Empty Netters Podcast - Penn State Lands Gavin McKenna, The Best Prospect Since Connor McDavid | EP.211

Episode Date: July 10, 2025

The guys break down all the CHL vs NCAA drama now that the Gavin McKenna commitment is official. The Oilers and Lightning pulled off a sneaky prospect trade that could have serious ripple effects. The new CBA has a few head scratchers in there. And what would you be willing to sacrifice for cheap rent on the beach?? Plus connective tissue is back. Can you solve it faster than DP? NEW EPISODES EVERY TUESDAY & THURSDAY! PRESENTED by BetMGM. Download the BETMGM app and use code “NETTERS” and enjoy up to $1500 in bonus bets if you lose your first wager! SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS: Z BIOTICS. Go to https://zbiotics.com/NETTERS and use NETTERS at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics.” 00:00 INTRO 05:52 GAVIN MCKENNA 31:14 ISAAC HOWARD TRADE 44:01 CBA 55:28 HOUSING HORRORS 1:16:51 CONNECTIVE TISSUE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This gets me so fired up, it gets the juices flowing, it gets the blood pumping in all of the right places. And I'm here to tell you this. I think this is going to change the face of college hockey and the trajectory of college hockey forever. I still cannot believe it's Penn State. It's iconic, but I just cannot believe it's Penn State. Ice is ready. And we are back with another episode of the Empty Netters podcast. brought to you by Bet, MGM.

I am your host, Dan Powers, and looking into the camera right at me, this is a man who does not have an off switch. It's a man who goes out all the time, balls to the wall, has only one speed, and that is redlining. I've seen him go so crazy that he is before falling asleep,

sitting upright in a bar stool. True story, I've seen it more than once. Chris Powers. As always. Dude, that was a nice one. I liked that one. I enjoyed that one. Usually, even you would consider the things that I say, your T-ups, as bad.

Yeah. But that one, you're like, I'm down with this. That was nice. That was nice. Good stuff. I love how you are in a fucking New York shoebox now. Every time I jump on this fucking thing, you're in the sprawling countryside. There's fucking robot lawnmowers behind you.

Everything is gorgeous. I can see you looking at people behind the screen presenting you wine and meats and cheeses. And it's like, wow, dude, this is awesome. Yeah. And now, dude, get fucked in your white-walled prison cell while you overheat, you bitch. I cannot believe you would talk about my New York home like this. Like, what the fuck? Probably cost 20 grand a buck.

Probably cost 20 grand a month. Probably cost 20 grand a bunch. Look where he is. Look at him. That probably cost $20,000 a month. The lady of the house is going to hear this, and she's going to fucking have her weight. She's going to cut your throat, brother. You've got to be careful.

You've got to be careful in these streets. I'm in the mean streets of New York, dude. We don't play around out here. You're going to get yourself. I can't wait. I'm going to go look at the episode from last week just to remember how beautiful you had it. And then now, look at you now, dude. Look at you now.

I was doing that this morning, actually. Doing it this morning. I was looking at the true lush green. behind me and the happiness that I felt. I was on easy street, pal. Dude, I bet there are bars in front of you. If you turn that camera out, I bet you would just see fucking bars that you can't get out of where someone slots the food in.

Well, here's what's funny. It's like you see the beautiful windows behind me. You know, it looks like it might be nice out there. If I stuck my head out that window, you'd find a man squatting, shitting in the street. And if I looked up, if I looked down in me, go like this, go fuck your mother, pal. And I'm like, yeah. Occupato. Yeah. And I'm like, yeah. Dude, the concrete jungle where dreams are made of, as they say, as I've heard them referred to before.

Look at you down, dude. Look at you down. Hey, I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what, pal. Life comes at you fast. Life comes at you. Life comes at you like a fucking bullet train. How sweet I thought I had it, dude. Do you have any idea? Do you have any idea the anxiety that came for me this morning? Dude, we're off, just grinding away, doing our jobs, ripping the cup podcasts all over the place from Edmonton to Fort Lauderdale. Then we have a nice session with our pals on the Panthers, celebrating the cup, having a few beers, and then I come back, I find out that I've been on housed. I find out that the place I had lined up for six months got ripped from me like a small baby's rattle. And I was freaking up, but then I went, you know what, dude, I'll be fine.

I'm just going to detox. I'm going to go to Sweden, going to hang out with my beautiful family, and I'm going to then go to a wedding, have a business. And I did those things. And in that moment, CP, I thought everything was okay. I thought it was fine. I thought everything would work out, dude. You never die. Then I got on a plane.

I got upgraded, got upgraded to business. And I went like this, dude, what was I freaking out about? And boy, boy, tell you. This. Now you know. Now you remember. I woke up in the mean streets of New York City, Chris. I walked outside.

You saw the video from this morning. I was sweating my dick off, got yelled at by a cashier. My bag split in half and was strewn about Lafayette Street in New York City. Everything is falling apart at the seams. What a wonderful place. Yeah. Here we are. In summer.

Here we are, man. Fuck in, hey. Well, I'll tell you what, listeners, we've got a lot of phenomenal feedback from all of you beauties from the network, as I've decided to call it. Got a great tweet from someone saying that the netters fans needs to be called the network. And I went, you know what? That's the best name I've ever heard. So that's what we're doing. We're going to call them the network.

And yeah, I love the feedback we got with the new summer structure. we're going to be spending some more time on the nonsense, more time on the knot ice. But some cool things that happened. So this episode, we're going to hit you with the hot ice first. Then we're going to get into not ice. Hot ice first. Just experiment. Just a little experiment.

If new viewers want some hockey first, boom. Here's some hockey first. Then we'll clown around. Ooh, I like it. I like it a lot. Do you want to tell us what we're talking about first? Yeah, I do. I see nowhere else to start other than Gavin McIntyre.

Kenna will be playing NCAA college hockey for the girls at Penn State. Incredible turn of events. It was rumored and it was late, you know, it seemed it was headed that way, but it's official now, so we're talking about it now. And frankly, dude, this is going to have ripple effects in a lot of ways. Buddy, this is fucking huge. This is fucking huge. I mean, I can't believe how monstrous this is for college hockey.

This is a kid who is being compared to Connor McDavid, being compared to Sidney Crosby. He had, I believe, maybe you can look it up from ECP, but I believe in like 56 or something games for Medicine Hat, he had like 41 goals and 88 assists. This kid is a fucking phenom. He's an absolute weapon. He's a big boy already. I think he's coming in at like six feet, 180 pounds. He is dominant at 17 years old. He's the number one prospect across every single ranking system that matters.

And holy shit, pal, he is going to college hockey. He is going to play college hockey at Penn State. There's multiple things here that are fucking crazy. The fact that the number one recruit in the world in hockey is going to play college, holy shit. This is not the first time that we've seen a number one overall pick play college hockey. We saw that with Owen Power. You know, like this happens. We saw it with Macklin Celebrini.

It happens. But like this kid is, he can either stay and play for medicine hat like most would or he can go to college. And he has decided for this next year before he gets drafted to go play fucking college hockey. and that is so fucking sick. And I want to just talk about that. But before we even get into this next part, I want to emphasize again, the fact that he chose Penn State is so unbelievable

for a number of reasons. But let's just stick on college hockey, this kid going to college hockey. Let's do that first. I think, and this is going to piss off so many fucking Canadian listeners already, but I think, well, here's the reality. this will be a good litmus test.

I was actually talking to my buddy Kyle, who's a big Islanders fan, and we talk about the stuff all the time. And he was like, it's going to be cool because I'm of the opinion, Dan, and I know that you have been standing right next to me when NHL scouts that we will not name have talked about this subject. They have, and not all of them,

but they have said to us that they value what kids can do in the NCAA against bigger and stronger competition. I don't mean the competition is necessarily better because I don't want the CHL to kill me already, but I just mean bigger and older and stronger human beings. What you can do there shows me more about your potential than just lighting up the CHL. I know those stats are awesome to list,

and Gavin McKenna had 129 points in 50 games, and you're like, holy fuck. But what does going back to the CHL and doing that again do for you at all? as a team and it doesn't matter he's going first anyway who gives a fuck but that isn't improving his game to me when he goes i'm just shitting on everybody here but when he like dude how many points did mac have oh can you can you look that up while i'm talking let me look that up if you go to college hockey and play against fucking 24 year olds as an 18 year old and you're grinding out

a point per game season that actually shows me something where i'm like damn dude Kid is tough, not going to get pushed off the puck can produce when it's not easy. Because it's cookie night every night in the CHL. And I'm not shitting on the league. It's a fucking, I mean, what an honor to play in that? And only dominant all-time talent produces the way he's producing. So I'm not saying it's fucking easy. But I am saying if in any other walk of life, if you are dominating a fucking video game, bro,

the game goes like this. Do you want to up your difficulty? level because like this is a clown show he needs to up his difficulty level in my opinion how many points did mac have mac at b you had in 38 games god he's such a perfect he's such a perfect young man my son 38 games 32 goals 32 assists 64 points yeah so i mean that's actually fucking tremendous too so like if if um he dominates in a way that it's like almost two points per game. I know the CHL crowd will go,

see, like all you guys are saying how much harder the NCAA is, but he's shit on that too. So fuck you. But the rub for me, and this is what Kyle said too, is if he doesn't, if he,

if he struggles there a little bit, right? It's going to be like, it's going to be like, oh, the NCAA can't develop players the way we can. Like with CHL's developing players, the right way where the NCAA can't because look at what's happening to this golden sun there you know you're ruining him so the CHL is going to feel the way they feel about his season in the NCAA no matter

what and they're going to spin it in their direction but i'm here to tell you and it's like he like you said he's not the first mac did it a lot of guys have done it but i think these are huge dominoes falling where kids are going yep i got to go get a year of college and just test my game against older people, older, stronger people. And not to mention, bro, obviously it's fucking fun as fuck living with your billet family and playing juniors and all this shit. But when we had everything caught jogging on, they said this too.

College is super fun, dude. Like, you are going to have a fucking blast. Just, like, you don't at, everyone's like, oh, classes are hard, not really. Not when you're Gavin McKenna, not when you're Mac. Like, you go to class with your buddies. It's really fun. You got to do homework every now and then.

But for the most part, you're just cruising around campus, a huge campus. where there's awesome parties, tons of people your age, and everyone thinks you're the fucking man. So that's kind of sick. Man, it's, um, listen, like, playing Canadian junior is unbelievable. And these teams, these programs are unbelievable from the OHL, WHL to the Q. It's, it's fantastic.

And these, these coaching staffs do such a good job of getting these kids ready for the next level, whether it be the NHL or otherwise. So don't get us wrong. These Canadian hockey leagues are fantastic. Their facilities are fantastic. at some of the pedigree from some of these places like London, the London Knights is, they're an establishment. So that's not what we're referring to here. This has always been such a funny topic for us and such an interesting debate because when you look at it from the standpoint of a

fucking 17 to 19 year old kid, where do you want to be? Do you want to be in fucking Erie PA? Or do you want to be on a college campus like Michigan, like Penn State, like Boston College, like Boston University, like Wisconsin, like Minnesota, like Minnesota, like Minnesota, like Minnesota, like Minnesota, like Denver, you know, like all these fucking sick ass campuses. And when I think about a place like I'm obviously going to keep banging the Michigan drum, but when I think about a campus like that, when I think about a campus like Penn State, that in addition to the unreal time you're going to have playing hockey there, let's not even get into the extracurriculars just yet, but also a school that has an elite football program, elite basketball programs. There's just so much fucking stuff to do in what world. is it even a debate which would be more fun and then you're also learning from amazing coaches you're playing fantastic hockey that is where i'm like what are we doing here dude it's also it's like it's less games so less chance to get hurt more competitive games in a lot of ways so i am so happy that they've changed these rules and we're going to get more guys like gavin mckenna

every single year but the the the way gavin mckenna has kicked down and kicked in this door to let every Canadian kid who's playing juniors know that this is not only an acceptable route to go, but it might be the best route to go. This is going to revolutionize college hockey. This is going to change college hockey for the rest of time, as far as I'm concerned. At Medcan, we know that life's greatest moments are built on a foundation of good health, from the big milestones to the quiet wins. That's why our annual health assessment offers a physician-led, full-body checkup that provides a clear picture of your health today and may uncover early signs of conditions like heart disease and cancer. The healthier you means more moments

to cherish. Take control of your well-being and book an assessment today. Medcan, live well for life. Visit medcan.com slash moments to get started. And we got to see, just to interject, we got to see how it goes. We're both very confident it's going to go fine, but like assuming it goes well, everything you said is true. If he goes to the NCA and like has 10 points in 40 games and sucks and he's like, he's like, I should have said in junior, you know, like it could go the other way. But I'm very confident he's going to be fucking nasty and everything you said is right. Yeah, me too. You know, like you've, I know that we've, there's, there's been a lot of people who've said like, yeah, you know, we've seen this hype with this guy with that guy. Then they get to college and they're not that good.

I mean, I don't look at it like that. I know it's a different situation, but just like look at Mac, dude. Like, look, we just read those stats. It's like Matt, fuck, Mac fucking dominated. I think this kid's going to dominate. And like we were talking about, it's just so exciting, thinking about what this kid has ahead of him. Getting to go to Penn State, he's got a great NIL bag that he got to go there.

I think it was like, I don't know the specifics, but he's got like 700K at least coming to him. That is it. 700K, and he said it came down to, because it was initially rumored Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State were the three finalists. They ended up saying it was really, it only ever came down to Penn State and Michigan State offered 700K. And Penn State offered 700K. He was like, hey, hey, boys. And also like, hey, Michigan, what the fuck are you doing? I mean, come on. But I mean, imagine being that age, being a young hockey player, young Canadian kid, you've just been busting

your ass playing this game. Now you've got 700 bones coming your way to go to fucking Penn State, one of the most fun campuses in the nation. And I want to be clear, I fucking hate Penn State. But that just comes from a rivalry standpoint. That is nothing to do with Penn State people. I've got some dear friends who went to Penn State. I'm just saying from a rivalry standpoint, I hate Penn State. But I also have a brain.

And I can see that it is a fun-ass school. You look at their facilities. Gee went there, did an awesome chicklets you with Penn State, and you got to see how much money they have poured into those facilities, into that program. And, you know, they were in the Frozen Four last year. You know, made it to the last few teams. And now they're getting this kid.

It's like, holy shit, what a time to be alive if you were a Penn State alum. If you were a Penn State student and you're a hockey fan, this is fucking electric. But I just can't stop thinking about, I mean, I think that these kids, like, you know, we obviously know firsthand how much fun Will Mack had at BU and B. BC and how they're like, dude, like I would never, ever trade those memories and I would never, I would never go another route. This kid about to head over to that, that campus, man, and like, all of a sudden you're just on the ice grinding every day in those unbelievable, unbelievable facilities, you're living on campus with your boys, hanging out with people going to college parties, being

responsible, going to Penn State football games, like, fucking A, pal. This is just, this kid is, he is signing up for the best year of his life. Dude, I just checked. Saturday night, September 27th, 7.30 p.m. kickoff, home versus Oregon. That is going to be a fucking doozy.

Get ready for the tailgate, yeah. Best night, truly best night of his life. They've got that dub. They get that dub at Beaver Stadium, and then they burn the town to the ground and sift through the ashes on Sunday. Dude, when we were talking about making UNH great again, like we're on a campaign to make UNH hockey great again.

If it's the last thing I do with empty netters, UNH will be back in the Frozen Four within five years. And it starts with you fucking idiots, you alumni, you donors, UNH has the shittiest facilities in hockey. Fix it. Fix it. If you went to UNH and you got fucking money bags,

fix it. Someone sign up. Like, dude, the way the, the, how the fuck do you pronounce the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the way the, the, the, the, the way. Um, um, I'm saying it, right, right? I think so. Uh, yeah. Terry and Kim, the Pugulas, Pagula. Maybe it's Pagula. No, it's Pagula. The, the, the way that they have taken care of Penn State's hockey program and then they literally take a hot, hot, steaming dump on the Buffalo Sabers. is wild. It's fucking hilarious, dude. Wild. It is hilarious.

Bro, Penn State and Oregon are like three and five. I'm looking at preseason rankings. That is going to be fucking insane. Are you aware that their arena is called Pugula Ice Arena? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's fucking awesome. It's just like they've got some of the best facilities in college hockey and they're like this. We have an NHL team too.

We don't really care about that one. Fuck them. That's like, whatever. And I'm like this, but that one's the NHL. And they're like this. it. It smells like, it smells like, uh, uh, rice Krispies in this town. We're good. And I'm like, and Dan, we, we haven't met Gavin yet, but there's, look me in the fucking eye and tell me this had to do with anything but the money. I can't. Like, dude, I would have done the same thing. Who gives

a fuck? I'm going to be there for one year. But like, and, and, and you know what's funny. I, I, I, I, I was like, this, this, Gavin McKenna going to play. for Penn State is amazing for two reasons. Number one, I went on the whole rant about college hockey. I was like, number one, this is unreal for college hockey. Number two, the fact that he's going to Penn State. Imagine us 10 years ago doing the number one recruit in the world. And like a generational talent theoretically.

Getting compared to McDavid and Crosby just chose to go to Penn State. Frankly, even hearing it, like they were just in the Frozen Four. And hearing it last week, I was like, what? Why is, in what world is he thinking about going to this school? It's so cool how far Penn State has come and what a dominant hockey program they are. And someone replied to the tweet and was like, dude, he chased his bag. That's all it is. And I was like, yeah, I don't care.

So what, dude? The fact that they even have a dog in that race that they can throw a bag and a kid would be like this, yes, I will go there. Like this isn't like fucking Al-Halil throwing a bag at a European soccer player. Like this, they're like, say you want to kill women. Say out loud, you want to kill women. Admit it. Admit it. Like, this is a great program and they're able to throwbacks. Like, fucking, hell yeah, brother, go get your fucking cash.

There was a sick quote. I can't find it, but there was a sick quote from like the Penn State AD where he was like, yeah, you know, we have a fund and there's like markers where, you know, or there's like a revenue share between sports. But we thought that like when huge prospects come along, we should be able to. go over that budget. And his quote was like, you know, like if there was the best pole vaulter or something, we would spend a lot of money on them. I'm like, liar.

Would you? Would you really? But, but when Gavin McKenna comes around, you fucking toss him 700K. And what's hilarious is Penn State probably thinks that's a steal because they're like, wait, hockey players don't get anything. Like, they must be shelling out millions upon million. What did Portnoy give the Michigan kid? Like, Portnoy gave, like, the Michigan kid fucking $10 million himself.

Like, he was like, here, dude, come play quarterback. I'm serious. So it's like, they're like, wait, you're telling me we can get the fucking, the next Connor McDavid for 700K? And I'm like, uh-huh. Like, oh, dude, uh, I think I have some loose change right here. Bang, done. I am telling you there are some, there are some UNH grads who have fucking cashish.

Go pay some kids, dude. Go pay some kids. I'm actually insulted. I'm insulted by the offers from the other schools. Like Michigan State is like 300K? And I'm like, what are you doing, dude? Oh, it's insult. I mean, Michigan has.

Denver. I heard Denver was like kind of in the mix and I'm like, you don't want Gavin McKenna. Maybe Denver's like, we're too good. But I'm like, buddy, I think you want Gavin McKenna. Dead ass I would buy that. Like Denver being like, I mean, do well, like, you know what they're coach Taylor with Voodoo Tatum. Yeah.

Yeah. Nice. Denver is like, listen, dude, you want to win hockey games, you can come here. If you want to fucking get paid and dance around like a clown, you can go to Penn State. Yeah, go to fucking Happy Valley if you want the Gavin McKenna show. This is a team. The team, the team, the team. Yeah, dude, you're right.

Actually, this is a disaster. He shouldn't have gone to Penn State. This is a fucking clown show. It's a circus now. Here's the thing. They just still might win the Natty, though. Is that? But, dude, that's hard, though.

Like, I know he's going to be nasty. And Mac almost did it. Look at Mac, dude. Like, he didn't almost win. Like, they were frozen four, right? Maybe. I think he was Frozen 4. They didn't almost win, bro.

They were not close. Yeah. You're right. And like the B.C. hasn't won in the last three years when I've been like they've been a fucking wagoon every year. So it's going to be tough. High bar too, man. Like if they don't make the Frozen 4 at least again, I mean, he obviously doesn't give a fuck. He got his money and he's going first overall and everything's fine.

But just in terms of the fan base, I think they'll be bummed if they don't make a good run. And, you know, what's interesting about this is, like, we were talking about Hagen's, probably at this time last year. And then certainly into the season, people were like, Higgins is going to be the number one overall pick. And then he fell to seven, much to the delight of Boston Bruins fans. And he's a phenomenal hockey player. And I think he's going to have a massive year at B.C. But there are people right now being like, I wouldn't be surprised at McKenna, like all this hype around McKenna, he's going to fall. I don't think that's the case.

I think McKenna is, I think he is, he is Bidar level, in terms of, and like Mac level, in terms of like, he's going to be the number one recruit and he is going to be the number one selected player. Like they're like, oh yeah, there's nothing that will change. Buddy, I think he could literally, actually this would probably be better for him. I was going to say he could literally break his collarbone tomorrow, miss the whole season and go one still. But I think that's actually obvious. Yeah. I think he could literally be so bad at Penn State that he's getting health bombed. I'm not kidding.

like the second half of the season they're health bombing him and i still think he goes maybe one if not top three i don't think that would happen if he was actively playing horror like if if the whole thing about this is all of a sudden you play college against fucking grown-ass men if he does that and then he's so bad that he's getting bombed i do not think he goes one but do you think he falls out of top three dude can you imagine not taking him you're like oh he had a bad year at fucking penn state with respect he's gavin mckenna i dude i i i I legitimately think he would go one. I legitimately think he would go one.

If you have the one and you don't take him because of one bad season, I think you'd be insane. If no one emerges, then sure. Like the way Schaefer emerged and was like, look at me, it was like, yeah, no shit. Got it. So, yeah, I'll give you there as a world. Because you passed on, dude, if you passed on him after a bad season and then he became Conor McDavid and you're like the team of pick two got him, you're like, I'm a fucking buffoon. Yeah, but it just, it depends on how bad he is.

Like, if he sucked, it would be like, yeah, you can't take him. Because like, you're then being like, oh, yeah, he sucked, but he's got to be good. You know, it's risky. Yep. But that's not going to happen. That's what we're here to talk about. I do want to just quickly ask you, what do you, like, what do you think, I don't want to say the ceiling is, but to me, man, I've said a million times, there are, there are so many.

so many great hockey players in the world and certainly in this continent that get overlooked for D1 hockey because there's not good enough recruiting, there's not big enough programs, and there aren't enough programs to fill D1 college hockey. I hope that this new movement changes that. Like, dude, I can think of many, many, very close to home hockey players that I was like, How the fuck aren't you D1? Like, in what world did a program not find you? And now I think that this is just going to build up Division 1 college hockey.

And we're going to get more of that to the point where can you imagine how fucking awesome it will be if the Frozen 4 turns into 64 teams? And there are just, there are programs, dude. There are schools. Obviously, the dream, as we've talked about many times, is like, I want like, PAC 12. I want SEC. I want ACC programs. If you could go to LSU and Alabama and play D1 college hockey, if you could go to Vanderbilt, like look at a place like Nashville. And look at all these Florida places with Florida winning all these Stanley Cups.

Yeah. Yeah, that love hockey. Like fucking if Miami and Florida State and UF all of a sudden had D1 programs, so many kids would go there. Miami's club team just won the Natty, club natty, because they have. so many Northeast transplants that are like, yo, we're sick at hockey. And frankly,

I would, no joke, 90% of that team all had D3 offers that were just like, whatever. Like, if I'm not getting a D1 offer, then like,

I'd, no offense, but like, I'd rather not just go play for fucking Middlebury and I can go to Miami and have like a sick college experience and whatever,

and play club and win a Natty and like play damn near just as competitive hockey. So, yeah, it's coming, dude. It's totally coming.

And, and I'm just so, I'm so beyond excited for it because it, it will make hockey, you know, you want to say more accessible. It will make college hockey more accessible from a, from a fan standpoint. It's betmGM time, ladies and gentlemen, and you know that they have the greatest offers cooking in the world. If you download the BetMGM app and you use promo code and netters, that's N-E-T-T-E-R-S, whatever your first bet is. If that loses, you can win up to $1,500 in bonus bets. So bingo bongo, there you go-go, which made that up, but that was sick. Also, there's so much action. If you look at their promos, there's Wimbledon odds boost.

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in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. See BenmGM.com for terms. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. To me, it makes hockey more accessible from the viewing standpoint. If all of a sudden all these different types of programs, and let's localize it a bit more. I've said a number of times. There are a bunch of New York school CP.

There's a bunch of Illinois, like Chicago-based schools where I'm like, how do you not have a fucking D-1 hockey team? Like what is going on here? If all of a sudden those places have D-1 hockey, Pitt, for example, like, pit, get, like be in the Frozen 4 tournament, more people are watching, dude, and more people are begging to watch. And then it's on, it's on not ESPN3. It's on ESPN. It's on TNT. It's, the sky is the fucking limit.

So this is just so exciting. Yeah, absolutely. Kind of staying in the college ranks, a very interesting trade went down. The lightning trade, Isaac Howard, to the Oilers, where he signs an extension and the lightning get back, Sam O'Reilly. Both first round picks.

Isaac 30, Tampa took him 31st overall on 2022. Sam O'Reilly was taking 32nd overall in 2024. Isaac Howard won the Hobie last year at Michigan State. And the old switcheroo. What's your read on this? Well, my read was, frankly, I was a bit surprised. I was a bit surprised that Tampa was willing to let him go. And, you know, it's tough because you have Tampa that has great pedigree and they've got great roster,

a great roster build. We've got on the wings, and Isaac Howard is a wing, okay? Isaac Howard is a winger. He's not playing center. Your lines break down for Tampa right now is point centering Gensel and Cooch, Nick Paul centering Connor, Geeky, and Hague's,

Yanni Gord, centering Nick Paul and Bjork Strand. Then your fourth line, you've got Gergensonsons with Goncalvis and Chaffee on the wings. So I understand Tampa being like, you are not cracking the top six here, dude. And frankly, you're trying to beat out Nick Paul and Bjork Strand for third line wing minutes. And like Yanni too. Like Yanni can kind of play all over. Yep.

Because you're not taking Gensel's spot. You're not taking Cooch's spot. You're not taking Hage's spot. And you're definitely not taking Connor Geeky spot. Like I think they look at Connor Geeky as like a you are also a youth project. You need minutes. Mm-hmm. You're playing.

So I get Tampa being like, we can't guarantee you NHL minutes next season. And Isaac wants that. Now, we have seen so many times, we are entering a new era of the NHL where young players, players who haven't even played NHL minutes yet, are starting to make, not demands, but voice their opinion of being like, I don't see a future with this team. Like, I don't want to be here. And that is, you. you know, take that how you will.

I know a lot of people we're going to be like, fuck that bunch of little bitches, blah, blah, blah. But I'm like, I don't know, man. Like, it's their fucking career. And frankly, I'd rather a player, if I were a GM, I would rather a young player

that we drafted, be like, hey, I'm not going to give it my all mentally because I don't want to be a part of this. I'm sorry, but like, trade me now. I respect that. Like, we saw it with cuts. We've seen it with, with a few players who,

before going to the NHL, a trade has happened. Rutger is not going to be playing with the team that drafted him. And I think it's good. I think it's just better for both parties at the end of the day. And we have the situation here where, yeah, 31st overall pick, 32nd overall pick, swapped one for one. To me, I'm like, seems great.

O'Reilly is a great player, too. We saw a lot of people, a lot of the writers being like, there are many, many people who consider O'Reilly the better prospect. So I saw a couple of fucking brain dead. fans being like, oh, we fleeced Tampa on this one. And I'm like, why? Why do you think that? Because Isaac Howard won the Hobie? Like, if that's your only reasoning, you're an idiot. Because I like Isaac Howard a lot. I like his game. But I want to bring something to your attention here, okay? Isaac Howard was a junior last year. Is that correct? Yes. And said he was going to return for senior

to win a Natty for sure, because he was like, I didn't come here to win the Hobie. I came here to win a Natty. and then get straight to the oil or sign to extension and is now not coming back. Yeah. So Michigan State misses out on Gavin McKenna and then Isaac Howard is leaving. Sucks to suck, little brother. Fuck you. Here are, here's a list going back to 2025 of Hobie Baker winners. And I'm going to mention every, I'm going to put my hand, or I'll mention it for the listeners.

every Hobie Baker winner that is not a sophomore or freshman and see if you notice a theme here, okay? Yep. Starting in 2025. Or actually, do you want me to start in 2005 or 2025? 2005. All right. 2005. Marty Sertich. Sorry if I'm pronouncing that wrong. It might be Sertic. Junior, Colorado College. 2006. Matt Carl, Jr., Denver. 2007. Ryan Duncan, sophomore. 2008. Kevin Porter, Sr. 2009. Matt Gilbert. Roy, Sr., 2010, Blake Geprean, Senior, 2011, Andy Miley, senior. 2012, Jack Connolly, senior. 2013, Drew LeBlanc, Senior.

2014, Johnny Goodro, Jr. 2015, Jack Eichel, freshman. 2016, Jimmy Visi, senior. 2017, Will Butcher, Sr. 2018, Adam Goddette, Jr. 2019, Cal McCarr, sophomore. 2020, Scott Perunovich, Jr., 2001, Cole Coughfield, sophomore,

2022, Trident McKay, Senior, 2022, Adam Fantilli, freshman, 24, Macklin Celebrini, freshman, 2025, Isaac Howard, Jr. With the exception of Johnny Goddrow, not a single one of those players named, who was not a sophomore or freshman when they won the Hobie,

has a good NHL career. Yeah, it's such a good stat poll by you, dude. And it's there's, you want to go back to our CHL combo, there's kind of a knock where we're like, the league is so sick. And they're like, well, no, dude, it isn't. Because if you are the best player in college hockey, then you stink in the NHL. And I think you're not a freshman. Yes, I think your argument is valid where if you are lighting up college hockey young against

the older kids, that means you're good. If you're just playing well because you're 20 fucking five, then I'm like, all right, well, this isn't exactly translating the way we thought. So God knows what's going to happen to Isaac Howard, but I loved that. What great research by you. That was fucking awesome and really interesting. Dude, it's, and that is, that is not a knock on Isaac Howard. Like I said, I believe in his game. But it's not a good fact.

And frankly, like, if you're an Oilers fan and you're stroking this off, saying, oh, we fleece Tampa, and this is really your biggest point of reference winning that Hobie, it's not necessarily the best fact. What you think it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not necessarily. And something I'll say about O'Reilly, this kid plays for London. He's well over point per game in his past season with London. I think he's playing for London this year as well. he everyone is is so so high on his game both top to bottom and his professionalism people

like he's such an immature kid also also say this about o'reilly that i love personally so many people have talked about his defensive game he's a center true center and i think tampa could use we we've been seeing with free agency and trades center it is the most sparse position in the fucking NHL. No centers are ever available. So having center prospects is a good thing. And I do think Tampa could use them. He's great, great defensively. And he played defense up until he was about 15 years old. I fucking love that. Yeah. I love that. If all of a sudden you've got a really good responsible two-way center, he's, I'm not saying he's going to be like Barkov or Bergeron or Cope or anything like that. But if you've got a guy who's, those are the players that are his icons,

that gets me fired up if I'm... Yeah, that's special. That's really special. So it would be really awesome to see that one play out. The next thing I want to talk about, Dan, and we can just do this for 120 seconds, but I just wanted to call out something for you. Six days ago, the Islanders signed Maxim Shabanov

from the KHL. He's 24 years old. And I saw the headline, but I was like, I don't know who that is and whatever. And then some highlight tapes have been going around the interwebs last few days. and I was unfamiliar with his game, dude. And, you know, 67 points and 65 games in the K, led to KHL in playoff goals and plus minus. But I just want to say, I don't know if this will ever work in the playoffs, but I want more Instagram hockey.

Like the shit that looked like Zegras was doing. And I don't know if Zegris playing Instagram hockey is what caused this slide or if him stopping playing Instagram hockey is what caused this slide. or if him stopping playing Instagram hockey is what caused his side, I don't know yet. Such a fair question. Yeah, like literally I'm not sure yet, but I want more of this. I don't want it to become the fucking NBA Harlem Globetrotters or whatever. But I just, I don't know, dude, like doing shit like this, because it can be done in an elite way. Like when Kutrov is making a ramp with his stick and passes to the NudraZone or like shooting over his back, I'm like, dude, yes, be creative.

And this guy is a fucking freak show. out there on his tapes. He's doing like the stick your heel on the puck, spin around, Michigan's left and right, flipping the puck up. I'm like, good, dude. Bring it. Bring it all here. I want it.

C.P., I love this and this move. No, I'm not talking necessarily about the Instagram hockey. I love this move, and I don't know why it doesn't happen more. I think that there's definitely barriers to entry with the KHL. Like, I don't know what fucking type of imprisonment, Dean Putin and the KHL. have on these players, but it's like, you saw it with Mitch Coff, he's like not allowed to come to the NHL when he's been drafted top 10. And I'm like, what the fuck are you dip shit's doing over

it? It's a joke. But I think it worked well with Kuzmenko. You know? And let's see. If Shabanov or Shabanov, I know, I say it. If Shabanov is sick or even good, if he's, if he's a 60-point guy, Like let's say he's fucking Datenoff. Let's say he's Kuznetsoff. Like he's like, yeah, I'll get you a fucking 25-1-year entry-level deal. No risk at all. I would legitimately, if I were teams, I would start looking at the KHL and find guys who are point per game or better and under 25 years old. And I would give a fucking one-year deals out like free fucking.

I was about to make such a bad joke. But I would just, I would fire them off like hotcakes. I would. I'm so with you. And this is, I'm obviously drunk on him right now because I've been watching thousand reels in a row.

But this is one of those ones where it's if it hits and ignore, look, what you said is, is just good business. If he comes to a 60 point guy, this was a no brainer move,

good business. If it hits and he's a fucking hundred point guy, you are a genius. And you've completely revamped your team. You're a genius. Like you're the islanders and you're like,

fuck, we need a little bit more scoring, whatever. And I'm like, bang. This Russian comes in pumped full of gas and Michigan's, and now you'll never lose again. He's, there's just so much I love about him. He looks like fucking Prime Federov. I know. I know. Dude, he does. He does. He's got that like mid flow. He still wears a Bauer 4,500.

If you Google him, it comes up as Maxim V. Shabbinoff. Like, we're going to be calling him Shabs or Shabby. I love him. Everything about it. it is just exciting to me. So I'm, I am curious why we don't see this more. He is small, I'll tell you that. Yeah, yep, sure. But I just like the new NHL though, dude,

I don't think it matters as much. Yeah. I don't think it matters as much. He's a fucking waterbug out there. Yeah, it's, it's exciting. It's exciting. I'll, I'll, I'll say that. And I stand by.

It's like, do this more. Like, start looking at the KHL. There might be guys that are, looking to be rescued. They might be looking to get rest of the rough. I just think some guys are looking to get rescued. Yeah, dude, who rescued you though?

You know what I mean? Who rescued who? So, so true, especially with the New York Islanders. Oh, my God. Okay. So last piece of hot ice. I just wanted to touch on the CBA, the new CBA. There's a few things in here.

And I don't even know all the details of everything. but a few I wanted to bring up. I think there's several, all the ones that you've written up, written down that we need to bring up. I don't think I like a single one. Really? Well, you certainly like the extension of the NHL's commitment to Olympic participation through 2030.

You like that. I lied immediately. So we like that. We love that. And we also like increasing minimum NHL salaries up to a mill. We like that. I do love that. And then...

Millionaires, do? We're creating millionaires. Creating millionaires. The United States needs more of those. And then that maybe is it, though. Yeah, go through them. Let's quickly discuss. Number one, the biggest one, I would say, 84-game regular season, which comes with a shortened preseason.

They want the first game to be end of September, still finishing end of June. And there's requirements where it's like camp went from 21 days to 13 days or something like that. And if you have over 100 games played, you only have to play two preseason games. So, you know, they're trying to solve. for the wear and tear on that end. Yeah. I think that this one was, way more went into this than people

just thinking it was extending the regular season. I don't really get it. I don't get why we've done this. More money, dude. You get an extra division. I think right now you play a home and home against everyone in the other conference and then you play your division guys. Some of them you get four a year, some of them you get three. So I think now

you get everyone for maybe or you get more of them for. So they're trying to solve for that and more money. Yeah. I get the more money. I don't love it. We certainly don't need more regular season games. I also, I hate to be the stat guy here,

but as much as I'm a big, I'm an advocate for NFL, like it should be less games. These poor guys get hurt so much. Baseball should be way less games. I do then think of, it does change the record books. Like, it's two extra games,

you know, like, it's something to think about. I don't love that. I love the shortened preseason. Preseason is fucking stupid. I get the goalies need it, but it should be, it should be three games,

absolute max. So shortening that is fantastic. Dude, I will say, though, there's an article in the athletic with a ton of unnamed players are commenting on all the points.

And a couple guys who are young were like, dude, it's fine. I have no issue with the vets don't have to play, but those games are how I made the team. Like,

I wasn't a super high draft pick. Like, I need those games, dude. And now there's fucking, like three total and I'm like dude that was my only shot like the young this fucks the young kids well I hear that but make the most of what you got dude like yeah not to be a dick but I'm like dude you make the team in training camp and you make the team and dad also got shortened by a ton to camp you know so it's like just harder just harder it is harder but at the same time I'm like

dude make the you know make the fucking team like if you want to make the team make the team fucking be ready and ball out in these games everyone's got the same amount of time so yeah Exactly. That is the biggest thing. You all have the same shot. It's the same amount of games. And like, if you were a guy that you were like, dude, I sucked and then the last game I performed, I'm like, all right, we'll just do that the last game in these three. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, if you sucked in all of your games and then you didn't play well till game six, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Like, you know, not to be harsh. And I hate that it's still, like, that was going to be my point. I, all of this doesn't matter to me, given the fact that. they were still like, and to end of June. I'm like, wrong. Dude, the Stanley Cup, the game seven of the Stanley Cup should be played on June 2nd. Yeah.

Like, we, we, it is fucking crazy that we just keep going late into June. That needs to be like the biggest priority next time. So wild. Short and max contracts. Now it can be seven for a player resigning with their team, six and another team used to be eight and seven. The players in the athletic article were kind of annoyed by this one, but not as bad as I thought,

because you know, you're kind of like giving the owners a small win here, but I don't know, maybe this encourages more time to fucking maximize your prime, you know, instead of like buys you back a year. I'm not too bothered by this one. I wish it hadn't changed,

but I don't really care. I'm not bothered either. The more I, um, you know, the more, the older I get and the more we get wrapped up in this world, the more I realize, like the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the

world dissipates. Um, it's a business. And we, we, we are your, we are your favorite players favorite hockey podcast. Um, we are a player show. We love the guys. That is the most important thing to us about this job. And I will always have their back. But at the end of the day, it is a business. And they know that as well. I understand players, maybe some of them, like you said, being like, I don't love this. But I also bet every single one of them is like, I get it, though. Yeah, yeah, right. So with that, I say, you know, I'll side with the players, but also as someone who works in and around the league, I get it. And this is better.

This is better for team building. It's better for roster management. It's better for GMs. It's better for owners. So I'm like, yeah, fine. Yeah, okay. and then changed along LTIR which will include a postseason salary cap. I think we're all, I think LTIR is an important thing, by the way.

Everyone loves to shit on it, but I'm like, dude, if your guys get hurt and like major star guys, it benefits the league, the product for you to be able to make moves if they're actually hurt, which they usually are. I know people are manipulated, but like usually these guys are actually hurt. So I'm glad it's staying with some regulations. I think this is kind of an everybody wins situation because people can get off teams but holes about how they're only good

because of LTIR manipulation, but I'm like, dude, it was always a rule, it's still a rule, and it's being more regulated now. Happy, and I think everyone should be. I think that's right. I'm completely with you on this one. Elimination of player dress code. I'm excited to see what happens there.

Hey, absolutely fucking hate it. Teams will still, teams will still do something. absolutely fucking hate this one absolutely fucking hate this one it is so fucking stupid there's absolutely no reason to do this and i'll eat crow if some of our boys shoot us a text and they're like dude shut the fuck up dp it sucks we hate it but i don't believe that they hate it and i am i'm just confused i'm confused what like the coolest fucking thing about nchl pregame in comparison to the nbba and the nfl and these fucking dipshit clowns showing up in their sweatsuits,

looking like fucking morons at the Met Gala or walking down the streets of New York City looking like a bum, taking the shit out my window. I loved seeing all the guys in their suits pregame. And I hope every... They're going to do still. I hope every captain in the league goes,

I don't give a fuck about that CBA change. Our team has a dress code. Like I hope Kevin Garnett pulls rank. You know what I'm talking about? It's like, be the team guys that goes, we will still look like fucking class acts every single time we show up. I hate this one. I hope they still wear suits. Yep. And then last one I wanted to hit was permanent emergency backup goalies for teams.

Sad day. Sad day. Sad day. Shadow our boy Tyler in ebug himself. And he was like, our ebug chat is going crazy. Like all these guys. He said that so casually. I was like, there's an ebug group chat. Of course so sick. He was like some of the guys who still that they've got a shot. All they need is one call up and then they're going to get a deal. But I love the dream, dude. Believe it. It's awesome. Yeah. I, uh, to me, it's, I just like, I don't get it. Like, it was so fun. Yeah. But, you know, maybe it's like an accounting thing or a liability thing that I don't understand.

Yeah. We live and we learn. Either way, we're happy there's no work stoppage. Yeah. Continue signing deals. Continue giving us hockey. We're good. Yeah. Okay. Let's take quick break hear from our sponsors and we'll be right back. Babes, we're taking a break from the podcast to talk about a game-changing product and that is Z-biotics. It is the thing that you drink before the crazy night out

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And now in the trial reverse bizarro episode, now we will get into our not ice of the week. And Dan, I'm going to tee it up for you. I got a little story that we're going to segue into a conversation. Okay. And I got to be careful here. I got to navigate some landmines. A team that we are friendly with.

in the National Hockey League. I was talking to someone... I like that that could be a lot now. Yeah, I was talking to someone on the team just yesterday. Great. He will be called Chris. And I said...

No, don't do that. Like, you're in this story. There can be two Chrises. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so he will be called... What do you want to call? call him. Let's call him,

um, Seth Jarvis. Uh, uh, call him Gary. Gary. Gary. So I said,

Gary. I says, I says, I says, I says, I say, where you live in the summer? Because I was like,

oh, you're in L.A., right? And he was like, well, or fuck. I, so it's L.A. You fucking idiot? Like,

I guess it was always L. Yeah. Was that a, joke? I guess it was always LA. So I go, where you live in the summer? And he goes well, it's tricky because I'm going to live with some of the boys when they're

back. But I had nowhere to live for for still laughing at you. Like, I can't believe we're just charging on with this story. Like you, this better not be a bad story. If you're, if you just outed the situation.

I almost just said the Kings at the front because like, who the fuck else would I be talking to? He yesterday. So he goes, I was just looking for a spot for July and August. And I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, no doubt. What do you do? Where are you at? And he goes, found a spot right on the beach.

Like, dude, on the sand, 1,200 a month. And I was like, bro, that is fucking epic. 1,200 a month. Is it like a tiny little, studio bungalow. And Gary goes, no, dude, it's, um, it's a five bedroom

house. And I was like, are you, you have a five bedroom house on the beach by yourself for $1,200 a month? And he goes, no. Is he risk rent in a bedroom? Yeah. And he goes, no, no, I, uh, I rented a, I rented a room. And it's got its own in, in sweet bath. It's three story place. The tops, the third story is all,

the master, but I'm on the second floor and, you know, we good, 1,200. And I was like, dude, that is sick. Who lives there? Who owns it? And he goes, it's this guy. Let's call him Dano. Let's call him Larry. Dano.

So I go, this guy, Dano, always the place. Can we just time out? Just fucking pause for one second. I want to point out the fact that you are one of the most creative and intelligent people that I know in my entire life. And when telling a story, you were faced with the challenge of coming up with fake names for two human beings. And the two names that you came up with are your name and my name. You fucking... Dude, well, this guy is a freak, so I wanted him to be Dano the whole time.

So I said Chris the first time, because I was like, it'll just be... Maybe he won't notice that I've made the freak Dana. But now you're on to me Dude I'm like you are You are so Yeah so he goes He goes

Dano This guy Dano owns the place And I go he owns it He's had it He goes he's had it for 27 years He's rich as fuck And I go from from what And he's like he was a lawyer

Like he's a rich lawyer Lives on the beach And he has a five bedroom by himself And he rented me A room for 1,200 And I go How How did you hear about Dano and his tree mansion?

And Gary goes. Is this in the bay? Because I'm over here on house and I'm like, you got another room, dude? I'll fucking join. Careful. Careful. Careful. Careful.

Let me finish. So Gary goes, Gary goes, a girl I was banging lived there, lived in Dano's house, was renting a room. so I had been there and then she moved and we stopped banging and now I live there

and I go I am terrified that I know exactly where this house is and that I have been to this house I go I go

where why did she move and he goes uh Dano pulled the gun on her and I go so you so you moved in dude

and he goes yeah dude he thought he didn't do it like you know maliciously he thought she was breaking in one night and I was like maliciously I was like that you didn't do it maliciously you pulled the gun on her in a nice I was like dude that

still though like you come you're coming in you know and he's like yeah he's like yeah but dude I'm like a big guy you know Gary or Dano's an old guy like I think I could beat the wheels off him if it came down to it And then he goes, so I go, so it's just you and, it's just Gary and Dano now.

And he goes, yeah, but Dano is a big escort guy. So every night I'll go get my Uber Eats. And there's just an Asian chick in the kitchen wearing just a one of Dano shirts. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, no doubt. And he's like, but you know, I don't ask questions. No one says anything. And he doesn't bother me. They go upstairs.

All good. So I go, so okay, so just the two of you and the escorts. And he goes, it's actually someone did move in three days ago. And I thought, who's that? And he goes, it is a 23-year-old girl who has moved in. And he found her, Dan O found her at a rehab facility. She's a recovering addict. And she had just got out of rehab and had nowhere to live.

And he said, move in here. And I go, really, how's that going? And he goes, last night, Dan... Bannarder. Yep. I went to get my Uber Eats. And Dano was down at her room banging her. And I go, I don't know why he did it in her room when he has a full story master.

And Gary goes, no kidding. When I got the tour of the place I went up there and Danos got a sex swing up there. He's cleared out the whole floor and built the sex swing. And I go, dude, I'm not sure you should be living here. And then another. dude that we know. Gary needs to get out of this house yesterday. Another guy of the team, Steve, Steve goes, why don't you live at my house, dude?

Like, this is fucking insane. And Gary goes, well, it's, you know, it's 1,200. It's 1,200 a month right on the beach. And I have my own bathroom. And it's 1,200. And I, you know, I don't even, I know. I'm not bothered by them, dude. I don't see them.

You know, like they're doing their shit. I don't see them. So I did it. I'm crying, listening to this story, dude. And it made me want to ask a homeless man that I know, what would you put up with for 1,200 on the beach?

Dude. Like, I, sure is shit. We'll tell you not that. Pull the gun on her. Pull the gun on her, dude. I would not for 1,200. move into a house, even if it's right on the beach, with my own bathroom,

if there is the case that at any moment, my landlord might pull a gun on me, have hookers coming in and out of the house like Uber Eats drivers, and have recovering addicts getting plugged all up and down the place at any given night. I'm dying, bro. It's like, we can't be living here. Can't be living here. We cannot be living in that place. came to them here. And dude, I was like,

so when the boys come back, you're just, you'll find a place. And he's like, unless they get a spot too expensive, then I just stay with Dano. If, if, if this fucking guy who we know, plays for an NHL team all season long, dealing with this. Dude, I go, do you cook? Do you cook? I was like, do you cook? And he's like, give you, we share a kitchen every now and then. You know, I'm cooking some ground brief. Fucking, Dano comes down. tweaking.

It's obviously in the bay, right? Like this is in like Manhattan Hermosa. It's in that area. Yeah. I don't want to say where. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Here's the thing, man. If he has a bad game or a bad stretch this season, I'm going to know Dano's involved. Oh, yeah. Dude, late night. Late night with Dano. Hey, how are things going at home on the homestead, dude? Because, you know, that's where you can find your inner peace, dude. You know what I'm saying?

I am I am beside myself with this this is crazy oh bro I was losing my mind to answer your question as I've been searching I have there's there's several things that I have I don't want to say realize there are definitely things that I've known about myself anyone who is a long time listener of this show knows that I am a I'm a total bougie bitch like I am a fancy boy no question about it, I know that. There are things that are non-negotiables for me, no doubt about it. But there are things that I, in my perfect world, I'm like, yeah, yeah, that's important. Hardwood floors throughout, important to me. But if there was a perfect place and the bedrooms had carpets, I would be like, okay, like, I can live with that.

Central Air versus like a wall unit. And I don't mean a wall unit. And I don't mean a wall unit. that's hanging out of the fucking window that sounds like a 1967 Chevy starting up. I mean, just like a simple wall, you know, I can live with that. That's not a big deal. I could even, CP, live with no AC if it was on the beach with a sea breeze.

Oh, oh, sure. And there were like a couple of nights where it's blazing hot, or days where it's blazing hot and even keeping the windows and door open doesn't help. I could live with that. I'd be like, okay, whatever. Dude, I think probably the two biggest things for me.

Oh, another one. again boozy bitch another another not needed but would like yes yeah but this is closer to the non-negotiable as you've seen as I've been looking uh state of appliances is big for me oh like yeah gas stove and a anesthetic stance like I would prefer a gas stove I'm a big cook I love cooking and a convection you know flat top stove is not not nearly as effective or nice as a A stove. So that is important to me. But then the aesthetic side is like, there's something about like white appliances that just looks so shit.

Like you have a white microwave and stove. It looks like shit. But again, perfect place, great price. I'm like, I can live with that. I would not genuinely. If you offered me a, I was about to say a five bedroom house, but like I live alone, I would not, there's no need for me to have a five bedroom house. but if you if you gave me a three-bedroom house with you know a guest bedroom one of the bedrooms

is an office stainless steel appliances brand new fixtures everything blah blah blah outlets every five inches on the wall that's a big one and you gave it to me for free in a beautiful neighborhood with a big backyard here comes pool shit here comes some absolutely If you gave me that for free, and there was no washer and dryer included, I would literally not take it. Where, what if it was in the garage? Would take it. That's fine.

What if it was? That's in unit. But if you have to go to the laundromat, you don't want it. I would not, I would literally not take that place for free. Even if the laundromat was next door, if there was a teleportation portal in the bathroom that brought me to the laundromat, I would not. take it for free. Dude, this is so fucking crazy that I called you out, but you might be right. Dude, there's a chance that you're right about this, dude. Again, I will, I will, I will, I will,

again, state, I am a bougie bitch. I'm a pussy. But all of you people, you listeners, who go to a laundromat, you do not know how strong you are. You do not realize. You do not realize the heroes that you are. People who leave their homes to do laundry somewhere, you deserve a metal of all. Everything. As far as I'm concerned. The grind that is your everyday life. You must wake up every single day. And one of the first thoughts that goes through your head is, fuck, how am I going to get my laundry done this week? Yeah, dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, what do I do? It must be, it must be an everyday thing. You got to pay for a service, dude. What if you did that day? You live for free, but you just pay for your laundry service. You just drop it in a bag at the fucking door.

I still wouldn't do it, dude, because I, I knew it. I knew bullshit was coming. I knew bullshit was coming. There it is. There it is. When I was at prep school, when I was at Andover, I signed up for the laundry service. And after two weeks, I abandoned it. I called mom and dad, and I was like, hey, cancel that laundry service.

There's a laundry, there's a laundry, there's a washer dryer here in the dorm. I'm going to use that. There was? Yeah, yeah. What are you talking about? You had a, there's a washer dryer at Exeter. I think we all had the service for free, bitch. Okay.

No, you didn't. First of all, first of all, hey, look at me. First of all, take a look at me. Take a look at me. First of all, liar. You know, you're a liar? Second of all, I need my shit whenever I want it. Yeah.

Like, there'll be times where something comes up and I'm like, oh, I got to wear this on this day and it needs to be washed. I need to be able to wash that that day. Right now. You're walking in the bathtub. Scrub a dub, dude. You're good to go. Hang it outside. You don't even dry your clothes anyway.

You fucking hang everything. Get me a washboard from the bayou and a stone and I'll fucking wash that shit right up in the bathtub. I will hear you this that there are washer, in-unit washer dryer, dishwasher for me is a fucking massive need. Yeah. I used to think that, well, like, in my three-bedroom perfect home for free scenario, I, there was a time where I was like, I could deal without a dishwasher, but that might be a deal-breaker, too. It's just that is so fucking trash. Like, you have to wash your plate every, because you know, you know my stance on drying racks.

Yeah, dude, exactly. And I see a drying rack full of dishes. You're a fucking pauper. You're a pavo. You're a cumb. You're a pavow pig. You're a fat pig. covered in mud. You are a disgusting mutant.

Dude, I love how you actually think clean, drying dishes is more gross than dirty dishes in the sink because you're like, those you're getting to. No, no, no, no, no, no. I don't think that that's worse. There's no way. Dirty dishes in the sink. Dude, if you have dirty dishes sitting in your sink, you are. You should be shot into the fucking sun. With no dishwasher, you're going to. With no dishwasher, a 24-hour grace period, though, because sometimes it's like... 24 hours... Yeah, sometimes it's like Sunday night you just eat and you put them in the sinks, and then you go to work Monday, you come back and you clean.

That's completely fine. First of all, that's not 24 hours. Second of all... Yes, it is. Sunday night dinner. Before Monday dinner, it needs to be cleaned. Again, that's not 24 hours. That's like 20 hours.

Oh, oh. Well, I mean, you have a 24-hour grace period. It has to be done inside of 24 hours. No. That is way too fucking long. Leaving your... Oh, God. You need a dishwasher.

You're a piece of shit. You're a pig pen. Dude, you've never lived. You've never lived without a dishwasher. Yes, I have. And, well, in a fucking dorm, dude. No. I guess we did at Grahamersy.

Yeah, Gramercy did not have a dishwasher. Yeah, and there were, dude, there were dirty dishes in there. I fucking promise you that. Yeah, sometimes you left them in there because you are a dung beetle, and I would wash them. I would find them and wash them. Also, here's a, where's a, what? like don't need but I didn't realize how much I like disposal

when you are doing dishes and all the food debris is just like filling up in that little cup thing and I'm like fucking Christ dude and like the water's filling up and I just want to be like but I'm like I gotta empty this little guy

that's more annoying than you think it is but not a not a deal break no not a need not a need and then a need for me dude is parking because, bro, and where I'm at right now, it's, there's technically two spots, but it's like too tan to me to use. So we just use one. And so I just park on the street.

And 95% of the time, it is so easy to find a spot. But the 5% dude, like, I want to fucking blow my brains out when I'm just spinning around. And I see one spot so I turn around and then someone else like zooms in front of me and takes it. And I'm like, do you live here? Why are you here? Why are you on this street parking right here, dude? go away go to your street it's so funny whenever i'm trying to park in l.a and i go down a street out and then a random place and it's like residential parking only i want to fucking rip someone's

throat out mcgruper style but then if i were a resident there i would be like thank god for they're just what you're like beach goers you're just parking here fuck your mother dude i park here it's so crazy and and like there's dude i have the easiest parking of like 99% of the city. Like people in WeHo actually can't park. Like when I'm, what I'm bitching about is I can't park right in front of the house. I just take one right and there's a spot on the street over and I'm like,

but even that dude, I'm just like, fuck you. It drives me insane. So yeah, I really need parking dishwasher washer dryer. Yeah, I think that these.

If you only got three, you only got three things. Bang, you're dead. Three things. What are you taking? Three things that are my non-negotiables. Yeah. Like hardwood floors, all that bullshit. Everything you just said, you get three things.

Wash or dryer. I think we narrowed it down. I think we're on a role here. We're on a roll here with these episodes. Our wedding planning was fucking perfect. And I think our non-negotiables are perfect. I think washer dryer one, hard one. Yeah. Dishwasher two. God, I might go parking too. That's so crazy. Yeah. Parking is so tough, especially if you're in a shit. Yeah, if it's bad. Dude, at our first apartment in L.A., C.P. had the parking spot because he had the smaller bedroom. That was a genius negotiation by me. Genius. You stole that lady's spot, though, for months. You remember that?

I did, man. And this fucking woman, it was, no one lived in a unit. She was never there. You're never there. So I parked in her spot. And this, this fucking lady, like, one day, she left the note of my car. And it wasn't like, you will be towed. It was like a, I am going to light this car on fire and then find you and light you on fire if you ever park here again.

And I was like, welcome back to the building, ma'am. Because she knew you couldn't get a tow truck in there anyway, so she didn't want to make an empty threat. So she was like, I'll blow this car. Like a little exploded. I'll explode the whole building. Tell you, yeah, dude, that's, yes. But yeah, I think it's, I think it's dishwasher two and parking three. I think those are the three.

I think those are the big three. Those are the big three for sure. Dan, to be honest with you, I couldn't remember who's, who's, turn it was on games or where we were. So summertime, we're just starting fresh with me, and we're going to play a little bit of connective tissue. Oh, yeah. For those of you new to the show, I give Dan two bits of two different hockey players careers,

bits of two different hockey players careers, and their careers via their name meets in the middle. So, for example, you could say Adam Fantilly Stepniak. Yep, and we have done Brandon Montori Krug And things of that nature I think the first one we ever did was Scott Stephen Stamcoast. So it can be more on the nose It can be a little abstract.

Are you ready, Dan? I am. And I have it, it's kind of the first read It's going to be like a little tough And then I have some things I can add on, okay? Here we go. I was the first overall pick to a team that doesn't even exist anymore.

And I never actually played for them as they traded me to a team with a more iconic jersey. I flourished there winning the Hart Trophy in 1995 and eventually got my number retired by them, which is a number that I really made famous. Then my New England prep school hockey background got me drafted in the fourth round and I got to stay on the East Coast.

I want to cut my rookie year. Since then, I've lost it. a cup final and I'm now on a new team that I'm hopeful will get me another chance at Lord Stanley. Let me know what you need to read again and let me know if you want the more descriptive blurbs. Okay. I love this one. I love it.

I love it a lot. A New England prep school background rookie year Stanley Cup winner is the second one. Yep. And the first one is a first overall draft pick. To a team that is defunct. And he never played for. But he flourished on a team with an iconic jersey. They retired his number.

And it's a number that's really like you think of him. Yeah, that is making me be like that can only be a couple of guys. I think that's right. It's not way no. It's not Ray. It's not. Wayne, who are iconic number? Retired iconic number guys.

Wayne, no. Ray Bork, no. I'm saying, not that. I know, I know. And what's hilarious when you get this, I'll tell you, I don't want to give you this yet, but what you just said is funny.

Mario. It's even funnier now. Oh, I think I, I think that you laughing just gave me a hint. Oh, okay, I got the first. Damn, I forgot that draft story about him. Well, I don't want to say yet, but if you know, it is crazy, because I did too. Let me give you the, let me give you the full.

I got the whole thing. Our player, one of which is a friend of the program. Correct. our player is Eric Lindross Colton Eric Lindross Colton Eric Lindross is so good Here's the here's the oh dude and I got this was another fan submission dance shout out Alex

I don't know if I have his full name I saved it Eric Lindroskulton is fantastic Or no Ryan fuck sorry Ryan Shout out Ryan McGee Ryan McGee Oh Ryan McGee Ryan McGee is a legendary member of the network.

Yeah. Legendary member of the network. Fans of mission. Here's the full blurb, Dan. I was the first overall pick to a team that doesn't exist anymore, but I never actually played for them as they traded me to a team with an iconic jersey. I flourished there winning the Hart Trophy in 95, eventually getting my jersey retired, which is a number that I really made famous.

Repeated head injuries cut my career short, but I always played a physical game as a big forward. Then my New England prep school hockey background got me drafted in the fourth round, and I got to stay on the East Coast, which was nice because I also played college hockey in hockey east. I want to cut my rookie year where I scored the game winning goal in the cup clincher. And since then, I've lost in a cup final. And now I'm on a new team that hopefully will give me a chance at Lord Stanley. Unbelievable. Ross Colton. Eric Lindrosk. Eric Lindrosk, Colton. Great job, Dan. Quebec Nordiques. First overall picks that I'd never

play there because they have a loser mentality finished last three years in a row. And I hate the owner. They said, we'll never trade you. We're building our entire franchise around you. And then they said just kidding we're training you just phenomenal stuff phenomenal stuff well that is going to do it for us this week at the empty netters podcast another phenomenal shift in not ice we're going to get used to this that was a wild fucking living situation story that you're unbelievable uh stay dialed with us guys please if you haven't yet subscribe to the youtube there are hundreds of thousands of you who follow us and not all of you are subscribed to the youtube so if you're listening still just pause check if you're subscribed to the youtube if you're not

Just do it. Click subscribe. Follow us on all the channels. Rock with us all summer long. We're going to give you some really fun stuff. We've got a nice happy hour coming out tomorrow. You can see me rocking the hat, the shirt. We've got some amazing merch on our store.

Check that out if you need some new summer gear. This hat is really kind of taking the headlines right now. It's beautiful stuff. But we love you guys. And until we see you next week on the pod, Skate Hard.