Empty Netters Podcast - 80. NHL Rule Changes, On Ice Sty, and the Rest of the Mail Bag with Jonny Laz

Episode Date: March 18, 2024

The boys are in Jackson Hole Wyoming for a hockey tournament and are joined by our good pal Jonny Lazarus for a special edition mail bag episode. As the boys prepare for their big weekend they discuss who has the best on-ice sty, who the biggest man rocket in the league is and potential rule changes we want to see. They also debate the weirdest pregame rituals, if/where Crosby could get traded to this off-season and the most memorable practice drills from their playing days! NEW EPISODES EVERY WEDNESDAY! SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuf52MHW1O7guPMzsMvv2kA FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/empty.netters/?hl=en FOLLOW US ON TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@empty.netters  (0:00) - Intro (0:21) - Jackson Hole Hockey Tournament (3:35) - Best On-Ice Sty in the NHL (4:49) - CP Thinks the NHL Should Wear Cages (6:42) - Pasta’s On-Ice Style (10:08) - Goalie Sty (14:03) - Full Sock Tape Job? (17:45) - Biggest Off-Ice Man Rocket (20:25) - Favorite Practice Drill (27:03) - Will Crosby Be Traded this Summer? (33:26) - What Fan Base has the Most Hypothetical Cups? (35:15) - Weirdest Pre-Game Ritual (41:34) - What Rule Change Do We Want to See? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, the boys are back. We've got another edition of the Empty Netters podcast here. We got Johnny Laz, the third empty netter, joining us today. We are all in Wyoming right now. We're in Jackson Hole. The three of us are playing in a hockey tournament here against the Jackson Hole Moose. And we wanted to get you guys an awesome episode of the podcast where the three of us are together. We're on the eve of playing in our first game.

And we're all, I'd say, a kind of. combination of excited and nervous, boys? Would you agree? I'm drunk. And drunk. But here's the problem. By the time this comes out, by the time this comes out, like when people are listening to this, I'm going to have a fractured jaw and three mid-feet fake teeth and like a black eye. But like right now I look fine. But by the time this comes out, I'm going to be dead. What's it going to take for one of you to scrap?

for me personally it would take just a level of shithousery from another player that it just cannot be cannot go unnoticed if or or without a response if someone is just in my face fucking with me so bad that I just can't ignore it then I will drop the gloves and get my shit pushed in willingly but I'll have to do something but there's no way I will instigate a fight. no chance. Honestly, though, we should get Blakey's opinion because we were sitting at dinner and we were like, is this a half shield vibe or a bubble vibe? Like, we don't really know, like, you can't like act tough and wear a bubble. That was also lunch, doc. That was lunch, yeah. Like, we don't want to go around saying we're going to fight, but like wear a full shield.

Like, but we also don't want to get our teeth knocked out. Yeah. It's a tough divide, you know. I mean, I feel like in this setting that you guys are going to, like, you're not going to, just your typical, you know, late night men's league game. Like, this is a legit competitive game. Yeah. I think you have to go with the halfie.

You do. No, Blake, don't say that. I can't. I'm not. I'm not paying $1,000 to get, like, Johnny and I have enough fake teeth combined that we don't need to add to the fucking dental bills. I'm not dealing with that. yeah just know that the chirps are going to be coming like hey cheese grater you know hey get that bird

bird cage off the off the dome it's but hey i always i have i have a very built-in chirp back whenever someone says that to me what is it when someone chirps me they go like nice bird cage nice cheese grater whatever i go i go like this dude you're the ugliest guy in the league it's easy for you to say i don't know you can do that johnny it crinkles people really oh yeah Like when I go like this, I go, buddy, you're ugly as fuck. Of course you're saying that. People immediately go like this. Wait, am I ugly as fuck?

And it's amazing. I've always loved the roll your window down and then talk to me. Yeah. Fuck. Yeah, that's good. That's good. Yeah. Well, listen, Dan and I are miced up this weekend.

So we'll see if he delivers the fucking, you're the other guy in the tournament. Well, if someone chirps me for wearing a bird cage, which I will be wearing. Yeah. You'll hear it. On the topic of gear style, to kick off our first question for the mailbag episode, we got a question for the boys. Best style in the league. Pick your own all-team style.

Oof. So are we doing like a... So give a, I guess, like a starting five and a goalie. So you're starting six. Okay. Starting lineup, best style in the league currently. Okay. Can we do a consensus starting five?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. I like that idea, CEP. For me, I don't want to be a, I don't want to target more old school guys in the league. But if you're not wearing a halfie, you can't play on my Stye team. I hate to say it. So like, I'm sorry, but guys like Maroon, Reeves, Matt Martin, like, you're out. Wait, you don't like the bear face? I hate it.

I think you look like an absolute clown. Great nails. Yeah, I love it. In five years, we're not going to have any of it. Yeah, good. You look like a dipshit. And I think the NHL should have cages. Like, I actually think it's a tragedy that the NHL doesn't have cages.

There's no, yeah, there's no need. There's no, like, everyone's like, oh, this guy, there's all those funny videos of, like, who the fuck was picking up his teeth this year? I think it was on the wild. I can't remember. but like there's all these videos of like oh so onsill's picking up his teeth and whatever ha ha ha and i'm like there's literally no need for this like maybe it's probably not cages it's probably bubbles it's probably bubbles is the answer but like it is a tragedy that we let nchl players wear a half shield and get their face fucked up there's just no reason for it it's

ridiculous there's been a legit argument like whether badard should play the rest of the year with the bubble or not that's the rest of his career with a bubble people are saying like his points with a bubble versus points without a bubble or like a significant difference that he should just wear the bubble. Yeah, he's playing like he feels safer and I get it. He doesn't need to worry about his jaw getting shattered by an open ice hit anymore. It makes sense. And like why should players be worried about that? Why should you be like, oh shit, I might get my jaw broken by a elbow? Yeah, but that's what makes hockey hockey. Like what is the other sport? Not not till the end though. We all grew up not with that. Like including everyone in the league. Like they play hockey wasn't that.

And then you get to the league and they're like, this, get your jaw shattered. And I'm like, not going to lie. I got my front 14th knocked out in junior and I never felt cooler in the first week. I got to get fucking sick. And then obviously, we realize it's permanent and it sucks. But like that first week is like, damn, like, I'm hot. I'm the man. Yeah, I'll be honest, week or like day six of eating food through a straw.

I was like, this isn't that cool. I didn't like it anymore. And you missed time. Like, it's like you guys were out for a while. Like, it's not cool. Okay. I'm going to go into my first nominee. This is tough.

Like I said, this is tough because, like, we've obviously got off-ice style. There's guys who are great with their pregame suits who are known for that. And this one has a good crossover for me. I think pasta has great on ice gearwear. I think the slight visor tint is great. I love his unique T.J. It's weird on the blade. It's weird on the knob.

It's kind of a swaggy vibe. I think number 88 is swaggy as shit. I like everything that pasta puts out there. That would be my first nominee. I like that. I don't know if you guys will agree. It's been more noticeable the last week because he's, you know, I got traded to the Rangers.

But Alex Wenberg fucking nasty sty, dude. Also a tinted on the ice, not off. And he's a good looking dude. Yes, he is. Fembourg stye is 11 out of 10 for sure. And it's like an underrated. like good sty because he's not a big name in the NHL but since he got traded

to the Rangers it's been like very noticeable for me obviously so yeah I would say so I want to hit a left I like that actually I want to hit a left wing but I there's an asterisk I think Ovi is a B actually I don't know his off but this is

mostly on ice I think I don't really know Ovi's swag C.P. Cook I love this I don't really know it I don't really know his on or excuse me his off ice like entrance. I haven't really seen his suit, so maybe, but I don't even know if that counts. But the asterisked I wanted to talk about was he used to have the tinted. I know he doesn't anymore because Marty Brederbitched about it like a bitch. But OV. dude, fucking toe flapping out the ass, fucking yellow laces laying wood on everybody. He actually looks sick as hell out there.

And I am very down. Like he created a, Dan knows, Dan Powers knows that I used to wear yellow laces like my whole career and I stopped because OV stole it. Like he, I was, I'm fucking 10 years older than Ovi. I was doing it before Ovi, but then he started doing it and was putting up 70 a year. And I was like, I actually can't do this anymore because now it's Ovi's thing. And if you create a look in the national, then that's kind of swaggy. So I actually want to give Ovi my left wing and it would be a no brainer if he still had the tinted.

I know he doesn't anymore, but that would, that would really be the cherry on top. CPL also give you, he, he rocks the. big back plate on the pants, which I love it. It's kind of a natural jersey tuck. And he's got the front of pants laces tie that also like hangs down to the bottom of his pants. That was a thing. That's a thing. Yeah. Like he's got Stai. I love that OV pick a lot. Everyone was like, you know, I remember like when you try out for a new team, you'd make the team, you get your pants that give you the laces. Yeah. Everyone would go by the 108 inch laces, right? Yeah. Oh yeah. A little bit longer. Like that was that was for sure a thing.

I actually have a question for you guys about like a left wing sty. Because I can't tell if like Matthew Kachuk has good sigh or not. Like he kind of gives me like a Steph Curry vibe with the mouth. Yes, dude. Yes. But I don't know if it's like sick or like he's just good. So it looks better. And like maybe it's not that sick.

Can I mean? Yes. I personally don't. I don't have a problem with it. But it doesn't register for me in a positive way. I'm not looking at Kachuk like, damn, the kid looks good out there. I kind of, I'm like, he looks fine. I have no problem with the mouth guard shoe, which is so hypocritical of me because I hate the

Steph Curry mouth guard chew. But the way Matt, Matthew Kachuk does it, I'm kind of like, yeah, whatever, that's cool. I have no issue. I think that's my final answer. I'm like, do you? But I'm also not blown away by it. I've got a goalie nominee, if you guys will hear me. I got one right after.

Go for it. Blake, okay, Blake, I care more about your opinion because obviously as the resident tendee here in this group, I want to know what you have to say. My, my, I think for me, your pads speak volumes. Like that is where you get to shine the most and not I've already nominated a Boston Bruin. So I'm not going to say Linus Olmark, but I do want to give Linus Olmark a shout out. He has great pads. I'm going marquee. I think Jacob Markstrom is a swaggy tendy.

I think he always has a great set of pads. And then maybe more importantly, his helmet game is always on point. His mask is fire. And Markstrom's a big boy, got a good solid number. I really love everything Markstrom's doing. The flames colors. And, you know, this is a guy who loved Mika Kippersoft for a long time. It's hard to look dope with that orange, red, and yellow combo.

Those are a lot of loud colors. And Markstrom always looks dope. I like his gear wear. Yeah, he's got some, like his masks. in particular. He had this one Johnny Cash mask that I think he wore this season. Oh, sick. Just mint.

Sick. But I'm knocking points on you, Dan. Right now, Markey is rocking all white gear, and I hate all white gear. Do you? Yeah, all white gear is so boring. Yeah, it's like, guys, come on. Let's make, like, we can go all white here and there once in a while, but that can't be the thing you're wearing all the time. Okay, that's fair. That's fair.

My nominee right now, currently this season, is Jake Ottinger. I think Bauer has got an advantage over some other brands with the way they've been able to implement these digital prints on the pads. Another runner up for me would be Frederick Anderson. He doesn't wear Bauer, but he's always got these really nice sets. But I think it starts and ends with the bucket. You've got to have a good mask every single game, even if it's a good. It's those one-off games. Like that is where a goalie really makes, you know, his image.

So, yeah, I think Ottinger is my current up there as our best die currently. I like it. I dig it a lot. I'm having a hard time with this one, to be honest. I've got another one. I'm going to keep going if you guys will let me. Do it. Okay, I'm giving a veteran shout out here, a personal friend shout out to.

I knew it. Sometimes I think there's a, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I love Drew Dowdy's vibe. Oh, yeah. Thank you, Blake. Dowdy still rocks the Bauer 4,500, the greatest bucket ever made. No, he switched to it. So he had this massive warrior deal, and then he switched to the 4,500 last season.

Was that last season? No, that was more than just last season. No, dude, it was just last season. Wow. Okay, even more points. So, yeah, when I started working for the Kings and I was doing the game used gear for them, he was rocking the Warriors, and then last season switched the 45. Love that. Okay. So Dewey's rocking the 4,500, still best bucket in the game. I just love, you know, hasn't got a flipper in. He rocks the no teeth, clean visor. He's got great jersey length, great pants length, great tape job. Everything about Dewey is like classic and he just nails it. And of course, he's having one of the best seasons he's had in a long time. He is like the clean. Despite his, you know, no teeth vibe, the,

the hockey flow in the 4,500 with his just crisp gear, the now classic and iconic number eight in that king sweater, everything about Dewey is very crisp. So I love that. I love that on the back end. I'd say that no teeth helps. Oh, 100%. That's what I'm saying.

Like, it is a great look. Just to a wrap on this topic, last kind of question I'm going to throw it to you guys. What are our thoughts on the full sock tape job? What do you mean by full sock? Like top to bottom? Like Patrick Sharp, like up the shaft. Yeah, so we're kind of going to start.

Have you not seen my stick? Yeah, yeah. I turned it for it. Sorry. You mean, you mean, sorry. I miss the, the, the, the TJ part. Like, you mean on the stick. Like, full sock stick, TJ?

Yes. Go straight to jail, dude. Dust. Dust. Fucking putrid, dude. Dust. So bad. Yeah, I'm pretty sure you chirp mine already.

I did. I hated it. I absolutely hated it. Um, okay. So, you guys are. really helping me out here but I like I love pasta I like Dewey I like Marky and I love Ottinger um he's also a right wing I think but let's be honest dude he does it up he he he does it he I just got to say though he does it off the ice and on the ice and he

deserves a shout out like his his on ice gear wear is so so clean um I personally I love jack Ikel style too mm-hmm to these days rocking a single digit I know I just gave this to Do we rocking a single, single digit number is hard these days. They're so iconic for so many teams. Jack ripping around in number nine in Vegas. He's got the jersey little, this little move, I'm putting my mic down for it. Yeah. Does the jersey pull up over the elbow pads?

He's always got the chain flopping out of his uniform. What's that? Hooch does that too, I think. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I think Ix is good. But if we need another defenseman. Sirichella's I feel like in Tampa

I really love Sergi style I love Sergi style a lot I like I don't necessarily want to go back to Dallas but I love Miro style Quinn's pretty solid

but Quinn's pretty clean No no I don't like dude Quinn no Quinn is Quinn is on his own planet and that's awesome and I'm happy for him but like he

Quinn is not stylish he is not charismatic at it. Quinn is just Quinn. Excuse me. And I don't ever want him to change. And he's one of the best investment in the league. But Quinn is... Excuse me. Did you see his Armesz jacket at All-Star? Dismissed. Quinn is Quinn. And that's fine. Uh, possible answers for me. Um, for the same reason you said, Dewey, Dan, Brett Burns. Um, he, he is like the, the woodsman. He's a, he's a Sasquatch. But like, I kind of like that in my D guy. He's missing a couple teeth, too, eh? Like, right?

Like, and he's got the fucking huge beard. I love the early Brett Burns pictures, Brent Burns pictures of, like, when he had nothing, short hair, no beard. You know, the way he looks now. So ridiculous. I know you hate the number five, Dan, but I like Tangor because he's, what,

58? Yeah, like, just like owned 58. And I'm like, hell yeah, dude. Yeah, and the tuck. And, like, he's got a little flow. Like, I can fuck with Tangor. And his knob goes, like, down half the stick. Yeah, like, what the fuck?

But I love it. that I do hate his bucket he's got like the Bauer 5,000 bucket but you know I'll give him a couple passes that's fine I can't tell you know he has a good stire if he just like oh dude yeah or if he's just hot yeah but he's just hot he's just hot oh he's got great sty I like that one like sometimes the C I'm pretty sure he rocks a CCM bucket and that doesn't look good on everybody but it looks great on him I think Yos could be a good answer for this good call johnny all right well this is a similar topic and now we're going off the ice now we're going Sorry, we're on the ice.

Now we're going off the ice. Who is your biggest man rocket in the NHL? Let's just go one for each of us. Johnny already said it. Alex Wenberg. Done. Move on. That's yours, Dan?

Yeah. And I'm sorry, Tom Wilson. I love you. You're a close number two. But Wenberg, Wenberg frustrates me because I'm like, what are you doing, dude? Like, you don't belong in the NHL

because you're not allowed to be this good at multiple things. Wenberg is like frustratingly good looking. I guess I should have phrased this question. Who do we want to be wearing a cage going forward? Ledberg. Put a bubble on right now. You can't mess up that face. My pick was going to be Tom Wilson.

I love that guy's look. And do you see the other night, he wore one right to the face, and he's like doing his post-game interview. Emotional when he's talking about a loss in his family, but just, yeah, a missile. Dude, Blakey Willey's one of those. guys, he's like a Game of Thrones character where I feel like battle scars on the on the mug almost make him look better. Like he wears it so well. I think he gets credit around my area, but I don't know if he gets enough credit like nationally. I think Barzies is a stud. Oh my God. Absolutely.

Good one. Yeah. Shout out Emily Binder. Uh, almost Friday, almost Friday employee used to rep the pod. O.G. Netters, listeners, remember Emily. Emily loves Barsey, dude. Like every time we're on the road, he's like, yo, get Barcy my number. Yeah, he's just like, people around here, love him. And he's, and I've met him a couple of times. He's a really good. Oh, yeah, he's the best. Yeah, like, at all.

He was behind me at the bar with Nylander, and he yelled at the bartender, like, get this guy a drink. Do you know who he is? Like, in Toronto, it was pretty fine, but he's. That's sick. I'm normally a contrarian in situations like this, but I wouldn't sleep tonight if no one in this panel said Yosi. So I'm going Yossi because he deserves his flowers.

Fucking missile, dude. Missile. Guys, I'm not going to lie. I think we might have just nailed the Mount Rushmore. Yeah, that might be the four hottest dudes in the league. Like, that was well done. Because Hank retired. Because Hank retired.

So we had Willie, Tom Wilson. Yeah. Sorry, Dan. Who did you say? Wenberg. Alex Wenberg. You absolute asshole. Bum.

Yosey. and then Johnny Barzzi Yeah I think that's a pretty That's a pretty good one It's a good Mount Rushua All right next question What is your most

Fun drill that you can remember Doing in practice Whether it be in junior Or just in youth hockey growing up I love this question so much Me too dude It's like a full ice drill It starts with the two on O

The two lines or the blue lines You make like one pass One guy shoots Then a defenseman steps out You go two on one And then you come back the other way, three on two. And then the guy who I think shoots it gets a breakaway after.

So it's like a two on zero, two on one, three on two breakway. That's clean. I like that. Clean drill. I don't know the name of mine either. But that was always fun. I don't know the name of mine either, so don't worry about it. Okay, mine was all the, so I played defense and all the forwards were lined up in the corner on one end.

And all the defensemen were lined up on the far blue line facing. that corner. Okay. And the drill would start, whistle would blow, and the defenseman had to skate to the other blue line, pivot to backwards, and come back. And on that same whistle, the forwards in the corner would go with a puck. And it was just a one-on-one. And it was a drill for the defenseman to get to the other blue line pivot and then get back

in time to be, you know, equal with the forward in a one-on-one. Because you guys are starting skating forward. forwards just like full head of steam. And it was supposed to be a transition drill for the defense. Like work on your transitions, get back in time. And I just, it was a good challenge. I loved the drill. I loved it like,

because sometimes you get a great forward who has had fucking wheels. And it was like, okay, I got to bust my ass to that blue line and get the pivot. Other times you'd get a guy who had square wheels. And it was fucking awesome getting a pivot and being right in their face and being like, you are a fucking slow as shit. It was so awesome.

Very high competitive drill. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's funny about that one, CP. I don't know if you were going to chime in about that drill. No, go, go, go, go. I'm going to say, like, I remember, like, as a younger kid, like, doing hockey camps and stuff, you know, you remember, like, you'd get on the line and, like, see where the deer lined up and, like, oh, three, four. That fucking pile on, dude, I'll take the pile on at four.

Like, you line up where you stood in lines so you could burn the defenseman, like that. Hondo P, dude. Yeah. Okay. Are you guys okay if I give two? because one was my favorite for fun and one was I thought was just a good drill for conditioning. Yeah, for sure.

So the conditioning was there are two, there's a line on the four in zone dots, right? So like, you know, in zone dot here, in zone dot here. And like we're playing and these guys are playing. And so you would go like this, you would sprint. This was the conditioning one. You'd sprint from your dot, from the face off dot in zone to the top of the circle on the other zone. that's where you'd stop, even though they're lined up at the dot.

So you know, whatever, five feet or something. So you'd stop at the top of the circle. And when you stop, you'd come back and the guy in the dot would take off after you. And he's trying as hard as he can to catch you. And there's a reward if he catches you. So he's racing after you. But then he also has to stop at the top of this faceoff circle because the dot guy is going after him. So you're gassing yourself trying to catch this guy.

But then like the dot dude is chasing you back at it. I don't know if I did this. Dude, it was gnarly. We did it at Duke. And it's like, you owed push-ups and all this bullshit. You know, there was like a lot of punishments. But like, it was just such a good, not too long of a sprint. It's not red goal line to goal line, but like it was a good sprint and like good risk

reward trying to save some energy, whatever, a little bit of a head start. Like all the incentives were there. All the advantages were there. Really fun conditioning drill. Here's my favorite fun drill. Lines in opposite corners. Okay. and two coaches just behind the goal line on each net,

you would stand in front of the net, like you'd be like, you know, a blocker side. Coach would pass it to you, one T. Slide over here. Coach passed it to you, one T. And then the coach would pass to the dude in the corner on a, on a breakout. And he would go on a breakaway.

And you'd be back, after your two one T's, you'd back check against him and then just get in line. You'd just back check hard, like throw a stick at him. He would take his breakaway shot. Stop. One T, one T, one T, back check. and a just never-ending cycle of, yeah, sick.

Low-key conditioning drill for the coaches. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, true. Blakey, what did you like as a goalie? Yeah, so as a goalie, I honestly loved practice. Like, I really look forward to practice because you were guaranteed to get, you know, like over 500 shots, what did you say? Hardo. Yeah, like you said, it got lit up because that was true.

You know, I loved practice. Like I would get there early. I mean, I was always with a goalie coach too, so he kind of had to be there early. But like I would love to get there early and then also stay late. Staying late, the best drill, rebound. No question about it. Unless you're just doing a straight shootout. But in practice, kind of flow type drill, again, I don't know if there's a name for it.

But it was kind of a drill where the forward comes out of the corner for kind of like a walkout shot. That forward then becomes the net front. guy puck goes up the wall to the Dman Dman walks the line tip drill then that turns into a um there's another four that comes out of that the other corner same thing then it becomes a double screen for the tip and then that turns into a breakout into a two on one same thing you got a two on one coming back down the other way so just a really game like situation and and also like a very battle like drill not a specific battle drill but um and then also just doing PK power play like I absolutely loved I love being the goalie to set up the breakout.

Then I also love being the goalie getting sheled. Blakey, we used to call that first one. Just we, in up in Maine, we used to call that the hockey drill. Because it was, that was the drill that was like, this is hockey. This is the most in-game scenario drill ever. I fucking love that. Blakey, you didn't like, you didn't like end of practice shootout competition for three hours. No, I loved it.

I love shootouts. Dude, I was like, whenever I remember hearing. the story about Lundquist doing breakways in warm-ups, and then I started doing that in my own warm-ups, too, and guys were like, do you sure, do you want me to like try and score or just shoot it at you? I'm like, yeah, try and fucking score. Did you guys see Kachetkov in Carolina called Spetchikoff and, uh, and, uh, and Kuzi? So good. So next question is a little more hockey topical, uh, I guess for the off season, but will

Crosby be traded this summer? And if so, where to? I don't want to spend too much. time on this because we've spent plenty of time on it on the pod in the last several months. Pittsburgh fans, your passionate bunch, and I love you for it. All I will say is, Sidney Crosby is the greatest player of our generation. It's been an absolute joy to watch and play, and he is a Pittsburgh legend. He is the heartbeat of the Penguins franchise and the heartbeat of that city. if he were to ask for a trade, which is what it would take for him to be moved.

He would be well within his rights, and I would totally support it. And I could see him going to the obvious Colorado Avalanche. I could also see him heading back home to Montreal. That is all I will say. Let me just jump in because, Dan, you're right. We've talked about this enough. Las, I want to give you the floor here because I haven't heard from you on this topic. do you as a as a rangers fan as a met fan you know but but as a hockey fan overall if i told you

the or i don't have to tell you anything the penguins are the penguins you know exactly what their situation is and their projections anything can happen but like the projections of the penguins next few years feeling like crosbie has like three years left as a hockey fan dude straight up what would you like to happen to say dan and i have sounded off on this enough but like genuinely asking you, what would you like to happen to sit for the next three years? I mean, I think anyone who wants Sid to compete in the playoffs, right? Exactly. You know, I think it'd be weird to see him not in a penguin's jersey.

And while I think, like, something that separates hockey from other sports is that loyalty to a certain franchise. You know, I would like, it's not like he's chasing a championship. Yeah. Right? Like, I don't want to say, like, it'd be not hypocritical, but it'd be like almost a coward move to join Colorado and win a cup because, like, Colorado's nasty, you know? Like, he's not KD, right? Like, yeah. It's not if you can't beat him, join him thing. Like, part of me, and again, I feel like there's nothing to compare it to because he's already won and, like, has established. his legacy forever.

Like I don't think it's Gretti going anymore. I don't think it's Ray Bork going to Colorado. Like I think it's its own thing and that's what's kind of unique and fun about it where Crosby can go anywhere and I think it wouldn't be shamed if that makes sense. Yeah.

Absolutely. I think just to jump in Johnny, I love the KD comparison you just made. Because I feel like there's so many people who kind of jump on that. Crosby doesn't need to cup chase. He doesn't need to ring chase. And that shit drives me insane because I'm like, dude, if you are still playing at a top 10 to 20 player in the NHL caliber

and the team you're on is consistently missing playoffs and looking at a rebuild, there's nothing wrong with going, I would like to compete still. I'd like to play in the playoffs. So it's not ring chasing. That's identifying that you're still an elite player and you want to play at the highest level. So I think fans who are screaming about that need to fucking relax and get a grip. And also, hockey is so different from basketball, man.

Like when Katie joined the Golden State Warriors, it was a borderline certainty that they would be in the final and win. And yeah, and Sidney Crosby, if he were to join the Colorado Avalanche, that is not a guaranteed Stanley Cup at all. There's so many great teams. And obviously he didn't this year. But it just, I can't stand the, the, the, the, the, the, the, ring chasing comments when it comes to Crosby possibly leaving. Part of me, though, would also, like, again, I don't think he'd be competitive there. But, like, I don't remember much of, like, the Mario Crosby days.

Like, I was young. So, like, a part of me would love to see the Crosby Boudard thing. Oh, damn, dude. I don't know if that's necessarily good for the league, but I think it'd be cool to watch, like, you know, the, the handing or passing of the torch or some sort. Team Canada the next year. Celebrini, Bedard, Crosby, line one in Chicago next year. I mean, I think they're all centers.

Yeah, they are. They are. Yeah, whatever. You play like. I think there's something cool about that, like, out with the old and with the new vibe. But I don't know how, like, really exciting that would be just for the league as a whole. Yeah. Yeah.

I think it would be beneficial to his legacy. Like, yeah, another. four cups compared to three cups, obviously four is better. But I think for his legacy, like say he stays in Pittsburgh and he becomes kind of like the nostradamus to all the young guys that are coming in and that Dubus is going to start to bring in. And he kind of mentors that group and sets them up for success and then they get a cup, say, 10 years from now.

And they all credit Crosby's mentorship and leadership to that future hypothetical cup. I think that would be more impactful to his, his legacy than a fourth cup on a new franchise. I will say though, dude, no matter what hypothetical cups get credited to Crosby, him finishing his year. No, but that's, I think it's a cool thought, but I'm saying,

if he plays four more years and misses the playoffs every year on Pittsburgh, it is a tragedy. As cool as any hypothetical cup, the Penguins would win, that Crosby mentor, which I actually think is a cool thought. I just think Crosby finishing the last four years of his career on the Penguins missing the playoffs is a tragedy.

If he goes to Montreal because it would feel good for him and misses the playoffs, fucking fine. But if he stays on the Penguins for four more years and never makes the playoffs again, a disservice was done to hockey fans, in my opinion. I couldn't agree more with you, Chris. I think it would be, I think people would look back and go, what a shame that was.

C.P. You can ask the question while you brought it up? Sorry. He just came to my mind. Which NHL franchise leads the league in hypothetical cups? The New York Rangers. Or the Leafs. The Leaves, the Lease, the Lease.

Definitely the Leafs. This is our year, dude, the Leafs. I like the Leafs of Matt Dan and I like, this is unfair, but the Cains have just been like, like, we're in the Instagram. Like, I'm like, you guys are so. sick and I'm like you're fucking terrible. I like that. Dude, honestly,

Loki Boston has a ton of. Fuck you. No, no, no. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. 100% Laz. Thank you for saying that. Fucking Boston,

dude. I've said this a million times, maybe not on the podcast. That's so not true. Boston talks about two. No, fuck you. Boston talks about two

and there are two cups that they were in. They go, if we had won those two cups. At least they were in the Stanley Cup final. But Dan, but Dan, but those are hypothetical cups. And Dan, again, it's two.

And the Leafs talk about every single season they exist. So those aren't even comparable. Over. I disagree. Dan's wrong. Dude, the two we lost and then like last year, best record of all time,

L. the fucking right after the first cup in 11, President's trophy, L to the caps in game seven, first fucking round. Like that. No one's talking about cups those years, you brain dead idiot.

Yes, we are. Do we win the president's trophy? Dude, that core winning one cup is a tragedy. It's hilarious. It's truly hilarious how stupid you are, Chris. I'm all on board for the hypothetical Bruins Cups. You're a hypothetical dynasty in the last decade. There are hypothetical Bruins Cups, no question.

But if we're going to say that there's more than the Leafs, then you guys need to take a fucking... Yeah, Leaves, Leaves, Lees win, least win. Get out of here. All right, cool, guys. Getting into our next question here, a little similar to Crosby. Weirdest pregame rituals you've ever seen. Oh, okay.

I want to shout out my boy. Well, this is barely a ritual, I guess, but my boy Tommy Olson grew up with me and Dan, a great hockey player. He played prep at Bridgeton and a kid on his Bridgeton team. This is ridiculous. And maybe you guys know guys like this, but no matter what, before every game puked two times, he would go to the bathroom, go to the locker, boot, start getting halfway dressed, get pants on, boot again. And then be ready to go.

And there were games where he said he couldn't boot the second time. He was like freaking out. So like they'd be all dressed ready to go out for the game. And he would run to the bathroom just and like make himself puke just to hit his two boots pregame. Very fucking weird. But whatever works, baby. Feel light. Feel light.

I got two. One is a guy I played juniors with. And every single home game. he would go and get two large meatball subs and gas, both of them in the locker room before the game. And I was always like, I remember the first game. I was like, how in the world are you not going to hurl both of those all over the ice? The other one is a guy in the NHL right now, who I will not name.

And no, Johnny, it is not who you're thinking it is, who would pregame, get to the locker room about hour and a half to two, hours early, take a shower, a whole tub, take another shower, and then put his headphones on and sit or walk around the locker room butt naked for like an hour before the game. I don't even know who you think that I was thinking of, but I love that. It was so funny. Like, because he would be just strolling around the locker room, butt naked, headphones on, doing his thing.

And we were like, yeah, that's his vibe. But it was absolutely preposterous. I can't think of one that I've like seen for the most part I always kind of I don't want to say I did my own thing in warm up like I was always different I played a lot of sewer but then I kind of just like wandered off my own

but I've heard well actually you guys would know better than me I have heard and I've noticed it like covering the Rangers Crider gets off with like 10 minutes left in warm up and I've heard that he gets gets fully undressed. Yeah, he sure does.

Like before the game starts. I don't know if it's in intermission too, but I heard he takes everything off, like after a warmup and then just gets redress. Yeah. Which I don't know. You know, I've never seen it. Dude, isn't that tapped, bro?

Like, I can't believe that move. Yeah, I don't know. Like, that's the only one NHL that I've heard is different from most. I know there was like a rumor that Marlowe used to like cold tub in between periods, right? Yep. Our boy Bobby Ryan did that one night. Really?

Yeah, yeah. When he had a tough night the night before, the next day at the game, he would cold tub between periods. No way. Yeah. I was trying for that. It's ridiculous, dude. But, Las, last, last, last, last, last, tell if you're okay with it.

Tell everyone your five and a half minute. Oh, yeah. I'm okay with it. You guys both know. I'm a big little Dickie fan. Like, he's my idol. I love him. So I think I think this rap came out like maybe my junior year of college.

And it was like like literal like five minute on the dot like freestyle. So whenever the five minute 30 second mark would hit like till warm up, I'd throw on little Dickies freestyle in the morning. Yes. Oh my God. That is such a good freestyle. Before every game, Blakey, every game. I can't wait to bring it out tomorrow night.

Tomorrow, dude. Wait, wait. I don't get it though. When would you put that? on so so the clock we'd have a clock in our locker room like telling us like okay sorry sorry i get mixing the clock up for on i was like what are you asking like the the person playing the warm up in the rink yeah no no no my own headphones but like the clock would run down like obviously like you know 20 minute mark it's like everyone starts kind of getting ready after you stretch

and then like it gets down to five and a half and i know it's like a five minute wrap so i have 30 seconds put my helmet on get my gloves on grab my stick and walk out so at 530 i'd pull up YouTube throw on the little diggy freestyle and then I give myself like 30 seconds to I love it my my last one that I'll give you guys and then we can move on my personal one is in my last years of competitive hockey I would every single game I would tape my stick take all the tape off and then tape it again it's such a waste of it or even went out and money dude it was like it was a weird like it was one of those things like I did it one game I was looking at it I didn't like it I took it off.

I redid it and I had like two goals and an assist and that I just did it every, the biggest waste of tape in the world. He did it. He did it one time, had one secondary and he was like, I got to do this every game from now. Chris, a wrong secondary too. It wasn't even mine. Dude, I will say, I will say that kid Tommy Olson I was talking about earlier. Me and him have a 20 step, had a 20 step handshake.

We would do every game before, before puck. Like, we've been the last two out, bang, 20 step handshake. We both step out. And I guarantee, if I, I, I see Tommy all the time, but we haven't done that handshake in 15 fucking years. But I guarantee if both of us tried to rip that right now, we could do it easily. I guarantee, I would, I'll bet a hundred bucks right now that no, you could not. I will put that, I'll put that on video with Tommy, Dan, this summer. You could, but I'll bet a hundred bucks right now.

Dan, film that this summer, dude. Call me out this summer. And Tommy, I know you're going to fucking listen to this. This summer, me and Tommy, no, no practice. What's so funny, C.P. is you're famous for this. No one on earth gives a fuck about this story except you. And I'm so glad you're telling it, but it'll be great.

I'll do a good punishment. I'll do a good punishment if I'm wrong. All right. Last question for this episode. What rule change or new rule would you like to see implemented in the NHL? LTIR, LTIR, LTIR, LTIR. Okay, I have one that's going to be controversial and I'm ready to go with it. But if you guys want to go first, because this is going to be so fucking hated, then you can go.

But if you want me to just take it, do it. Come out the gate. Go. All right, dude. I'm going to, oh, I lost this. Hold on. So my coach at Duke, Brent Selman, legend. He texted us this.

He texted us this. No, but what? You're on your stupid glory day stories, Chris. Get to the fucking point. I just want you to hear what he said. We did, Dan, remember? Fuck, what was it? Me and Dan, you and I did a post years ago.

I guess probably like a year ago. That was like a dumb rule. I literally can't remember what we were talking about. I don't know if you do. But we said we were like raging about something being a dumb rule. And Selman, my old coach, he texted me because he's the man. And he was like, dude, here's a rule I think is stupid.

And he gave me a whole argument. And I didn't like it at first, but I was like, actually, I don't hate that. And I'm ready to get skewered for this. He says being allowed to ice it on the PK is bullshit. I've heard this. Let it sink in. Let it sink in. And his argument is this. A, the minor argument is it's like confusing to new fans because

they're like, why is that what's happening? Why can you do that? But his bigger argument was like, dude, it's that's, the same reason they change the fucking change up rule. It's like that's the coward's way out. If you ice it all the way down, then fuck you. It's coming right back here and we're taking a face off and going. It increases power play ozone pee time, which everybody wants to see. Everybody wants to see that. Everyone wants more power play goals. Power play goals, the best power play in the league is what, 25% except for the oldest last year, which were 50.

But like, you know. That's the average now, 25. So what is it? Like 30. 33, 35 now? Yeah. So what do you think it would go to last? If I deleted allowing to ice, would it go to 37, 40?

It should. But my point is it's like, oh, okay, but that's my point. I don't think it would go to 4550. I think it would go up a couple percent of times. You're nuts. It would go so much higher. Not if you have a good face off guy on the PK. You know what I mean?

Like you can win that face off. So obviously it kills a ton of time. I get that for sure. But I actually thought that was a really interesting take because it is the panic move. And you're down. That's why it's allowed. Obviously, I get it. I'm not an idiot.

But I just, I'm interested in that. And I'll stop there. What's your guys take? Think about the five on three though, too. Killer, dude. Yeah, good call. Like you are fucked. If you can't ice the fuck.

It's a go. That, dude, Johnny, five on three power plays would go up to 80%. Yeah, they should. I would allow you, I would allow a change on the PK. Like, you know, how you can't change even strength if you ice it? If you ice it on the PK, it still comes back down, but you can change. Still, listen, I don't think it's dumb. Sorry, Johnny, keep going, keep going. No, no, I was, I was trying to comprehend that. My one thing about the power play PK thing, I think it'd be interesting. If you score when you're on the PK, your guy comes out of the box. Oh, yeah. I've seen that too. I've seen that too.

I think that's sick. I would 100% do that. That's fucking. So what I think, I don't think it's dumb, Chris. I don't think it's dumb at all. I think it adds a different element of the game. But I do think it would drastically change things more than you think. Because what I take, I take umbrage with the panic move label. Because I don't think that's a panic move. I think it's just a good play.

If you're a defensive player or a penalty killer, like it's a good play. And it would just so brutally change the way you play on the penalty kill if you can't ice it. because now we're trying to eat it way more often because you're not what are you going to make a d zone pass that's a stupid thing to do five on five if it's not the cleanest pass in the world and when you're a man down that makes it so complicated so i just think it would just get so brutal like guys would have to learn how to take fucking sand wedges out of the zone and drop it into the neutral zone and then you can't even really change up i just think it would it would make power play goals go way up and not be entertaining but i'm not sure i'm ready for that um one that i have always found very interesting i think if you

have a delayed penalty and you score on said delayed penalty, it should not negate the penalty. That's that's college. College does that. They do? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My last game at UMass, we played Maramac, I took three penalties.

And on two of the penalties that I took, they scored in a delayed penalty. And then you still had to walk to your legs in the box. Yeah. Yeah. And then I went back to the bench and I parked my ass the end of the. mentioned I knew I was never playing yet. Yeah. I think that that is a, I would love to see that rule in the NFL.

Yeah, I agree with that. I was trying to think outside the box and granted, but let's all take into account that we've had about three shots of bourbon and like three beers each. So I wanted to be like a little bit creative with this. And I obviously went last so I had more time. I know I know the shootout is probably like never going to go. So I was trying to think of like a way to increase that. that what if like before the game,

each team had to like submit a list of 10 players that are eligible for the shootout and the opposing goalie got to pick three players for the other team. Oh, sick. Sick. Call out a guy. Mental warfare, Johnny. I mean, they did it in the skills comp.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like McDavid, I think picked Georgia. I think George have won. Like what if like, dude, wait, wait, wait, but last, last. Okay.

Hold on. me just riff on your riff here, okay? I think it's probably not a good idea, but like... No, no, this is sick. Okay, so each team, every, before the game, a team submits 10 players, all right? And then the goalie gets to pick three guys. He goes, he looks to listen, he goes, these three guys. Okay, but...

But not before the game, like, if it goes to a shootout. Yeah, sure, sure. But I'm saying this, on that list of 10 guys, okay, the team gets to put a star, next to five of them, three of them. Okay? So they make a list of 10, but they put a secret star next to three of them. So then it goes to a shootout,

and the goalie gets to pick. So he's like, this guy, this guy, and this guy. If he picks a guy that had a star, that guy gets to ask for the backup goalie. So you can't just pick, you can't just pick the worst three dudes because those, you probably put the star next to those three dudes.

Because he's like, this bitch, you then I get the back of goalie. Crazy fuck, yes. A great moment to let people get into the sick fuck brain that Chris has. Riff on your riff, dude. Johnny, great idea.

Chris just makes it way more complicated and unnecessarily unnecessarily convoluted. It'd be so easy to look at the shootout percentages. Like the goal would be like, him, him and him, obviously. They're the worst guys. But I'm like, did I put a star next to that guy, bitch? Maybe I'm getting the fucking backup now.

Coming cold and trying to fucking stop me, Julie, the cat so fucking we'll see what happens i still think if it goes past like 10 rounds in a shootout you just set out the captains through rock paper scissors one of one at center ice handopi i think we can all agree let's all get that uh let's get rid of uh delay of game over the glass and then we can move on yeah christ i don't i don't johnny come on dude if you're if you're yeah why don't you like it yeah i think it's a good rule if you're hemmed in your own zone for like a minute and a half, you just send that shit out. Like, I actually, I hear that.

Like, when it's done like that, I get it. But there are so many examples. I would say over 50% are so accidental. And I just think it's so down. There needs to be an involuntary rule because straight up, like, sometimes you're swinging your stick. Like someone like a puck gets chipped and you, that guy literally swings his stick and just hits and goes out.

And I know you're introducing like, yeah, it is, dude. Yeah, dude. No, no, Chris, you're wrong. Like if you're, well, hold on, hold on. on. We're getting, we're getting confused. Like, Chris, you're not saying if someone, like, if there's a puck in the air or like someone kind of moves errantly and it goes out, that is not a penalty. But I agree with CP. Like, sometimes there's a play where someone has all the time in the world and they're trying to just like chip one over the zone and they just get too much of it and it goes out

and they're like, delay of game. And that one is called. And I think that that's stupid. But you guys are right. When you're hemmed in and you're panicking and you just try to rip one off the glasses as it goes out. I like that. But I'm telling you, it's like borderline 50% of them are definitely not panic moves. It's like a complete accident and it drives me nuts. But dude, like the fucking biggest cop out in hockey is when in doubt, glassing out. Yeah. I agree. I agree. And you like that you should get, yeah, you should. I hear you. I just think there are so many examples when it's like, it's not a panic. And I'm like, oh, that's so stupid. Then that's the player. Bruce Fox this year, Adam Fox's dad.

who's like a very big hockey dad. And the one thing he said to Adam, like, growing up was like, I don't care what your coaches tell you, you never go glassing out. I don't care. Like it's a lesson learned to like younger defense. I actually love that, dude. Yeah.

That is fair. And Blake, you're right. It is on the player. Like if you make the fuck up, it's like you're an idiot, dude. Why did you sky that? But it's just, it's tough. It's a tough two minutes.

One last rule thing that I've thought about is for overtime. So we have this great three and three overtime now. but now it's kind of morphed into kind of like roller hockey style where you're just going to puck possession the whole time. I would love an over the back rule, like in the NBA, and a shot clock. So you have a 30 second shot clock,

and the second you go over the red line, you cannot go back over the red line. Blue line, bitch. No, no, no. Well, you can still have some neutral zone to work with, but it forces the teams to not just rag the puck the whole time and take chances. Blake, this was before.

you joined the team the three of us got together and had a full breakdown about three on three overtime and what's our opinion we have we talked about all this i think the one i'm on your side i'm on your side the thing we all like the most was get rid of off sides in overtime it'll be fucking that's full roller hockey yeah that would make it worse wouldn't it i disagree you have a guy would be hanging the whole time like you couldn't do the regroup shit because people would be all over the ice and be electric yeah no i'd love to see them mess around with some stuff We'll see what they do. I love it.

All right. Well, boys, this was a blast, guys. We're going to keep you updated. We're here all weekend. Check out our IG. Johnny's IG. We're going to be here in Wyoming playing in this tournament. Thank you so much for all the questions.

This was an awesome mailback episode. And Johnny, as always, thank you for joining. It's such a blast when you hop on. We've got to do it more often. Last quick, say everything you're up to right now. Yes, truly. Give us the whole rundown with everything with Morning Cuppa and then also Daily face off and everything that's going on.

Well, first of all, I mean, you guys know how, and I think everyone who listens to your show knows how much I love you guys. You guys might as my day, too, as I've been saying it now for almost a year. I do a morning show, morning cup of hockey every Monday to Thursday, 9 to 10 a.m. Live on YouTube, Eastern time. I know you guys are West Coast guys. So tough to get you guys in the show at 6am, even though Dan's the CrossFit Hardo that probably wakes up at 5 a.m.

It makes a protein shake and get flapper and whatnot. But, yeah, also like, I'm not. I want to thank you guys too, like publicly for including me in this weekend. You know, I told you guys kind of off the air that I hadn't gone skiing or been to a ski town since I was seven years old. And, you know, you guys texted me, hey, come play men's league in Jackson Hole. And I was like, down. All my high school friends are going to ski trip every year and I haven't done it. So it says a lot about you guys that I was just kind of like willing to do it.

But yeah, I mean, you can just catch me on morning golf hockey and daily faceoff. And I'm sure we'll have some playoff stuff going on. with the NHL again like last year. So that's all I got. Absolutely. Appreciate it. Absolutely. Love it.

We love you guys. Thanks for tuning in. And until we catch you next time. Skate hard.