritty has boots on the ground in every city, and this is going to get to him immediately, that you just doubted, you just doubted his competitive spirit. How much that? You think that he's going to let metal just skate by, literally skate by like this? You're out of your mind. But I will say, I will say, I will say, Metal's origin story is a great move.

Like you said, he's third to market in the goofy mascot game, but he added a factor. Everyone's got to bring something to the table. I think Bowie came with his removable tooth. Yeah, really good. Metal came with his origin story. Do you think the mascots, the Bayleys of the league, have to get goofier?

Like, they are a pretty normal mascot. Do they have to start acting a fool all the time now just to keep up with the changing trends? I'll tell you what, Phil. I think that's a great question. Because I was about to say this is a casting call to every team in the NHL. If you don't have a mascot right now or you have a mascot that's not really beloved by your fan base, rebrand. Yeah. Put a Muppet in there.

Like these guys, I'm telling you, goofy mascots is, it's a play. It's a play and it's just a great. move to get your fans more engaged and it's great play for social media engagement. I'm telling you, if you have a mascot that is either a little bit corny or kind of non-existent, make the weirdest thing you can because it works. Dude, this is a massive tangent that we don't need to go down. But if anyone interested, look this up. The guy who created Gritty was a cartoonist and a huge hockey fan and he won a bid to design the Philly

mascot and he was so happy because he was like, you know, I'm a lifelong Flyers fan and I love to draw and this is like to see something that I created be in an NHL rink. What a dream, right? So he made gritty. And then people hated it at first. Everyone was like, what the fuck is that dude? And it went so badly that he was getting death threats. Like straight up people were like, kill yourself. That's the worst master I've ever seen. Yeah, why'd you ruin hockey? And he's like, Oh, great. I've like torpedoed my career and all the flyers organization and fans hate me. And now we will look back 20 years from now at the WWN NHL mascot events happening every night, Dan. And everyone will go, how did this start? And they'll go gritty. Some guy made up gritty.

This honestly, Chris, might be one of those situations where 10, 20 years from now, every team has a kooky mascot and then they change and go back to normal mascots. Yeah. And people look back in it as like, remember the. weird mascot era of the NHL. The dead puck era, the mascot era. Yeah, it's like, wait, what the fuck happened here? Like, why? The glowing puck era. Yeah.

It's like, what is going on? Why did every team have this kooky mascot? But I'm telling you, we're living in it, and I'm here for it. I want more of it. My last piece of hot ice before we get into some quick NHL Hall of Fame talk, I want to talk about defensemen, dude. Go on. The era of sexy, high-flying defensemen is here.

I think we've lived through it in the past. I think maybe we went through a bit of a lull. No disrespect to some of the best defensemen of our time. You know, we've got the Bob yours of the world. We've got the Paul coffees of the world. We've got Ray Bork. Good job. Good job mentioning Paul.

Really good job. We've got Bork, Pronger, Lidstrom. We've got Chelyos. We've got all those guys, absolutely. And I think we kind of went through a little era of, you know, the stay-at-home grinder defenseman was more of the guy. Didn't really have major, major point scores from the blue line for a little while. I feel like post-pronger.

I feel like we didn't really have a ton of that. Obviously, Kail McCar, Roman Yossi, Adam Fox, lighten up the world last season. And we're just off to a pretty hot start this year, is all I'm saying. And it's pretty cool. I think we're seeing some new names also, which is amazing. And some time-traveling old names. Yeah, we got some time-traveling old names, too. Carlson is leading the league with 22 points from the blue line, which is electric.

Adam Fox, like I talked about, he's a foxy boy. That name is going to create a good player. He's got 19. Kale is back in the mix after a bit of a slow start with 18. And then one that I really wanted to talk, or the next four that I really want to highlight. We've got Rasmus Dahlene, who we gave some flowers to early. earlier in the episode. He's sitting at 17 points. And then Hampus Lindholm, little scoop up by the Boston Bruins last year, really stepping up with Charlie McAvoy out at the

beginning of the season. Over the weekend, had another three-point night sitting at 17 points over a point per game from that nice little blue liner, looking like a number one D-man when he's not even the number one D-man on his own team. And then Quinn Hughes on the lowly Vancouver Canucks is quietly sitting there with 14 points. And then, Mikhail Circachev, another guy playing like a first, a number one D-man when he's not even the number one demon on his team down in Tampa. Just saying it is a, and that's not even, like, there are guys in there who are, you know, sitting at 16 points, 15 points. Those aren't even necessarily the top, you know, eight guys. But it's a, it's a hot season for defensemen so far, is all I'm saying.

Pretty exciting stuff. As a lover of the defenseman, I'm loving. Friend of the position. Friend of the position, Dan Powers. Friend of the position, old Danny Boy Powers. I'm loving seeing these defensemen racking up points and getting involved in the flow of playup in the offensive zone. It's a beautiful thing. There's like, as you said, there's like 10 guys that are over a point per game through a month.

And that's awesome. Also, very funny. How about Quinn playing with that broken stick? Oh, my God. Emily, this is for you too. There was a play over the weekend where Quinn Hughes broke his stick and is just, he looked like he was playing floor hockey. He's on his playing little knee hockey.

He like hunched down playing knee hockey, just choked up on his stick and was just trying to whack it back into the zone. It was one of those things where the ref the second, he broke his stick and played the puck, the refs arm goes up and he just played it again. He's like, and then they're like, Quinn, get in the fucking box. And he was like, yeah, I know, dude. I think the second one was the whistle. Like, him touching it the second time was the touch that got the whistle. It was actually smart because if he just bailed, it was going to be a breakaway. So he was like, whatever, dude. It was a good play of him being like, they were like, what the fuck you do? And he was like, what, dude, I'm not going to fucking. What would have been funny is if they racked him up for two. Yeah, boom, four minutes.

They're like double minor, dude, you idiot. But Dan, as you were mentioning this earlier to me, I was thinking, I wonder if it's a difference in the way the position is taught because with the changing of the Norris, like, it points to become a priority from that position. So I wonder if it's a change of how the position is taught. I wonder if it's a change in that they're just becoming better skaters. So they're encouraged to jump into the play more. How often do you see that trailer?

It's like the forwards come in and then you hit that trailer and it's like the D guy coming in late, right? So like there's a lot of points to be had there. But I've a theory for you. Here's my theory and I wonder what you think. I haven't said this to you yet. I wonder if in previous eras of hockey, the normal movement of the puck was a defenseman up to a forward

and the forwards, you know, enter the zone, do their weave, dump it in, whatever. They're grinding in the corners. But so eventually by the time of goals scored, the defenseman would have been like the third assist, right? So like they're kind of, they missed out on that point. Yeah.

I wonder if the removal, I'd love to crunch. data on this. Emily, you want a research job? No, Emily, don't even respond to that. I'd love to She was ready. Emily was fully prepared to be like, yeah, I will do that. I'll get the Excel sheet going. I'd love to crunch data, Dan, but I would be interested to see since the removal of the two-line pass because it opens up that stretch pass so much that the D get more second assist because they're like, I'm the one getting the puck up that high. Yeah. And that's my theory. I'm sticking to it. I got no proof, dude, per usual CP. But defensemen have more points these days. because there's no two-line pass.

And of discussion. Can we talk about, I would love to do a segment maybe sometime in the future, dumbest rules in NHL history because two-line pass existing in the NHL for as long as it did? Good fucking God.

What a stupid rule. It makes no sense. It's so dumb. It's honestly a rule. Anti-fun. It's an anti-fun rule. It's an anti-fun rule. All it does is remove,

you know, fun, exciting rate of play. Yeah. It's like let's slow the game down as much as we can. How about two-line pass? That's a cool rule. Yeah, trap, trap, trap. Trapp, trap, trap. Just trap everybody.

Insane. Yeah, yeah. Because you're so right that the two-line pass, that was such a hampering rule that it absolutely changed the way you had to learn the game at that next level. I mean, going from the college game, the junior game, and then getting into the show and being like, by the way, two-line pass is a thing.

If you're a defenseman, too, that's... Dude, it's insane. How different you have to play. When you're watching football and they're like, oh, how come it gets, everyone bogs down in the red zone? It's like, well, because you can't, they can't run behind the D. There's no room. The field stops. And that's what they did.

They were like, you can't, like, the defense could just step up because they were like, well, you can't go behind me. It's an illegal pass. It's a moronic. It's absurd. I have one more thing for you really quick. So, okay? Yeah, hit me. The, obviously the Hall of Fame induction, you know, is happening.

And we, they did like that, uh, legend's classic game where it's like a lot of the old guys in the hall and everything. and Luongo played out. Did you get to see that? Luongo played forward, had two tucks. I'll tell you what. I've never liked Roberto Luongo so much. It was pretty sick. He's doing the gritty, dude.

He's having the time of his life. A couple shelf jobs, too. Nifty forehand back on the shootout. Really, really cool stuff. One thing that made me laugh, and I'm sure, I haven't read enough about it. I'm sure Luongo asked to play out, you know, like whatever. But I was just dying inside that the goalie on his team

was Cory Schneider and I was like, did Schneides take his job again at the Hall of Fame Legends Classic? Yeah. And dude, you know what, Dan? I couldn't believe. When I saw that he got, Schneider's playing, he was, um, there like, oh, he came up from the Bridgeport Islanders, like the Islanders' HL team. And I was like, are you still playing?

Like, that is blowing my mind, dude. I couldn't believe that either, because Schneides is awesome. He's the man, dude. Yeah, such a good player, such an awesome dude. Shout out Andover alum. By the way, bro, can you believe the run that New England prep was on when it was Johnny Quick? Schneides was the 05 or 04 goalie at Andover. And then Johnny Quick is the 04 and 05 goalie at Avon.

And me and all the other Exeter plugs are sitting here like, how am I supposed to score on that, dude? Like that is, this feels unfair. It's impossible. That's the answer. It's ridiculous. But yeah, it was really awesome to see. definitely one of those things where you know Luongo was like, bro, I'm not fucking putting on goalie pads right now.

Get the fuck out of my face. My knees have had enough. It's so funny. It reminded me of all those times when in the winter you lace them up to play some pond hockey and you got the goalie on your team wearing his goalie boots wheeling around out there. Not good for you, bud. Someone's twig. Yeah, it's awesome.

It's awesome to see. But yeah, like you said, we had a nice Hall of Fame induction. Got some new names, Danny Alfredson, Ledge, Roberta Luongo, finish women's hockey. legend Rika Salonanin, Daniel and Henrik Sidene, and then the family of Herb Carnegie, who was inducted as a builder, which was awesome. So really, really cool induction ceremony. I found it really interesting, and I'm not sure if this is the first time ever, but it possibly is we should look that up, do some research, Danny Boy. I wonder if this is

the first induction class that had zero cup winners. Whoa, that's crazy. Kind of interesting to think about. Yeah. And what's really, I mean, maybe not really funny because when you get inducted into the hall, you're usually, you know, you've played a long time, you're an unbelievable elite player. And when you are that good and you don't have a cup that's usually always kind of mentioned with your career. But I do think if you were to make a list of the last 20 years guys who really were unbelievable in the game, but they never got that cup, the Sadeen's Luongo and Alfredson are four of the first names off that list. Yeah. Like those are guys that you're like, yeah, it was a bummer.

I wanted one. I wanted them to grab a cup. So taking a quick break from the podcast to talk about the best beer in the world whenever you're watching hockey, and that's Labat Blue Light. If you are sitting down enjoying a nice game of puck and you need to wet that whistle, need a little buzz on, you want the best light beer out there. Labat Blue Light is a no-brainer. Without question, the most taste, the most enjoyment you can possibly get from a light beer,

Labat Blue is everything there is about hockey and about enjoying yourself while you're sitting back and watching the game. So crack a beer next time you turn on your favorite team and sit back and relax. Labat Blue Light is the way to go. Now let's get back to that Empty Netters podcast and enjoy some hockey talk. That was a fantastic question. My knee jerk was no way. This is not often, but it's happened before. But as I was kind of racking my brain, I was like maybe it hasn't.

Certainly there are almost always people without one in classes. But the whole class, I don't know. It's interesting. I honestly wonder if it might be. But listen, we, particularly me, shit on Henrik Sedin a few episodes ago. And the clip was out of context. The clip was out of context. I will say that. People really got big mad online. I think Henrik and Daniel Sedin are two of the best players of my lifetime. No question. They are undoubtedly, reportedly, some of the best guys to ever do it. character guys, their teammates love them, they're unbelievable in their community. I love that about both of them. They're also boring. That's okay to say. They're boring. It's all right.

And I think that's, some of my favorite players are boring. It's okay to be boring. If you're just an elite player, but you're like, yeah, I'm kind of boring. I kind of keep to myself, more of a locker room guy. To the teammates, super fun, funny, awesome. I'm sure they're both like that. I just never get to see that. That's a cool thing. You're keeping it under wraps. I'm just saying, as a fan, they were kind of boring. However, their induction speech is really cool. Just really awesome to see these guys sort of gushing about each other,

what they did for each other, some of the other Swedes that came through both the Canucks and the league who kind of helped them become the players that they are. Matt Sundeen, I think, gave, did Alfredson's induction, which was really sweet to see. But yeah, man, cool class.

Cool class of guys. Dudes that, I think as Bruins fans, went to battle with a bit, you know, the Sends being in the Eastern Conference and then obviously the Canucks Cup, there was a period in time where as a Bruins fan, you absolutely hated both the Siddins and Luongo. But God damn it, do I respect them? God damn it, do I respect them? All of them just had really cool, fun, funny speeches.

And I think being a hockey fan, being really any sport fan, the Hall of Fame induction is not necessarily something that you rush to watch. And watching this one, I couldn't push it hard enough on hockey fans to watch these induction speeches because, like we always talk about, man, it's why it's the best game in the world. Hockey players are such beauties, and they're just the best guys out there. And hearing the little insights into their career paths and their stories to get there was so much fun.

And it just makes you respect these guys all the more. So it was a blast. Absolutely agree. Before we get into our game, do we're going to move it up this week, which we're going to keep going with this, but you want to move up some quack attack and give everybody the hottest teams of the week?

Absolutely. We're going to move the quack attack up because it's topical stuff going on in the game today. People want to know who's hot. I love hearing who's hot. Love hearing who's hot. We're doing the quack attack, three hottest teams of this past week.

We're going to start three to one, as we always do. We're doing Eden Hall's, JV, District 5, Mighty Ducks, Junior Goodwill Games, Mighty Ducks. So number three, third hottest team of the week. Chris, who is it? The Eden Hall JV. is the New Jersey Devils. Three and O this week.

They were our number one team last week, as you'll remember. And they're now 9 and 0, by the way, for the longest winning streak of the season, passing Vegas. They beat the flames this week. They edged Ottawa in overtime, and they beat the playoff Yotes, 4 to 2. Listen, nine straight is nothing to shake your head at, Dan, but those wins, and while you'll take every win you can get in this league, those wins aren't, those wins aren't as impressive as maybe the wins they had last week. So that knocks them back two spots in our poll this week. And I'll say again, if you have a problem with that, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, because this is our list.

This is our list. We'll make it whoever we want. So the number two, the District 5 Mighty Ducks, second hottest team of the week, argument for number one here. Just saying is our Boston Bruins. We gave the Bruins some shit last week as they deserved it for being fucking boneheads. Cam Neely, Don Sweeney, looking at you. But the bees are 4-0 this past week. They beat the Blues, the Flames, and the Sabres, all three to one.

That's kind of strange. Almost like they're doing that on purpose. Yeah, we might need to look into that. Yeah, it's kind of... There might be some... That's some conspiracy stuff. Yeah. And then two nights ago, they banged up on the Canucks five to two.

B's have won nine straight at home longest to begin a season in franchise history. How are you? Not a big day. Haven't lost yet this year. They're 14 and 2 for 28 points, and they're dominating the NHL. One thing that I find so interesting about this is, like we said earlier, the two best teams in the league, Boston Bruins, Vegas Golden Knights. If you know, the new coach of the Vegas Golden Knights is the old coach of the Boston Bruins.

And I wonder if the Knights are on such a heater, because Bruce Cassidy is such a petty guy that he's like, I can't. I can't let people think that the Bruins are so much better off without me. Because he's just making Vegas just as good. And okay, Chris, the number one team, hottest team of the week. The hottest team of the week. The junior goodwill games is the Los Angeles Kings, dude. They had a three and a week had an awesome 100 shutout win against the wild

with a sick Johnny Quick shut out. Shout out Avonald Foms again. I love being a dick to me in prep school. I love when Johnny Quick is good. Me too. He's just the best. I love an old guard. American goalies, Chris.

American goals. You damn right. I love when an old guard is good. They beat the Blackhawks this past week, too, in OT, and I was going to say to you, I really love those games, Kings Hawks games, because it just reminds me so much of those prime, cane, Taze, Keith. versus, you know, Brown, Dowdy, Onzi, Johnny, Quill, like those Western Conference battles. Every time I see those two teams line up, it'll always bring, teleport me back in time to a sweet era.

So that was a blast. They also, they beat the Wings 4-3, and they beat a pretty good Florida team the week before, Dan, 5-4 meeting. They're actually on a four-game heater. Go Kings Go, baby. That earns in the number one spot this week, and they deserve it. They sure, sure do. I would like to do a quick little shout-out, little honorable mention that just barely squeaked out of the top three hottest teams of the week.

We've been told that we're maybe not talking about the Montreal Canadians enough. But listen, we talked about metal. And I also want to give them some respect. This last week, they were 3-0. They had some three solid wins. They beat the wings in a shootout, crushed the Canucks, beat Pitt in overtime. They're a fun team. Goal-Cafield has nine tucks.

Suzuki is really honoring that captaincy that he was given over the summer. He's got 10 tucks. They're a young, high-flying team. They're third in the Atlantic right now. They might fuck around and get in the playoffs. Maybe they can be Eden Hall Varsity, considering that they are worse than Eden Hall JV. Yes, which is something that Eden Hall really needs to figure out. But horrible look.

That is interesting, and I will say, Montreal, we see you. You're playing some nice, nice hockey here. So that's quack attack, everybody. That's the quack attack. Like we were talking about before, Hall of Fame stuff going on, it got Dan and I thinking a lot about the people in the Hall of Fame and this class. And then it got us thinking a lot about the people not in the Hall of Fame. So we figured why wouldn't we draft three people each Biggest Hall of Fame snubs of all time?

What do you think, Dan? I love this idea. And I'd also like to give some respect to the NHL. When I was looking up some of my picks for biggest NHL Hall of Fame snubs, there aren't that many, I mean, listen, I've got some ones that I'm like, what the hell's going on here?

But there aren't that many absurd ones. So I'll give credit to the NHL. They've made good the last few years, I would say. Would you agree with that? There were some big snubs until like 2017, I think. And then some people started getting in that the hockey world was like, yeah, what's the deal? And they've made good.

Some guys like Paul Korea, Mark Recky, Eric Lindrosse. Yeah, yeah. Then I was like, how are these guys not in yet? Now they're in. So that's good. But it's good to see. Still a few misses. Let's get into them.

You've got some misses. I think it's my turn to go first. I think it is. I was going to say that too. Okay. Take it away. I'm going to go, should I go from my biggest snub to least snub or? If you're worried about me taking one, then yeah.

You know, like this is live ball, dude. This is live ball. All right, I'm going number one, my guy, one of the empty netters legends, one of our biggest, biggest fan, or we're the biggest fans of this guy. And he loves us. And he loves us. I'm going the king, JR. Jeremy Romney, I'm going to say it.

Jeremy Roanick not being in the NHL Hall of Fame is preposterous. This guy had a 20-year NHL career, fourth all-time in points for American-born players, 1,216 points in 1,363 games, 513 goals. This guy's a 500 goal score in the NHL. Give me a break. Two-time 50 goal score in the seasons, and three-time 100-point score, and he's a nine-time all-star. Nine times. Ridiculous.

Nine? Nine? Nine. Wow. J.R. I think he played for five different NHL teams, something like that. And kind of a legend on three of them,

which is rare, right? Like, obviously the Hawks, but I can see him in that Yotes jersey and even Philly, dude. I feel like the Philly guys love him too. For sure. Sharks, JR is my favorite. He just looks so absurd in that sweater.

It's unbelievable. J.R. is one of the classic guys. He's got no personal hardware. He's got no cup. It's tough. However, if you're playing 20 seasons in the league, you got over 500 goals, well over 1,000 points, well over 1,000 games. Nine-time All-Star, you're a face of the league. He's done a ton of great stuff for the NHL post career with his game analysis, with his ambassadorship around the league, with multiple teams.

He's the best to all the fans. He is a face of hockey still. That guy belongs in the Hallfair. Dude, I'll tell you two stories about him, or two things I'll say about him, I should say. One, as a young child, he's from Boston, you know, he's from New England. As a young child, he went to a Hartford Whalers game. And during warmups, Gordy Howe picked up a pile of snow and then threw it over the glass and hit J.R. In the head with it.

And then he skated back by J.R. again and winked at him. And J.R. said it was the greatest moment of his entire life. That's a real quote. And he said that is why he's always been, he made, out of his way to be great to the fans his whole career. Like it's what made him want to become a prologue player and then also interact with the fans because Gordy Howe dummied him with a snowball at Hartford Whelers game as a child. Do you think Gordy Howe ever got that story?

I don't know. Because if he didn't, I will die. I need, I need Gordy to know. I need to know that Gordy knows. that he changed the entire trajectory of J.R's length. Of U.S. hockey. Yeah. Of U.S.

Hockey as we know it. Truly. By just fucking bonk in him with a snowball. Okay. So there's one. Two, Dan. The, there was,

you know, remember Michael Jordan wasn't in the Players Association, so he couldn't be in video games. Did you remember that? Like, those early NBA games. Yes, it was like, player 99 was like the best,

you know, you play with Player 99 and you couldn't lose. Yeah. And then you play, like, even like 2001 Madden, Mike Vick felt like a cheat code, but certainly like Tecmo Bowl, Bo Jackson is like a joke good. There's those guys, then there's NHL 94, J.R.

Yeah. And if you are that, if you are the greatest video game, sports video game character of all time, you get into the Hall of Fame. I'm just, I'm sorry, you're in the Hall of Fame. It's just that's how it works. It's there are rules. There are rules to life.

and being the best video game character. You're in the Hall of Fame, dude. What are we talking about? How could you not put that man in the Hall of Fame? It's incredible. He's got the stats. He's got the accolades. Listen, I don't care if you have any hardware.

I don't care if you don't have a cup. When you're a 20-year guy with that many points, with that many All-Star games, imagine making nine All-Star games. Come on. Come on. You'd be lucky to play in the league for nine years. Let alone make the Wall Street game in nine of those.

Plus, he's an absolute savage. He is. He's the biggest. He's one of the biggest beauties the league has ever had. That is a fact. That is an ironclad fact. Put him in. Put him in.

Okay. Ready for my first one? Absolutely. The name you're going to be all a little familiar with Keith Kachuk. Oh, yeah. Okay? Yeah. We hit you with a couple stats first, Dan.

He's the highest scoring left winger, not in the hall, which is a pretty specific window, but I think a six stat. Like you were the highest scoring left winger left, not in the Hall of Fame. That's kind of dope. That is one of those ones where it's like you bring that stat up and I'm kind of like, okay, whatever. But then you think about it. I'm like, well, that is pretty cool stats.

So, yeah. You know, he had, my guy has the third most block shots by a rookie defenseman in October. And I'm like, okay, that's awesome. Those obscure NFL stats. Yeah. He scored 50 twice, Dan, had over 200 plus pimms twice and did both of them in the same year once, 96 97, which I think is sick. That is so sick.

You want to talk, Tage Thompson power forwards. Dude, this guy, this guy is a power forward who is doing shit that people hadn't done. He had 52 tucks to lead the league in 96, or in 96, 97, first American to ever lead the league in scoring, which is also pretty cool. Love that. And he had, he also scored over 500. I think you just said JR was the fourth. He was the fifth, which is cool.

And then only sixth American to overscore over a thousand points, all right? which is pretty amazing. That is amazing. Can I just say real quick, everything that you're saying, especially with those PIMS, Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, has never been more applicable to anyone

than the Kachuk family. Agreed completely. Maddie Tripod and Brady are just a twinkle in the eye of Keith. Like they are just the same type of player. And all three are so fucking good. It's unreal. It's so unreal that you have a guy who absolutely should be in the Hall of Fame in Keith,

and then his two boys make it to the league and they're instant stars. Dude, so you're bringing me right into my next point. So everything I just said about Keith is, like, I think good enough stats to get in, all right? Yeah. But you know how people get in, like GMs get in to the Hall of Fame, coaches get into the Hall of Fame,

not just on accolades, but for what they've done for the game. Like, that's literally the description of it. It'll be like, you know, your contribution to hockey got you into the Hall of Fame. Yeah. Keith's, Keith, creating those two sons should get him in

as contribution to the game. Like he should be inducted to all fame for his contributions to the NFL based on the two offspring he created. Like that is enough accolades on its own to get in. I'm so down with that, man.

I think that should legitimately be part of his campaign. Like I want fathers, like I want the stall's dad to get inducted into the hall thing. Contribution to the NHL. Thank you for giving us these these unbelievable players to the league. Yeah, I love it, dude.

Absolutely, that's a notch on his belt. So they're like, oh, Keith's, his numbers are right there, but like as a father, obviously he's now in for his two boys. He produced two All-Star Boys as well. And then finally, Dan, he, do you know what? His name is Keith Kichuk. Do you know what his nickname is? No.

Walt. As in, wait, nickname, that's what he was called in the locker room amongst the boys? Or Eddie Old Chick, Eddie Old Chuck. Eddie Olchek gave it to him. So there's like a ranger star from like the 70s, I think, named Walt. It's like a different spelling. Like you know Old Chuck's name is like Y, Z? Like it's totally different spelling, but it has the same sound.

There's like a ranger star from the 70s named Walt I think pronounced Kachuk, but it's spelled differently. So Eddie just started calling him Walt. So then all the boys called him Walt. Yeah, that'll do it. You're Walt from now on, dude. You're not letting a Walt into the Hall of Fame. Come on, man. What is wrong with him?

Dude, could Chuck right now, by the way, Dan, I looked this up when I was researching him. He is coaching a St. Louis, AAA, Pee-wee hockey team, assistant coaching. He is the assistant coach of 10-year-olds right now. I love that move because clearly he just, he didn't have time, dude. He doesn't, he doesn't want it. He wants to be around the game. He doesn't want all the responsibility. You remember what Denzel said, you know, you remember what Denzel said, do you remember the Titans.

You don't see an assistant coach's name in the newspaper after a tough loss. Right. He doesn't need that. He's not going down for pee-wee hockey. He does not need that pressure in his life. Absolutely not. I love that movie. He's kind of keep it chill.

Trying to keep it chill. Put Walt in the hall. Yeah, I love that. All right, perfect segue. Speaking of nicknames, my next snub, maybe the best nickname in NHL history. I'm going, Rod the Baud, Brindamore. Wow.

Unbelievable. This guy had 1,184 points in 1,484 games. a lot of similar numbers there that kind of tripped me up a little bit. Yeah. 452 goals during the trap era, which is interesting. Just saying, it's not 500, but almost sniffed 500 during a brutal time in the league. Won the cup in 06 with the Keynes as the captain, 18 points in that cup run, won two consecutive Selkees Awards in 2006 and 2007. And then as a coach, I mean, let's just stop right there.

Looking at his play as a player, that's a, they're in. That's enough. because he kind of burgged it a little bit in that, and, you know, check me here, but I'm pretty sure by 0607, he's like, he's in his 30s. You know, like, he kind of like became the Selke guy in his 30s, changed his game a little bit into something super valuable. Totally.

Changed his game. Tail end became an unbelievable defensive guy, won two Selkees, won a cup, 1,000 point guy, 1,000 game guy. You're in. Yeah, you might be in, dude. And then now as a coach, you know, he's brought them to the playoffs for the first time in a decade, goes to the Eastern Conference Finals, swept by the B's, no, I'm going to go. First Keynes coach to lead them to the playoffs in three straight years, also won coach of the year already.

He's probably going to win the cup with them soon. Yeah, have they been, did he go to the playoffs every year? He's been coaching there? I believe so, yes. So, like, he shows up first year and takes them for the first time in a decade. Hasn't missed the playoffs yet, won a Jack Adams coach of the year. and has been to an Eastern Conference Finals. Correct.

He has just, he had it all as a player, and by that I mean, he had it all in terms of what do you need to get into the hall. And now as a coach, he can't miss. Gets to the playoffs every time, won a Jack Adams. He's got this Kane's team absolutely buzzing. And then also, if you forgot at the beginning of this topic, his nickname is Rod the Bond. Do not forget his nickname.

Don't forget that. That gets you in. Your name's Rod the Bond. He is built like a brick shithouse, and he's still that way now as a coach. Can you imagine playing for that guy? Looking at your coach in his like 50s and he's ripping off. He's popping the tarp off and he's shredded like a goddamn washboard. Give me a break.

Put that guy straight in the hall. Can you imagine the workouts, dude? The team lifts when he's in there. And he's front squatting more weight than I've ever seen. The bars bending into a U-shape, and that's your coach. You've got your coach lying down on the bench and he's popping. up three plates on each side, that's going to motivate the shit. Dude, I think that if your name is anything, blank the bod, you probably get in anyway.

You could play one shift. Yeah, yeah, any sport, dude. Any sport, any hall. Blank the bod, you're in. If your nickname is directly correlated, correlated to how shredded you are physically, I think that's just going to be part of your application to get into the hall. Yeah. And it's probably enough.

Wow. I'm for it. Okay, here's my next one, Dan. Alexander McGilney, okay? Buffalo Sabres guy. And here's what I think. People forget how good he was. 100%.

He's under the radar. And here's some other, I'll hit you some cool stuff. First Soviet to ever defect to the NHL. Like truly, first one ever started that whole wave, was probably pumped full of Russian gas at the time. He probably brought Russian gas to the NHL, and he should be in the hall for that. Forget any stat I'm about to read right now. Bringing Russian gas here, we're done. End of conversation. I think if you nicked McGilney's veins, Russian gas would start hissing out of his skin. He deflates like a balloon. Just like disappears, dude. That's all of pumping through his body.

So good for him there, okay? He, and like, dude, we didn't even heard of that shit. He defected during the 1989 world juniors in Stockholm. Like that's when it happened. He was there and defected. And at the time dude, he was an officer in the Soviet army because that's how that shit worked then. So he was like actually charged with desertion. Like we're talking

like go to jail, like get shot behind the barn shit like straight up during the world juniors. He was like, I'm out to the NHL and they were like, we will kill you. And he was like, okay, whatever, I'm God. I'm just going to be over here racking up points in the league. Yeah. Like which is pretty sick. So in his career, he had 1.04 points per game, which is 44th all time, which is kind of nasty. That alone. Are you kidding me? I mean, you're 44th all time in points per game in

NHL history and you're not in the hall? Yep. Had 76 in the season once that same year, Timu did, which is ridiculous. You have 76 talks. That's a joke. He won a cup in 2000 with the Devils. He won a Lady Bing, which is kind of cool. Also, there's this Pat LaFontaine quote that says this. I'll read it to you. I've been lucky. to play with some great players in my career, but I put Alex as the best player that I had a chance to see and play with talent-wise. And I feel like we just saw this stuff with Maddie Tripod talking about Barkoff the other day. I think it was on Chicklets actually, but he gave that interview. And it's like, I love that stuff when players talk about other players that we all recognize as good,

but they're like, you don't understand. Like Maddie's like, Barcoff's the best player I've ever seen in my life. And what is it, sorry to cut you off, but what is it with these Russian guys? My Barkov's a fan. I'm not talking about him. But I'm talking about McGilney. I'm talking about guys like Beret, guys like Fedorov, and guys like our boy,

Pavel Dotsuk, because there's no one in league history who gets that treatment more. When Dotsuk was playing, every time that NHL player poll would come out and be like, who's the best player in the league? Every player was like Dotsuk is the most ridiculous guy

I've ever seen in my entire life. And it is, I'm telling you, as far as skill, these Russians man they got it they got it I think it's sick though when players because you know and sometimes it doesn't translate to games

but you see stuff in practice where you're like that guy is disgusting and the world don't understand so I think McGill only had a little bit of that going definitely and Dan my final point and again Emily can do her research and check me on this but I feel as though

he was early to that 89 swag and like I don't think those numbers were popping up like he wore 89 and I like that wasn't really popping off then. And then when I did some digging, I did a little bit, M. He's one of the, like, if you look up the best 89s, he's pretty much the guy people name first to do it. And dude, he picked that number because that's the year he defected from Russia. And he's like, I'm wearing 89 because that's the year I'm bounced. What a, what a motherfucker to Russia.

Soviet officer. Go fuck you. I don't give a shit. Oh, oh, there's a warrant out for my arrest, Russia. Uh, suck it. Can you believe that, dude? So I love that he did that. And, I love that he really, I think if you are, I think you said the other week, dude, that you wish to Zegris had stayed 46 because he could have made it cool. I think if you are changing the game enough that you're making, you know, and making a number cool, making that a thing, then you're in the hall. So you're in the hell for your contribution for the number. You're in your hall for the contribution for the Russian gas and not to mention kid had point over a point of game in his whole career. Yeah, that's pretty unreal. And I will say another segment thing here, I kind of like that idea of best numbers.

If you are considered the best to ever wear a number, that's a pretty cool feather in the cap. Put yourself in the Hall of Fame. I like that a lot. For my third and final, I'm going to stay on this Russian train. And I found this one. And honestly, this one for me is pretty crazy. It might even be crazier than JR for me. I'm going Sergei Gonchar.

Oh, Gonshire. Wow, great pick, dude. Sergey Gonshire, Unreal Elite Blue Liner, 811 points as a defenseman in 1,301 games, eight times over 50 points from the blue line. That's no joke. No joke at all. 20-year NHL career, five-time NHL All-Star,

won the cup in 2009 with the Penguins, and then two cups in 16 and 17 as a player Devo coach with the Penguins, which, by the way, that's important. You got players on that team winning a cup, and their development is all because of Sergey. So just saying, he's got a silver and bronze medal in the Olympics with Russia, and he's the first Russian D-man to ever score 20 goals in a season in the NHL.

Oh, that's a good one. And then I kind of like, what do you think about the medals? Like, do you think that should get you into the... Hyundai. Hondo P. I know it's the NHL Hall of Fame, but you're so often in the Olympic. here playing in the middle of the season against NHL talent. And if you're bringing home medals from the Olympics, that's got to count.

Absolutely. I think some guys would be able to backdoor their way into that because they're like, yeah, I'm a fourth liner on Canada. And so I won myself a gold, whatever, whereas maybe someone from other countries, someone from Chechnya or whatever is like, oh, yeah, it's harder for me to take home a medal. So I never get that on my Hall of Fame resume. but then the breaks, dude. You know what I mean?

Like, I'm sorry about it, but then the brakes and medals count. I agree with you. That's how it is. And the last thing I'll say about Gonchar is, and I always love this, he is a player that I can think of distinctly when I was watching the NHL as a younger guy.

Again, as a defenseman, I always loved watching defensemen, and it was always really cool when you would see a player for another team really catching your eye. Because as you're young, you kind of just watch the guys on the team that you love.

But when there's someone else in the league who's so dominant and doing so much that you're paying attention, you have no choice but to pay attention, that's pretty impressive. So Gantch gets that for me. I agree, man. Let's hear your last one. Okay. My last one is feel flurry. Okay?

And I'm going to give you a couple reasons why. Quick points thing, 1,088 points in 184 games is pretty sick. 454-45 career goal is pretty sick. I had a 51 goal season extremely sick. Yeah, very sick. He won an Olympic goal. in 2002. To your point, that's kind of nice. The one thing I think

is crazy is his career ended abruptly in 03 because he was we all know that he was struggling with drugs and alcohol and he had sexual abuse from a former coach and all that stuff. And I almost think Dan, that is the part of the reason why the NHL is reluctant to let him

in. And I'm like, that is exactly why you should let him in. Like the fact that he has gone through so much in his life and is completely done himself well now. He's turned his life around, dealt with all that stuff, got it out therapy-wise, like wrote a book, you know, like he has really come to grips with everything that happened and still had an insane career. And I want them to reward that, dude.

Like, that is actually an awesome journey that he's been on that deserves some recognition, okay? 100%. He gets a lot of points for the journey element. He's had a wild life. And to be as good as he was with everything he went through. Yeah, huge, huge factor. And then you talked about, if you're the best player, to everywhere a certain number you should be in right i'm in i'm down with that you're going to claim

the best 14 ever no but i am going to say he did something else in 1991 that playoff series against the oilers game six he scores his first goal of the series o t tuck off a messier bad pass and then to force a game seven which they lost but we're going to ignore that yeah uh and then goes into the most insane crazy person celebration of all time yeah if you have one of the great playoff celebrations in the history of the sport, you should be in, you should have your own wing in the hall. You have one of the great playoff celebrations in the history of the sport.

You should be in, you should have your own wing in the Hall of Fame, dude. They should be like, here's, and obviously Theo Flores in here for the greatest celebration to ever exist. You're right next to Timu, you know, like they're both doing their thing. It's perfect.

Him and Timu are in the Selly Hall of Fame for sure. Yeah, like that's a no-brainer. And then, dude, here's my biggest point. My guy was five, six, okay? He would be, he would be the second shortest player. to ever make the Hall of Fame. I actually did do this research, M.

You're off the hook. He'd be the second shortest player to ever make the Hall of Fame. Who is our short king? Dude, Roy Shrimp Warders. Played for the New York Americans, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Habs. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1969.

He was a goalie, 5-3. Are you fucking kidding me? I swear to God, dude. Roy Shrimp. Waters. 5-3-10-5-4-10-4-4-3-10-4. If you went up against Roy the shrimp and didn't score, you have to retire. Dude, I didn't write this down, but he has-

Go high, dude. He hasn't seen him out of shutouts. Like, it's crazy, dude. I think they just couldn't lift the puck then. Yeah, I was back in the day. It's like when you're watching mites, yeah. But, dude, it'd be him and then, and then Theo. Do you think Flurry would have had a better shot if he had some sort of shrimp-like nickname?

Yes. And I think if he was even, I was going to say even one inch, but certainly two inches shorter. I swear to God, dude, if Theo's two inches shorter, he's in. Like, if he has the same staff, but he was five four the whole time, they're like, dude, you're in. That's fucking crazy. Five six is small. It's tiny, dude. He needs to be in on that alone.

Like, no offense to our short king listeners. But I'm just saying, if you're in the show and you're getting over a thousand points in your career and you are five six, that's damn impressive. Dude, he had five, six height, height, five, one. tucks one season. He almost had as many tucks as he is inches tall, dude. Like that is something that deserves recognition. That is wrong. That don't, that don't get roast. Shut up. Don't get roasted by the listeners right now. That is not how many inches tall he is. Don't, don't, don't. I know, but I bet he's closest to, oh no, Gretzky probably had had more, more tux than he is inches tall once. But like Theo having that many goals that at that height in the national hockey league

is something that deserves recognition and I want it tomorrow. Man, that is Cooky stuff. Great pick, too. I mean, Theo's got to be in there. That's absurd. I completely agree. All right, those are our snubs.

Those are our NHL Hall of Fame snubs. Let us know who we forgot. Yeah, very excited to hear in the comments sections who we forgot. But I think those are some pretty good ones. Let's wrap up this episode like we always do. And let's talk about first some Eichol Watch. Here we go.

another week and another a bad day for Dan. I need a spinning newspaper extra, extra. Read all about it every time this comes up. This is your segment. This is your segment. Tell us where he is. Ike, welcome back to Ico watch through 16 games. Jack has nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points.

How do you feel, Dan? Especially after a haddy in his return to Buffalo. Honestly, I am now, I'm all in, and I want my punishment, because I'm loving watching Jackplay. He is just dominating. He made it hurt in Buffalo. His return to Buffalo was some of the most disrespectful stuff I've ever seen. I can't believe what he was doing there.

The Selly, too, just looking up at the fans, are you not entertained? Good Lord, that was savage. So I got to say, I like to see it. My question for you is, do you have my punishment yet? Dude, I don't, but 90 point watch is fully on. Fully on. You are fucked, my friend. And dude, go ahead.

You've got one week, dude. By the next episode, you don't have my punishment. I will accept no punishment. Because what we're just doing now is we're getting to a path here where Jack's obviously getting 90. And I'm like, well, what the fuck, man? I need to know the punishment here. So you have to have it by next episode.

Otherwise, I'm not doing it. And I just wanted to say, you said it was disrespectful. Going 200-foot empty-nettor for the Hattie was so funny to me. Like, Jack is firing full-ey shots just to catch the, just to catch the sabres on the chin because he will not leave without that third goal. That full-ice empty-nettor for the Hattie, he might as well have skated to centered ice and whipped out his cock and pissed on the Buffalo logo.

But locked it on the logo. That was just, just rude good for him we're all rooting for you jack the whole office loves you and we can't wait to see you get 90 it's true uh all right so jack's over a point per game on jack like a watch tough to see where in the world is austin matthews this is an interesting one so the leaps are two and two

in their last four not bad not good secondly in the atlantic good stuff okay okay fine Austin has seven goals and eight assists for 15 points and 16 games he's under a point per game and he's just not looking like his normal self. I'm just saying he's a dash two on the season. So when Austin Matthews is out there on the ice, you're probably getting scored on. He doesn't look like he's loving it there in Toronto. They're doing okay, but there's cracks in the foundation.

Mitch Marner is, I mean, the poor kid needs to get some media training or something because he just finds himself inside of a little shoebox every time he talks to the media. Austin had that scrum a couple weeks ago. We don't need to unpack that again. But I'm just saying, Austin, I don't think he's in Canada. I don't think he's too far away, but I'm putting Austin in Duluth right now.

He's popped over from Michigan over to Minnesota. He's not necessarily more southern, but he is going a little more west. Okay, yeah, yeah. He's headed a little west. Went scoreless three straight. He had one the other night, but went scoreless three straight,

like you said, dash two against Pitt the other night too. Like, it's not, and dude, they're in second, but they have a game in hand. like six teams that are tied with them. Oh, yeah. Actually.

They are not comfortably in second. They are two losses from being out of the playoffs again. I'm just saying, you know, he's still up north. Don't worry. Don't worry, Toronto fans. He's still up north. But I'm just saying he's inching a little more west. And I think we all know what state is west.

What's where he's headed? Duluth's good hockey town, too. That's a nice place to be. Duluth is a great. He's going to go see a UMD Bulldogs game. You know, he's having fun over there. He's just checking out the scenery. So, yeah.

Good for Austin. Good for Austin. And it's good for him to, you know, just travel a little bit. So, yeah, he's still outside of Canada, and he's headed over to where the sun sets a little bit better. Okay, anything you're watching this week? Yeah, last but not least, our games to watch this week. I got two. I got one on Thursday like we're doing now.

I like this a lot. I'm going devil's leaps. Devils are hot. They look really, really good. We got two East Coast teams. It's going to be interesting to see how the Leafs handle this new, let's call it what it is. bit of a giant in the Eastern Conference right now. And then on Saturday, Vegas Oilers.

Sorry, that's just a fun, fun game. The two best players in the league, Connor McDavid and Jack Eichael. Listen, there's an argument for it. So I just think that's going to be a star-studded showdown on Saturday. Tune into that one for sure. Very cool. Thursday I'll give you Avs, Hurricanes.

Great game. Potential Stanley Cup preview if they had their druthers. Absolutely. That'll be a good one. And then Monday, Senator Sharks, Bedard Watch. Anyone interested? Just let's see. Wow.

Yeah, let's just watch a dumpster fire. Let's see who tanks harder. I'm into it. I like that a lot. I would love to see a game where they just come out. Guys are playing with opposite side sticks. Firing into each own in their own nets, dude. Just like racking up the points.

All right. Well, you love to see it. That's it for us this week at the Empty Nose Podcast. tune in to those games and then just keep following along with us guys and we'll see you next week. Later.