Puck Soup - Jack Eichel, Traded

Episode Date: November 4, 2021

Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slap shots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to what if you commute. But we also cover movies, TV shows, it's and tunes. It's your weekly bowl of Hagi and Nonsense. I'm Greg Wishinsey at ESPN, where I ruined the opening of the show by not having my microphone recording. I'm Ryan Lambert from Elite Prospects, a site brought. down by people frantically googling who Peyton Crabs is. Theathletic.com slash NHL. 50% off today.

This is Sean Jensili. There he is, folks. The Sean of the day is Gentile for what should be an epic episode. Folks, it is Jack Eichael Trade Day, finally. Thanks to the Golden Knights and the Buffalo Sabres for making this thing happen before we started recording. Breaking the usual Buck Soup tradition, which is to have the trade occur 10, minutes before the show ends or 10 minutes after the show ends. Yeah.

I was convinced last night it was going to happen during the AEW show and I was going to have to stop watching AEW. Oh, my God. You imagine the tragedy. I was preemptively pissed. It worked out great. And I saw some pretty good things. Missing, missing FTR against Calisto and somebody, it would have been a real tragedy. Trade drops during the big Miro Orange Cassidy showdown at the end.

I would have been beside myself. Sounds like you all watched it, so shut the fuck up. I'm being sincere. I don't know what ESPN's doing over there. Lambert would have slowly put his hands in his pockets and sulked. That's right. Bald Cassidy? Oh, my goodness.

Wow. That's not even a joke. It's good, though. His hair is orange. His hair is orange. His hair is it's orange. That's why he's Orange Cassidy. What do you think he's Orange Cassidy?

Because he has an affinity for the state of. Florida? Come on. His hair is orange. It's not orange. What the fuck are you talking? He's a blonde man. It's a strawberry blonde. Oh, my God.

To orange. Strawberry? Are you English buddy? Oh, my God. Greg Wischinsky. You know, I realized the other day listening to an interview on the big picture that my British accent guy is just Edgar Wright. Did you see that, by the way?

Oh, we talk about Orange Cassidy now. Oh, man. Did you see that new movie? I didn't because you said it sucked. I didn't because you said it sucked. Like I, so I feel like I can drop it down the queue a little bit. Kind of stinks. I'm bummed about that.

I just rewatched Sean of the Dead over the weekend and got it. Oh, there's a film. It was so fantastic. So anyway, Jack Eichael got traded. Huh? To the Vegas Golden Knights and the Buffalo Sabers, who you'll remember Jack Eichel played for at one point. acquired forward Alex Tuck,

Center Peyton Krebs, and draft picks. And here's the draft picks. If the Vegas first round pick in 2022 is not a top 10 pick, then Vegas will transfer its first round pick to Buffalo and its own second round pick in the 2023 draft to Buffalo, and Buffalo will give them their third round pick in 2023.

But if Vegas' first round draft pick in 2020, is a top 10 draft pick because everybody's hurt and they suck and an Ikel doesn't play. Vegas will transfer its own first round pick in the 20203 draft to Buffalo and its own second round pick and the 2024 draft to Buffalo. And then Buffalo will transfer its own third round pick in the 2024 draft to Vegas. So that's why this trade took so fucking long. That's a long way. That's a lot of words to say that this was about fucking Peyton Krebs. That's why this happened.

Vegas was holding out for Peyton Krebs. That's why this deal was done now, because they finally squeezed because Buffalo finally squeezed Peyton Crabbs out of Vegas. Well, let's talk about squeezing. In the 24 hours leading up to this trade, in the 24 hours leading up to this trade, we had an incredible moment, which was the Buffalo Sabres transparently leaking a fake trade proposal from the Calgary Flames to try to get the Vegas Colton Knights to up their ante. Someone told Kevin Weeks that Matthew Kachuk was going to be traded for Jack Eichael, along with like a bunch of other shit.

And it was amazing. Yeah, it was kind of implied like Sean Monaghan, maybe like, Larry. Yeah, like. I don't know how fake the Kachuk stuff is. You think it's for real? I wouldn't say it's fake. I, well, Andy Strickland said it was fake. And he's like, no less authority.

He's like the third Kachuk brother at this point. He's so tight with the family. Yeah. If only the trade would only involve the sabers and the blues and the kachucks, like there's another team involved here. This is true. So. Now, hold on.

Even if we say that the Kachuk thing wasn't fake, and it may not have been because, let's face it, like, he is probably going to leave Calgary. Yeah. I'll tell you what it definitely was. It was definitely leaked. Yeah, right. Exactly. It was definitely leaked.

Do you think that's what got Peyton Krebs? Do you think it worked? Or do you think that they were, like, were trying to even ang. even higher than tuck and crebs? The vibe I got is that it was crebs or tuck, and that this is maybe what got them tuck in crebs. I don't know. That's an educated guess, though.

Right. That they did not have to choose between those guys, and instead got both of them. That's insane that that was even under consideration. That would be in either or. It would have been someone else. Like the other packages, as I've kind of understood them, is that it was, you know, crabs plus plus or took plus plus, not crabs and took plus plus.

Took plus. Took plus plus. Tuck plus. All right, Lambert, what did you think of the trade? For the thing, Sean stole blatantly for me. Oh, no. This is so rude. That's it?

That was my big, like, I can't believe that we waited fucking non-examination. months and they were like, oh, like a trade you would have sketched out, I don't know, like kind of idly on an HF boards post nine months ago is exactly what fucking happened. We waited all this fucking time, all these, oh, talks of cool. Well, they could eat up, but they've cooled and now they're heating up and now they're cooling again and now it like. It's on the one-yard line like Emily said the other day. Yeah, like fucking, this was a trade they could have made at the draft.

and everyone would have been like, oh, okay. First of all, not the HF boards, the Vegas Golden Knights section on the HF boards. What if we gave up Tuck, Krebbs, a couple picks. I think that gets you, Eichol. I think in that scenario, the second would have been a fourth. If it was a Knights fan. But otherwise, you'd have been like, yeah.

And also, if it was the HF boards, you'd have to have seven paragraphs of justification. Tuck from Syracuse would like play in Buffalo. Yeah, that's right. And you've got to be really pissed about giving up Peyton Krebs. Like, that was the vibe that I picked up on when I was just doing, you know, just seeing what was written about Peyton Krebs and Jack Eichel six months ago. And people are like, I don't know, Vegas can give up Peyton Krebs.

They can't. They can't give up Peyton Crabs. Well, here's the thing about Peyton Krebs. Like, I'm sure he could be a very nice player. And I'm sure, like, you know, the danger is. there that we'll look back on this is another Nick Suzuki thing where they sold on a young center before they should have. But I was talking to someone who works for a team today and they're like, paying credit

is so fucking good. How is he not in this roster? That's exactly right. He doesn't cost anything against the cap and they have no centers. So like, what the fuck? Yeah. No, like he is a guy who he scored like I think almost two points a game last year in junior. And so everybody was like, oh, shit.

And of course, you know, again, last season was fake. He played like 15 games or something. So, you know, like I'm not, I'm not going to get too excited about like WHL numbers from the COVID season. But, you know, I looked it up this morning. EP Rinkside has him at, had him as the 11th best like drafted prospect in the world. You know, that's not bad. But also like nobody on earth is like, this kid is like, a future superstar.

Where with Nick Suzuki, there was at least a fair bit of like, seems like this kid's going to be really fucking good. Right. Everybody's like, yeah, he's good. The grand tradition of the Vegas Golden Knights trading away first rounders, either drafted or just the pick to get things. It's incredible. It all comes from when your owner has been, you know,

fucking Ghalem with the ring obsessed with winning a cup since he got the franchise Charter is when you start trading away your futures like this. But I mean, like in this case, obviously it's fine. You know, trade a first. It will probably end up being in the lower 20 and then trade Krebs to get Eichl. Well, see, I wonder about that, right? Because it's like, oh, they suck this year. They've been really bad so far.

Right, but it's protected. So it doesn't matter. Well, right. So, but like, you know, that's what I wonder about is like how they fucking got Buffalo to agree to that. I don't think it's crazy that they end up as one of the, is one of the, do I think it's likely that that pick ends up as the eighth or whatever? Like, it's not likely, but I think, I think it's possible at least. I think it's very possible.

Everyone, everyone writing it off is like, oh, this will just never happen. Don't worry that it's pick protected. I mean, clearly someone worried about it. So. They should worry about it. They're bad. Those guys out of the lineup. They're a terrible team. The fucking Toronto, Jason brought up our friend in Vancouver had this great line this week where he's,

He's like, you know, it's the first time I looked at their roster since 2017 and actually thought they were an expansion team. It's like, it's like, broth is like pitch down Babcock. My buddy said that they're an expansion team now. My body said that. It could easily be a thing where they get into the top 10 in the draft. Now, Sean, you and I both wrote our trade grades before we hopped on the podcast. Yes. Let's, let's, I'm going to say one, two, three.

You say what you grade. Vegas, ready? One, two, three, A minus. Hey, look at us. We're A minus buddies now. Okay, ready? Buffalo, and I guarantee you mine is going to be higher

because I know how you grade bad grades. 5, four, three, two, one. C minus. All right. I gave them a C because I do have a certain amount of sympathy. Nope. For the circumstance. No.

What? Oh, the fucking circumstances that there's no trademark it, Lambert? Their fault. There's no trademark. It's their fault that they're not. There's no trade market. They should have traded him before he got hurt last year. They should have traded him before he got hurt.

What are they, a soothsayer? They know he's going to fucking get hurt during a game? What do they have the sports almanac? They've certainly had no control over the process over the last six months of anything to do with Jack Eichol. If only there were something, they could have allowed Jack Eichol to do to have his trade value rebound and be able to do this. Now, in fairness to them, okay? there legitimately were teams that could not trade for him because their own medical staff didn't want him to get the surgery. So you had to take them out of the equation.

There were teams that you thought would be in the market for Jack Lacle, but decided I like our plan better, like the fucking Kings and like the Rangers. In the King's case, like they probably would have made this trade two years from now, but they certainly don't need them now. They're not ready for that yet. And so like the market for him was not robust. I think it should have been more than two teams. Where I will fault them, and I wrote this in the trade grade, where I will fault them is this. They could have retained salary. And retaining salary on this deal would have been weaponized in cab space in a way that we've seen teams, other teams do it, like Carolina, getting a first for Patrick Marlow and shit like that.

That was what this would have been. If you pay $5 million a season until 2006, do you understand how much better this package would have been from another team? No, that's a really good point. And guess what? They didn't do it. That's another thing they didn't do it. didn't do. They didn't do it.

I felt like a C-minus was generous. I had him at D-plus for most of it. Yeah, I think that's about right. Here's the fucked up thing that I've been thinking about this morning. Let's say Jeff Skinner doesn't shoot 75% that one season. Yeah.

Where's the state? Like, none of this shit fucking happens, right? Like, they don't extend him for a billion dollars and a million years, right? Like, they don't, You know, like that one guy going off that one season fucked this team so hard. Just a chaotic, a chaotic contract.

I mean, the fucking began before that, didn't it? Or when did the O'Reilly trade happen? Was that after Skinner or before Skinner? Oh, that's a good question. I mean, look, like they- The O'Reilly trade gave this entire franchise PTSD. Like, they fucking whiffed on it so hard. There's like, Tage Thompson and then Ryan Johnson are the only two.

parts of that trade left. And Tage Thompson sucks. And Tage Thompson sucks and you don't have with, yeah, not only does Tage Thompson suck, but like to go back to the Peyton Krebs point from earlier, like, that's the kind of prospect they should have gotten for O'Reilly. They wanted Kairu, and they wanted Thomas. And so St. Louis is like, fuck off. And they're like, all right, we'll take Tage Thompson.

We'll take Tage Thompson. Didn't score a single five-on-five goal in his draft year. Or maybe one. I had a beer. I had a beer with my buddy a couple days ago. He's a Sabres fan. My buddy. My buddy.

The idea of them, like, he was basically just, like, sitting at the bar with his head down, like, mumbling about Patrick Bergland. Like, he was like, he was like, he was like, right. He was like, we can't, I can't, I don't think I can handle that again. So he's, you know, I touched bids with him earlier, he seems like he's just, and I'm sure this is the attitude. And based on the comments, it seems like it's true to where Sabres fans are just like fucking fine. Like, okay, like, like, this is, this is it. It's over. The package isn't that bad. Like, can we all please, can we please move on? And I understand that.

I'm just not willing to grade this on a curve for a situation, for a situation that largely was in the Sabres control. And we're talking about the injury stuff and the surgery stuff in certain ways the last six months have gone down. Yep. The surgery stuff, I don't think, was as in control as you make it out to be. If you had teams that were like, I can't, I can't, like, how did GM tell me, how did a GM tell me, I can't get into this market? because our medical staff won't do it.

Like, they just won't allow them to do surgery. They won't let him have the disc replacement surgery, you mean. Correct. Yeah. Yeah, correct. So it's like, I think the salary cap stuff is very much controllable, and that's a fuck-up. I think the surgery stuff is one of those circumstances that's out of their control, and I think it's certainly affected the trade market. Needless to say, you've got to make it a situation where you have more than two teams in the final wrap.

Well, LeBron's saying Carolina was in on it also, but, you know, is that real? who fucking knows. By the way, the Skinner trade was like a month and a day after the, after the O'Reilly trade. This contract or the trade? The trade, because he had a year, if I remember right, he had a year left. So the skipper contract happened a year after the O'Reilly trade. Let's see here. Jeff Skinner extension. Googling on the show, it's perfect. It's always good.

Yeah, yep. Look it up, Lambo. Look it up. I did it. And it's, yeah, June 7th, eight years, $72 million. Yeah. So he had one insano year. Oh, my God. And that is not what any Sabres fan wants to hear.

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But hurry, you must hurry. This offer is available only for a limited time so you don't want to miss it or else they'll take Peyton Krebs off the table. That's buy raycon.com slash puck to unlock up 20% off your RACONs, buy Raycon. Buyrac.com. Here's the thing about the package that the Sabres got back. I don't hate it. I think it's better than the O'Reilly trade, obviously. Like, Krebs could become something.

I actually like Tuck a lot. Yeah, he's good. He's kind of like, I kind of like he's like a less aggressive Keith Primo, if that makes sense. Like a guy who scores you goals doesn't necessarily drive your line, but can be a good, reliable power forward. And I think actually, you know, as we look at Jack Eichel not having played a single playoff game in his career, like, Tuck was pretty fucking.

good for them in the playoffs like he was not part of the problem you know he was gonna you know you know he's gonna love tuck donnie meatballs baby that's a don that's right that is a don that's a don't that's a don't granado player no i i felt like i was kind of given tuck short shrift in the in the write-up that i did because i really i really do like him as a player and i like him as an asset for buffalo because he's still he's still young he's 25 he's as old as jack ikel he was draft year draft year before but same age he's been productive. He's cost, he's cost controlled. Worse comes to worse. He's a guy who's always going to, he's going to have value throughout

the duration of that contract, right? So if stuff completely goes sideways, you know, you either get a good player who can contribute and be fun and give, he's a player that fans could, you know, at least hang something on, or he's going to be a dude who you can flip for more. Like, I like, I like getting tucked. My issue is with the deal. I've nothing to do with him being involved. He's a good player. Yeah, and signed through 2006, so he's a controllable asset And I saw a story by Bill Hoppe From a few years ago

That said he had 400 friends and family Come to see his game in Buffalo When the Knights came through Imagine that, imagine somebody who loves being in Western New York As much as Alex Tuck And now he's a saber Or imagine having 400 people Who wanted to see you do anything, any capacity

How many people do you think that you could wrangle, Sean, To watch you do something? To watch me, work? Not six. We've had like 250 people at a live show before. So I think that's probably like the most I think I could wrangle.

Maybe I don't know. Do I know 250 people like personally? I think so. I 250 people think they know you at least. They'd come. Fuck. That's true. Do you think you know me?

Hit the music. Got no idea. Yeah, bro. So, all right. So I don't know, man. Like, it's, it's, I feel bad for Buffalo. But, but here's the thing I, I don't feel bad for Buffalo about besides the lack of salary retention.

Like, I know the surgery part of this is, is something you can't ignore. But like, it feels like all of this began way before he got hurt as far as him wanting out. Like, there was Rumbling's last number that he wanted out. And it's just kind of like, you fucked up your franchise. bad that this franchise player no longer wants to be a part of the franchise. And to me, that's kind of like the rot that we're dealing with. This is the end result of it. Yeah.

This is the cost. This is the bill for sucking shit for the last, you know, 15 years. Right. And sucking shit for the last 15 years. And then also like changing the direction of your franchise whenever, like every two years because you're firing GMs and firing coaches. Well, because it's because you're like, oh, we have. blank now. We're ready to compete.

And like, first it was Jack Eichel, then, oh, wait, okay, we have Ryan O'Reilly. That guy sucks, I guess, so he's going to go. But now we have Jeff Skinner. So now we're ready to compete. And now we have Rasmus Ristice to Line, and we're ready. Like, and, you know,

I'll put it this way. You know, uh, you can't, you can't ever like finish your rebuild if you're just like, we're not doing a rebuild every three years, you know? Right. And in fact, we never were.

What? Here's where I'll give Kevin Adams most credit, I think, is like the level of emotion in Buffalo, whether it's the fan base, whether it's the volatility and the reactivity, whether it's from the fan base, whether it's from the ownership group. Like, it's been high for years, understandably. Like, they're, they change on dimes and the course, the course always shifts. Oh, wait, Jeff Skinner's good. Let's pay him $400 million over 35 years. Like the fact that Adams at least, you know, seems like a step, like, this was not a deal made out of emotion, clearly. He took months and months and months to consummate it and at least got what he wanted. Like he clearly wanted Krebs. You can quibble with that as much as you like.

But that is the piece that he wanted. And he held firm and got it. So I got to give him some amount of credit for, you know, being a steady emotional hand at the wheel because of the Pugula is that always that hasn't always been the case. Whether it's them leaning on, leaning on front office, you know, for for splashy moves or this or that. Like he, he did a good job. If there's something for Sabres to be, Sabres fans to be excited about, I think it's that. I think he did. And I also think that, like, there was a lot of external pressure to just end this drama, you know, and have everybody kind of move on. And he held tight.

I mean, I still think, like we said, there are probably ways to have finessed a better market for Eichael. But he did, he did all right. So let's talk about the Golden Knights part of this, because we really haven't yet. What in the fuck are they going to do about their salary cap? They're not going to re-sign whichever one of Riley Smith. and John Crosse so is up. What are they going to do about their salary cap in April? That's the question.

Are they going to coochere off Eichol? Because that's the only way I see they're out of it. Because if you don't cooture off Eichol, then you're going to probably have to get rid of Riley Smith and Alec Martinez to fit him in. Well, I think the last thing I saw was that Stone might be out for the entire regular season. One of those guys is going to be hurt. Yeah.

Like, Pati Reddy's going to have a setback or Stone's going to be out for the rest of the regular season. That's what's going to have. happen. Those are the guys that are going to get Kutraub, not Ikel. But there's going to have to be somebody Kutroff or else you're going to have to break up the team that you just acquired Jack Eichael to help try to win a cup this season. Well, yeah, and like I said, the summer is a different deal. They have 17 players under contract for next season, and they're going to be able to, I mean, they're going to lose Smith off the cap. They're going to be able to finagle some other stuff. Like the summer is not the problem. The problem is adding them this season. Yeah. And not

for nothing. Tuck doesn't, tuck makes almost five million dollars against the cap. Like that's like that's at least a little chunk that went out like that doesn't right that counts for That counts for something what I assume Vegas thinks is that some idiot GM is just gonna bail them out and fix their problems for them Probably right that's what's been done throughout the entire through the entire history of the franchise yeah and all right RIP Stan Bowman by the way so yeah the other thing to say though again is that like they were two weeks ago I saw something of they think my mark stone might be out for the whole season. So like if they if they're operating under that assumption already right like even before making the Eichel trade well then there you go like this is an easy this is an easy call for them.

How many seconds after including Peyton Krebs in the trade did they decide that Mark Stone was going to be out for the entire season? No that was a that was on their vision board. That was on that was on the Kelly McCrimmon Vision Board where it was like Peyton Krebs Season ending Seasending injury for Mark Stone Like he secreted it into the into being Also

I'm sure the I'm sure the NHL will be very vigilant And checking out all of these things Being that you know The Vegas Golden Knights are only four years removed From paying them a fuck ton of money Yeah you also get somebody to take The Donov off your hands right Like that's the other easy solution here

I don't know who's going to do it but like That's the thing. You can trick somebody. There's always some idiot out there for sure. Here's a question. How long will the 2017 expansion draft like keep bearing fruit for the Vegas Golden Knights? The only reason Tuck was on the team was because Minnesota handed him over so they would take fucking Eric Holler or whoever it was. It's true.

The only reason he was on the team in the first place. Yep. So that they still have, they still have assets. that they fleece dumb GMs for four years ago. It's wild. Ron Francis just kicked his television. He's just like so fucking hang there. Where's Dale Tallin?

Why did Chuck Fletcher learn his lesson? Why? I'm so excited to see Eichel play with Patcheretti and Stone. Oh my God. That line is best line in the universe level. Good. Yeah. I just can't wait.

I don't know. Is it Chandler-Stevenson's spot to lose? Who can say? Well, that's the other thing, too. Like, when you look at this team, I mean, assuming that they're all going to still be there, but, like, now you move William Carlson down to where he should be, which is like a second line center. And you have, I mean, the Misfits line's fucking great, too.

Chandler-Stevenson gets to be a third-line center now, and that'll be fine. Like, it resets their center depth in a way that's, like, really fucking impressive. So they might be, they might all of a sudden have the best center depth in the, in the conference. Yeah, because you immediately go from like an overex, like, what was William Carlson, over-extended first-line center. And now, and now he's just, he's a great second-line center. It fixes it. It's amazing what getting a potential top five player on Earth can do to your, to do to your roster.

That's right. It's wild. Do you, I mean, is there any part of you guys that's, like, worried about his health? Or do you think that it's all hype and, like, this surgery will happen and he'll be fine? people I've talked to like in in PT and in all that stuff I've it feels like something's happened prime prime prime time that's right prime time Dion Sanders baby now in like in like physical therapy and and all and all that sort of stuff I think I think the disc replacement is um even over the last year or two it's why it's kind of wild to see the the uh the amount of confidence

that people have in that now versus even a couple years ago I'm I'm happy that he gets to have the disc replacement because it affords, like, that means he's not going to have another operation when he's, when he's, uh, when he's, when he's, when he's 35 or, or, or, or whatever. If this is really a one and done thing, you know, congrats to Jack Eichol. He doesn't have to spend the rest of his life getting, getting, uh, getting cut open. So, whatever. Mm, yuck. Uh, did you know Dion Sanders is coaching, uh, sure did. Yeah, of college. It was Jackson State. Do you know that they call him coach prime? Not only do they call him coach prime he has he has attempted upon it he has attempted yes to uh force media to call him

coach prime as well like during press conference yes yes yes that's true that would annoy that would annoy me more than people referring to brian burke is burkey during press conference it's brutal it's brutal it's brutal out there timely do you have i forgot to ask you have a sour power ranking genitially i don't think we've talked about you know what What? I don't, I don't, I, Dom does. I just use it as an opportunity to like... There's a fucking surprise. Yeah, to have like, like old, old man whining. Like, yeah, I like the song that sounds like Courtney Barnett, and I like the song that sounds like Paramour.

Oh, that's so fun. I like the one that sounds like Elastica, and I also like the one that sounds like Taylor Swift. So we're all in business. You know, I don't have any problem with that, though, by the way. I, you know, one of my favorite movies is Independence Day, which is basically just an amalgamation of better sci-fi movies. It's like Sauer being an amalgamation of other bands great songs is awesome. Like, if I was an angry, like, teen who got jilted by a boy who sings Billy Joel songs with a new girl, like, I would totally steal her music. And how many teens do you think are singing Billy Joel songs? Other than...

Theater kids do. Other than me in 2003? I don't know. She's a theater kid. They all, like, you tell me, like, theater kids aren't singing, like, piano man and shit in 2012? Yeah, I'm pretty sure. in 2021, no children are singing fucking piano, man. I don't know.

Has there been a Billy Joel version of Dancing with the Stars lately? I went, I was, I drove past Alder Dice High School a couple days ago. And they were blasting down Easter Alexa. It was fucking. This is like in Billy Madison when he pulls up to the high school, a blasting Oreo speed wagon. That's Greg with, with the. fucking, uh, I can't think of a Billy Joel. My, I, I, I, I, listen, I, late period, Billy Joel.

Oh, I was thinking of the one that's the duop ripoff. What's that called? Uh, oh, the longest time. Yes, that's, Greg, just popping the collar on his jean jacket. I, like Orange Cassidy. Like, I don't know what to tell you, but my daughter's in sixth grade now, her history class, it's just, we didn't start the fire. That's all it is. They just sing it. And the kids learn about Wheel of Fortune and Sally Ride. And heavy metal suicide? Oh, there it goes.

Is that the most well-known couplet from that song, you think? We look for it, Sally Ride, heavy metal suicide? It's the one about Leonard Bernstein, or is that freaking end of the world? That's the same song, who gives a shit, get lost. You suck. I don't know. AIDS crack Bernie Gets is also pretty good, too. That's a pretty memorable one, too. That's a very tri-state area specific.

I remember when I was a little kid. Oh, I thought you meant AIDS and crack. I'll stay away from that one. That affected everybody. When I was a little kid, just a subway. I had like a book of David Letterman top ten lists that somebody gave me or whatever. And like there were so many Bernie gets jokes that I was like, I feel like I understand what whatever is going on with this.

I didn't at all, it turned out. Bernie gets a man who just murdered some... Yeah, like a murderous vigilante. Does Vegas win the Stanley Cup with Jack Eichol now? Is this the... They went from the goalies to the winger to the defenseman, and now they got their center. Is this what cracks the code?

Is this what puts them over the top? I think they've got to make the playoffs first, right? That's the... And I don't think that's a guarantee right now. They're in a hole here. I mean, I'm not talking about it. this season I'm willing to write off. But starting in the fall, stuff is going to get.

And as a hater, I think this is great. Because we're either going to see a super compelling cup run by the Vegas Golden Knights, or they're going to be utter failures. And I'm ready to track it. But they should. Here's what I'll say, though. If this is who Alex Petrangelo is, they might be fucked. Yeah, that's right.

So we'll see. But he's, I think, I agree with the sentiment that he's just trying to do too much because the team is very positive. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, very possible. I buy that argument, but also, you know, at his age, guys just don't have it anymore sometimes. It's not impossible that this is, that this is who he is. And then it's not because of over-exertion. That's Alex Fitzgerangelo of the NHL.

The NHL's Alex Archangelo himself. Hey, hey. Soon to be Alex Frangelo. Petrangelo of the KHL. Oh, wow. No, he'll be Alex Petrangelo of the Arizona Coyote. Of the Arizona Coyote's cap-friendly page in five years. Well, I hope that it works out.

I hope for Bill of Holy's safe. Me too. It's fun. It's going to be a good time. But the excuses are over. They have all their pieces. The expansion draft has, you know, gifted, gifted them something else.

Like, let's, let's roll. Let's treat them, you know, as a, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, Autobots transform and let's roll. I like, I like, I like, but I like your thought that like, it's either going to be Bill Foley going insane and tearing down the entire roster, or it's Bill Foley getting his ring. And speaking of rings, today's episode of Pucksey was sponsored by manly bands, you know, I would think so.

Manly bands, well, you know, listen, I'm over-cafing overcaffeinated and underslept. Manly bands is, of course, a proud sponsor Puck Soup in the sense that they are on the show. And also, they have an amazing product, which is wedding bands and rings for manly men. They have just about every earthly material imaginable covered in their ring selection process. I have a titanium one from them. It's a really good looking ring. There's also like a little rubber placeholder ring that you can get from them too that you could use when you're like going hiking and stuff.

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That's ManlyBans.com slash puck. That's manlybans. com slash puck for 21% off of Manly Bands. The best damn rings, period. Is there anything else to say about the Eichel trade? I don't think so, right? Do everything? Yeah, I think so.

That's fine. The Calgary Flames. Whoops. So once again, it looks like Brad True Living is the bridesmaid in a big trade situation. I mean, they're off to such a good start. Yeah, I don't know why you fuck with it. Like, this is all house money on the one hand because nobody thought they were going to be anywhere near this good, right? Yeah.

But also, they're in a really, speaking of interesting cap situations for next year. They have to resign because I was looking at this when this was the big rumor. yesterday. Matthew Kachuk needs a new contract, and he's like two years away from free agency, and his qualifying offer is like $9 or $10 million. Andrew Mangiuponni, who's having a monster start to the year, needs a new contract. Johnny Goddrow needs a new contract. Oliver Shillington, who's having a great breakout at age 24, 25. He needs a new contract.

They're going to have to give out a shitload of money this summer, and I don't. know how they're going to do it. So they're going to lose somebody from this group in all likelihood. It'll probably be Matthew Kachuk because, you know, there's the rumors that he wants out. Do you think that Johnny Godro stays in Calgary? You think Johnny Godro stays in Calgary? Because, I mean, along with Jack Eichol is going to be a golden night, Johnny Goodro playing for either the flowers of the doubles has sort of been like that's destiny for fucking five years. I mean, I was so the, his final season of college hockey, the Frozen Four, was in Philadelphia. Oh, talk. No.

And he, like, just half the reporters on the Flyers beat were there, and they're like, so you're going pro, right? And he's like, no, wink. You know, like, but even then, like, he's not even in the NHL and people are like, you know, you could sign with the Flyers. You know, like, so this has been a long time comment. I can't imagine, speaking of guys that, like, the Calgary media has been trying to trade for fucking four years. is Johnny Godreau. So, like, I don't think he sticks around. And frankly, I think it would be kind of foolish for the flames to make him stick around

because it would cost a shitload of money. And he's like 28, 29. That's sort of it. Like, do you want to give Johnny God, what is? I'm on it 675. 6.75. I always forget whether he's at 7. He's going to want more money because that's how it works.

And that's what he deserves to some extent. But like, he had a great year last year. he's been very good this year. He recovered nicely last year. Like it wasn't last year where he got off to that really slow start. And he got up near a point of game at the end of the season. Is there a fucking chance in hell he's not skating with either Jack Hughes or Nico Heesh or next year? Like, that just seems such an obvious fit for the devils.

I mean, I get why you want that to happen. Yes. Well, it's not that I wanted to happen. I get why it seems so obvious to you. Well, because he's from Jersey. Sounds right. He's from South Jersey. Jersey. Let's not. He's from a Philadelphia suburb. He's not...

You know who was from South Jersey? Brook, New Jersey's own Jim Dowd. You know what he did? He won a Stanley Cup with the Devils. I don't know what that has to do with anything. Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Bobby Ryan. That's right. Mandatory mention. The big, I mean, the Jersey guy that you play with the Devils is Van Riemstack. He's from Middletown. He was from two towns over from me. Yeah, I think the Flyers would be interested in making that happen. I'd tell you what, I'd tell you what, my friend. The issue for the Jersey is they have, I think, like, 20 million dollars in cap space next year, but they got to resign everybody. That's true. While we're in the Pacific, what do you make of the Oilers? Like, do you think they're going to win the cup, like Bucci Gras does?

Well, if fucking Miko Koskinan keeps being a 940 goalie, I think they have a really good chance. Like that's really what it I mean, you know, again, we always said They're going to win a lot of 6, 5, 6, 4, 5, 3 type games They don't even need to come close to doing that They're winning every game like 4 to 1, right? So, you know, they're good. They were always going to be some level of good

And then everybody was like, well, they're going to get sunk by their goaltending. That hasn't happened. That's why this is, you know, they're not. this good, but they're also never going to be bad enough to, like, not be near the top of the West now. They're just, they're just good enough to really, really disappoint everybody whenever Koskin turns. Yeah, when they lose in the second round.

When, when, like, they're going to get to that point and then Koskin's going to turn back into a pumpkin or Mike Smith is going to be, whatever, whatever happens. Someone will try to do a pump. Yep. There will be pumpkins. Yeah. Leon Dreis Idol. Just kidding.

San Jose, Anaheim, and L.A. are right now 3 through 5 in the Pacific. Of those three teams, which one has the best chance to make the playoffs? Probably San Jose. Yeah, I would think San Jose, yeah. But that's just, you know, that's by default. The kings are, blech. Bluch. Yeah.

San Jose, I wrote a piece about the California teams this week, and I didn't realize that San Jose kind of figured their shit out defensively. Like, last year they were, the last two years, they were porous in front of, they were shitty defensively in front of horrible goaltending, which is not a recipe for success. But they've kind of gotten a little bit better on D. Like, they're an interesting team. I don't know if I can, like, if Vegas gets their shit together, I still think they'll make the playoffs. But, like, San Jose's got a maybe a shot. Do you think they have a better shot than Vancouver? Or do you think Vancouver has a better shot in San Jose?

I think neither of them has a particularly good shot. Like, I think, look, let's put it this way. San Jose is like two, three games ahead of Vegas in the standings. Do I think that Vegas in the second half of the season is like, yeah, we're just going to win like 25 out of our next like 32 games? I think that's a real possibility. And, you know, I think San Jose is going to kind of collapse a little bit. I don't really buy it with James Reimer 950 goalie personally. If they keep getting like dead cat bounces from Carlson and Burns and her and hurtles good and

Eklund seems like he's good like there there's enough pieces there I think to they can float it to make me pick them over the kings who aren't that good to begin with and I've just been completely decimated and then the and then the ducks who were like what Zeggris and Drysdale and like who gives a shit about and Zeggris is just getting run to every other game now. and Zegaris is, will get hurt at some point over the next couple weeks. It just seems like that's the way it's tracking. Oh, how dear you? I don't want that to happen.

It's just like he, it just seems like every time, every time you look up, it's like, oh, here's some other, some other borderline hit he took from somebody. It's going to happen. Most of them just from, from, from a C-Ban, right? If, just, how was he not, how did he not get to spend it anyway? How was he not suspended yesterday? Well, you've got to protect your stars, man, you know? Isn't the whole thing like you're supposed to just like ding the repeat offenders?

Is he just going to do this shit once a week for the for the entire season? Well, they're going to bump them up to a $20. I'd be a fun dollar fine next. So you're all set. Yeah. That'd be a fun bit though. Like he woke up in the morning and said, how long can I keep this going? Just keep doing it too new player.

Completely like anecdotally based on the timing of all of all this shit over the last few weeks. It does seem like that's what he's doing. Like he's like, ah, it's. it's it's uh it's it's it's wednesday it's been a while time to time to try to trip somebody and get fined five thousand dollars is it any is it any wonder that he worked out with the rock and now he's perfected a russian leg sweep i guess i guess the rock one of our greatest technical batsman i'm pretty sure the russian leg sweep was a was a the rock staple i'm 90% sure That was definitely, that was for sure

an attitude era staple. I feel like I feel like we saw a shitload more Russian leg sweeps in 1998 than what we know. Many people say, many people were put of the rock as a rich man's Dean Malinkler when it comes to technical prowess. The man of a thousand and two holds.

Jericho's still going to be. All right, well I guess the other thing we should talk about, and it's kind of the reason that I wanted to have this particular show on the show. I mean, do respect to to Leahy, but I don't think he wrote a scorched earth take on Gary Betman's press conference. Finally, someone's really putting the boots to Gary Betman after all these years.

Yeah, and was that even what I did? I, like, is that, did I like Terrestrap? Finally, I don't know. Finally, the truth comes out. Sean, I guess the first question is, how does it feel to never be allowed inside the NHL store again? Or else you get shot on site. Yeah, it's me and Rick Westhead, I guess.

red dog on your chest we're doing similar work in our thought of similarly by the league well in Rick Westhead's case he just stands in line outside the store and they just forget to allow him in at some point until Pierre LeBron speaks up and says hey Rick Westead's in line back here

can you let him in the star he wants to he wants to come in and buy some hats let Rick in the store I appreciate if you let my colleague Rick Westhead inside of this store now here's my question So tell the people how you really feel about the Gary Betman Bill Daily Press conference.

The craziest part about it is that it was, aside from being immoral, it was stupid. All right. Bad PR. Can you elaborate? Yeah. Like, my God, you have no sense of what will play publicly. Just a total lack of, a lack of savvy, on top of a lack of emotional intelligence and whatever else. I think the most annoying part, and I said this a couple days ago, but I'm going to reiterate it, is it like, is all these fucking galaxy brain dorks who think they're bringing something to the table when they remind me or you or anybody else, like, well, you know, Gary Betton's a lawyer.

And that's what you, yeah, I know. I know he's a lawyer. I know that's the capacity he was working in. Like, you don't have to, that doesn't mean anybody has to like it. That doesn't, that doesn't mean it's the right move. Like, yeah, no shit. It's kind of weird how part of a lawyer's gig is to emotionally connect with a jury and try to make their case by not only spelling out the facts, but also trying to capture the emotional zeitgeist of the moment. I don't know.

What are you going to say, Lambert? I just, like, I didn't watch it because I didn't want to watch the original, like, you know, like while it was live or whatever. I saw the low lights, if you want to put it that one. You wanted to binge all the interviews. Get that one, the shovel day off. That's right. Just line up your day, get yourself a sub-sambwich and just sit on the couch and binge. That's right.

But it was just like, they fucking thought they did a good job at the end of that. That's the wild. That's the way to go. And that's what annoying me more than anything is like, I just don't. You know, classic Gary Bettman is when he pulls this shit. when he's talking about the coyotes arena deal or expansion or whatever the fuck else. And you say like, all right, way to go. He got me.

Like, he did, like, we did the dance. He lawyered his way out of it. All credit where it's due. And he couldn't even do that shit this time. It was, it was wild. It was just kind of generally, generally ineffective in a, in a human way and as a, as a PR, you know, as a PR exercise, which is just, I don't know. It was wild to see. I thought it looked worse also after the Chipman Chevaldeaft presser, which, like, say what you will about whether Shevoldeuf should still have a job, right?

Whatever. But that was at least, like, that's what semi-effective damage control in a situation like that looks like. And we didn't even get that from them. So, yeah, I thought it was a failure and a joke. I thought there was eight minutes of empathy that Betman had. his first opening statement where he actually like addressed beach and talked about you know apologizing kind of for what he went through not apologizing directly but apologizing where he went through and actually like talking about next steps even though they clearly had no idea what

those next steps would really look like at least they were talking about this idea of like creating a network of organizations and yada yada yada and actually like kind of addressing only once that was yeah they addressed the issues and addressed the victim and and it was all good for about eight minutes and then and then they got their backs up being asked a bunch of what did you know and when did you know it questions um and then lost the threat of any sense of empathy you know the easiest thing they could have done honestly and it wouldn't and i don't know why they didn't do this but like you could have they could have aligned themselves with everybody on that call and everybody in the hockey culture where where they're like you know what fuck the black

hawks man they they fooled our shit just like they fooled all you and and it's good that everybody's And really, much like how Stan Bowman scapegoated John McDonough, they could have totally scapegoated the Blackhawks and been like, this is a failure, this is why we find them, we're angry and you're angry, and we're all going to work together to make sure that this ain't going to happen. That would have implied some blame to be placed on Rocky Words. And that ain't wasn't ever going to happen. Never.

You're probably right. Maybe that's why they decided not to take that tact. That was my big, maybe more than anything, when we when we jumped off that fucking whatever it was on Monday, I was like, this is an exercise to protect not just the owners, but Rocky Words specifically. And maybe he deserves it and maybe he doesn't.

But that was top of mind, top of list, one A, B, and C was to deflect any potential blame from, from Rocky Words. And I think part of the reason the whole exercise got so distasteful for me is, you know, Greg, like you said, the first few minutes, it was like, hmm, okay, this is like maybe, you know, you've met our lowest expectations. And then the classic, you know, defensiveness and condescending, you know, Betman came out where it was where the vibe and the undertone of all those answers he gave was like, why the fuck are you asking us about?

Like, we told you. Like, like, like, this is enough. Aren't you guys happy? You should be happy with this. It was just a total misreading of frankly the moods of the people who were on the call, aside from the mood of the public. So that's what struck me is like you don't expect these guys to act, you know, in any real, with any real moral capacity or any kind of true decency.

They're major pro sports commissioners. Like that is a class of human being that is a that that is freakish as a rule But the complete Failure from a PR standpoint is what really just blew my mind like that's that's what took it from being just garden variety NHL bullshit for me to like wow this this is this is ineptitude on top on top of all of it Yeah the the way you know he fucked up is that some people were like there are actually owners who don't want Gary and Gary Pettman to have the job anymore. And it's like, yeah, okay.

That's coming from somebody, that's not coming from a very reliable source, though. Okay. That's one from from fucking Walsh who, all due respect to Walsh who I love, like he smells blood, he sees a wound, he takes his little fingers and opens the wound as far as he can. Well, right. What I was going to say is, I'm pretty convinced that, like, if there are multiple owners, is two is multiple, right? Like, first of all, and second of all, you would need, like, what,

two, three quarters of the league to be like no more Betman? And nobody, that's never going to fucking happen. Betman will retire on his own timeline unless he royally fucks yourself. I got asked about, I got asked that on, like, I guess it was some sports, the Vancouver Sportsnet station a couple days ago.

Yeah, buddy. Yeah. Like, basically, is it possible? I don't think people realize how much widespread. If he has the support of fucking eight guys or nine guys or whatever it is, then he's golden. Like there's no way that this leads to any sort of, you know, regime change now. Like, I don't think people realize how hard that is. Even if it were, you know, even if they wanted to do it, like it's, there's mechanisms in place to keep him in power.

It all depends on which owner. Like if it's Jeremy Jacobs Like yeah he's got a problem If it's fucking You know The guy in Arizona And an Acalini Like yeah he's fine

He's okay There's not a problem The part that lost me And it was actually during his opening statement Where the like the tires just started skidding for me Was the Quinville stuff Like I I cannot

Insane I can't comprehend the idea that you're not going to extend the same punishment to Quenville that you do to every player pending a trial. But then to a max fine of $5,000, is that what you're talking about? I just be being suspended until the hearing. I know, it's fucking crazy. It should have been. But to evoke his fucking career win total?

That's where. Like, what the fuck was that? I think, I read that as more since these things happened, he coached this many games, what's won more? And, like, that's obviously fucking stupid. But, like, I, yeah, to evoke his career. But it made it sound like, well, if this guy was Don Granato, we would have rug him up. But he's coached this many games since then.

That's why he gets the benefit of the doubt. No, I think he was saying since the time, like, since that time. No, I understand what he's saying. Yeah. I think you're right. But I think it, I think totally is not that way. To treat what happened. Oh, totally, it's insane.

It was a stupid fucking thing to say. To treat those 867 games or whatever it was that he coached before Wednesday with the same weight as the game he coached on Wednesday night was just like, it was, it was mind-boggling. And that honestly was, so I kept my hand down for most of it, like in the Zoom room, and then I put my hand up like about halfway through and ended up, of course, not getting the question. But that, that was the big one, right? That was a big clarification point.

And then the other one, which was crazy. And I think this was basically in the same breadth. It was certainly in the same section of the presser is when he was like, well, the circumstances and facts were different around the devils and coyotes. And that's why they actually got punished more harshly than the Blackhawks did. And he was saying that dollars to donuts. He was saying that because ownership had some knowledge of that. That was the implication, right? Was that ownership?

Ownership knew there. And here they didn't. So we didn't punish them that harshly enough. But he didn't come out and say it. And I really wanted him to say like, what on earth could be different about the facts in the context here that led you to punish teams more harshly for cap violations and improper workouts than a sexual assault cover up? Yeah. Yeah. So you mentioned shoveled out before.

I am in the minority, I think, that I don't think he should have lost his job. I'm kind of okay that he didn't. I think a lot of people don't understand what assistant general managers do. I think some of them are really powerful. Like Julian Breesbaugh, when he was with Eisenman in Tampa, very powerful. This guy at that time in Chicago, not as powerful, just kind of underling. He leaves the room assuming that McDonough and Bowman and McIsaac and Quineville, especially Quinville because the guys on his staff are probably going to take care of it.

He has to live with the fact that he didn't follow up on it. And I'll say this. I don't think he should lose his job like the other guys did. But after thinking about it, and Kevin McGrath made this point too, and I think it's a good one, he probably should have been suspended or something. Because like... Something, yeah. If you're Betman and you're like, this $2 million fine is mostly to make teams aware of the fact

there are going to be repercussions for your actions or inaction in this case in situations like this going forward. Okay. Great. No one's blaming Shevel Day off for what happened. But he's in that room. And if you're making this whole case about how like if you see something, say something and call the hotline and let us know and don't be a bystander, well, he was a bystander.

So I feel like something to Shevel Day off in this situation, even if it's like a show suspension or some shit. Right. Like at least we'll tell. people and compel people to be more active the next time something happens, rather than just being like, well, the important people got this shit. I'm just going to go back to the salary cap spritish. Even beyond that, what we got was Betman saying explicitly, Shevoldeuf had no responsibility there. Like, he said that. It's like, none? Like, not at all. Who has responsibility here? Like,

do you bear some level of responsibility as a human being who is hearing that sort of shit to like, I don't know, follow up and see what happened and at least like, say like, all right, I'm going to put a pin in that and see what goes on here in a couple weeks. Just complete, complete abdication on Betman's part there for sure. And I do feel better about, like I said, I think Shevold Dayoff and Shipman did about as well as you could, given the circumstances, right? Like, like they were closer to actually outlining deliverable things than the NHL was. I'll give them some credit there.

So two things I said last week when we were talking about What should the pan? Like that when it came to like Joel Quenville's relationship with the Panthers And why didn't they fire him? It's like well he didn't do anything that the Panthers Would have been like this is a fireable offense to us

The Florida Panthers a team that you work for nine years later or whatever Right Versus Versus like you know if he was still with Chicago or something Yeah, absolutely. You fire him and you don't think about it for a second afterward. And that's kind of the same thing. Like, what did Kevin Shevoldeuf do as far as the jets are concerned to deserve getting shit can? You know, like, he didn't do anything wrong in his capacity as general manager of the jets.

Right. So, like, I totally get why they didn't fire him and that sort of thing. I will say, though, that the best part of that press conference for me was like when they were like, so when he got hired, we had some quotes here from Stan Bowman of like, oh, he was so integral to the Chicago. That was so good. Yeah, he actually got C-Ced on every single evening. Like, they just could have had every possible. There wasn't a single thing that happened in this building that Kevin Chale. He had his finger on the pulse.

That was such a, that was the best part of any of those press conferences for me. I was just like, damn, he really got his ass on that. Right. That wrong. Fast forward like eight years and it's like, yeah, I was carrying in the Dunkin and all of a sudden they looked at me and they're like, hey, did you hear about this assault? Like, what? I was just getting you guys coffee. This is, anybody want Panera?

What? What are we doing for lunch today? Okay, I'm just going to leave. I don't know. You guys are, I don't know what's going on here. See you later. So, Joel, you got this? Because he's on your, okay, he's on your staff. You got this. Okay. So let me, okay, so Chipotle run now? Because it's my turn to get it.

And I was just wondering if you guys were hungry after all this, chitty chitty chat about all this stuff. Sounds good. Figure out your orders. I'm going to go take a real quick dump down the hall, and then I'm going to go pick it up. It'll be fun. By the way, Chipotle, now the, both the official Mexican-themed quick service

and Mexican-themed casual restaurant of the NHL. Is there any way for them to not be 15 years behind? I know. It's so good. It's so specific. It's so specific. Yeah, they're really, they're like really leaving the door open for like, um, for, for the, like, the Greek food version. What's that place called? Like, uh, Kava or something like that. Like, like, yeah. They're really leaving the door open for Kava to come in and be the Greek-themed fast casual restaurant. of the NHL. Yeah. 15 years after it stops being good

and 10 years after they give half the country diarrhea. They got to be bad and make people sick before you're a partner of the NHL. The NHL is proud to announce that anti-Anz is the official individual pretzel bite

with dipping sauce of the National Hockey League. Not to be... Plenty of room for Wetzels to get right back at like... Oh, no! Wetzels just signed with National Lacrosse.

They had to go with the other sponsorship opportunity. Not to be confused as SuperPretzel, which is the official microwave will take-home soft pretzel of the National Hockey League. That's right. You know what? Like, fuck it. Why not? Why not just, like, fill every little niche in the market? They do. The Penguins'

beer sponsors are like that here. They have, like, the official, there's like official Canadian beer, official, like, local beer. Somehow Miller Light, Labat and Iron City Light are like three official beer sponsors of the Penguins. It's because It's because they fucking get that granular on it, which I'm fine with.

Oh, shit, I just got the press release. Panda Express is now the official orange chicken piece with a toothpick through it on a plate at the mall of the National Hockey League. Isn't it incredible? The official, you know what, I will have one of those free samples. Thanks. I'm not a big Panda Express guy. I never really lived around. I was lived around shitty Chinese food that I would just go.

Well, I mean, I've had a different thing. In the mall. It's weird seeing it in the wild. I've seen like rest of it. Stand-alone, like standalone Panda Expresses. Yeah. Makes no sense. But those samples were,

I don't even know if they do samples anymore because of COVID. I was just at Costco a couple weeks ago. And they started doing samples again, but they're like shitty. They're not like fun. And they launch them at you out of a T-shirt gun. That's right. Social distancing. And they're, yeah.

And they're just a little hint of license. saw in the right they get Brandon Tannive to come out and throw a French bread

pizza over the glass tea much like the salmon in Seattle yeah that rock by the way that's cool

I love the salmon thing that fucking the salmon thing's really cool isn't it they're throwing the story behind that yeah

the story behind that I got was really fun like the the idea that they're so meticulous that they made the salmon the exact size

of a salmon that you could legally catch and not have to release um like they put salmon facts on it to mix.

Yeah, like they put, there's little fact sheets that are attached to each salmon they throw to the crowd about sustainable, sustainable salmon farming and shit. Like, it's incredible. They should send me one of those. I love salmon. I love salmon. I think they're so cool. A lot of salmon.

Like as an animal or like an entree? Both. Okay. Why do you think they're cool as an animal? They're just like, it's like a fucking fish that a bear eats. I don't like, I don't like them as a food. And let me tell you guys. I fucking hate them as animals

Whoa I hate salmon They're so tasty Gentilee do you like Do you like sushi? Yeah I do I have a thing with salmon There's no real explanation for it

It's just one of those things that I didn't like as a kid And my palate hasn't Like it's probably the only thing That I just can't bring myself to like all that much Like I'll have like A piece of a salmon roll If it's like part of a spread Just because

But I'm never gonna order it on its own Like if... Is it because Is it because the silent L? The L's silent? I've been calling it Salmon this whole time. Do you like breakfast cereal? Is this a trick?

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The reason, by the way, we didn't get to it. The reason salmon are cool is they are born in freshwater, live in the ocean like pretty much full time, and then they go back up rivers and stuff like that to lay their eggs. That's cool. You swim an upstream.

Yeah. Do you ever see like when they have the bridge for salmon to go over stuff? Like the weird elevators. They're cool. You should look at them. Losers. What the fuck did you say weird elevators? Salmon are losers.

Yeah. Like when they build like a dam or something like that and the salmon still need to get upstream, they'll put in like weird ramps for salmon to go over. Accessible entrances for salmon basically? Yeah. That's 100% right. But not like an elevator. Like a ramp.

Well, it's called, I think it's called a salmon elevator. It's like a, or I'm sorry, ladder. It's a salmon ladder. That's also what Green Arrow used to train was a salmon ladder, I believe. I don't know. I don't get that reference. I missed that one. Not a big fan of the CW boys?

No, I, the only Stephen Amel show I'm ever going to watch is heels, the greatest show in the history of television. I haven't really been on, I haven't really been on the CW and John. I was a WB guy. back in that day. As someone who lived in a house mainly with women, that was on TV a lot, and I picked up on a lot of that shit. Well, you know, I had a really blur oasis relationship with the WB. I was more of a UPN. Interesting. You know, Homeboys in Outer Space, the Secret Diary of Desmond Fifer. Shaston McNasty, of course. Shaston McNasty. Yuck. We've said that in the Star Trek Voyager, some seasons of Smackdown. I mean, UPN was where it's at for people that

hate television um Sidney Crosby got COVID that's a story yeah how about that the least surprising thing that could have fucking happened to Sidney Crosby

I really got to stop I really got to stop going to practice and coughing in his guy's mouth and absolutely a cursed player right but also like it's kind of weird as of right now the NHL does not have their like COVID list

that they've had for the last two seasons and it feels like a lot of people have it and maybe they should bring it back I don't know if the penguins might be holding the belt right now. They've had eight guys have had it. And other guys have been exposed. Like, Tristan Jari had a false positive. I mean, like, they're in double digits in terms of guys who've been affected by a test.

And in one way, in one way or another, it's crazy. 27 guys have COVID and they've gone 15 and O during that stretch. That's right. Because it's fucking penguins. I'm sure I think if there's anything else here to talk about Pecker Rennie is getting his number retired Good for him Who's surprised?

Who could be surprised? Oh, Marion Gabbrick retired today Remember Marion Gabbrick? Remembering some guys? Yeah, that's because his contract finally expired. Is that right? I love Marion Gabbitt. Yeah, he robbed.

Like early period Marion Gabbrick was a blast. Yeah, he's a lot. That guy, that guy, that, That guy is lost to the ages. Like, we saw him with the Rangers and whatever, but that was, you know, more people were exposing with the Rangers. But, like, early era, he was, man. Five-goal game, Marion Gabbrick, yeah. But it was also, like, the thing where, like, he was so good, and then he played for the Jacques Lamere Wilde.

And he's, like, doing whatever he can in that system. But he probably would have been Colvlchuk if he had played on another team at that point in his career. Two really good years with the Rangers, and then, yeah. That was about it. One at least one, right? With L.A., yeah, and he was good in that playoff. Dan Craig retired, the guy who makes ice for the NHL. Does this mean that we're allowed to say the ice at winter classics and stuff like that?

Like, it sucks. It's really fucking bad. It's bad and dangerous. Or are we not allowed to say that? Because... I just don't know what happened. Like, is there another person who makes ice now? Like, somebody said maybe his...

kid or something is going to make ice? Oh yeah, that's the kind of the kind of stuff you only get like generation to generation. My father was an NHL ice maker. His father was an NHL. They're treating them like they're cobblers or something. That's right.

The tricks the trader passed down. I was born an NHL Iceman. I'll die in NHL Iceman. I am an ice man. You would agree. My son and my partner, H.W. Craig. Dan Craig standing by melting ice at the winter classic. Drain!

I've abandoned my child. Suppose I have an ice rink. And you have an ice rink. I'm trying to think of what the milkshake proxy would be. I keep on coming back to like melted zamboni ice, but it doesn't really work. Yeah, whatever that slurry chemical. they put in it to make it like freeze of 50 degrees instead of

32. I drink your insto freeze. I drink it up. Actually, that takes us to the official take-home milkshake of the National Hockey Frozen with an apostrophe end. It's the kind of good fucking gas stations. Somebody has

one now that that's pretty good. I tried it recently. No, I can't remember. It's like Klonike or something. F-R-O-Z-N is my app that allows me to order milkshakes and also date people that like milkshakes. Oh, by the way, this is the one I was trying to think of. For real. F-apostrophe real. Those are the ones that you buy it, you know, you can buy them at gas stations.

They have a little machine that you, like, pop the milkshake in to mix it up. Yep, yep. For real. The official gas station milkshake of the National Hockey League. But, yeah, Klondike does have them, like, little, pouches that they're like the they look like Capri Suns basically

and the chocolate one's great the vanilla one not so good right this has been stick to sports that's right all right we'll close the episode with an overrated underrated favorite

least favorite you have two choices and this is interesting one of them one of them is kind of relevant to our previous conversation you can either do Over-rated, underrated, favorite, least favorite,

NHL writers with the first name, Sean? No, thanks. All right to last. Is there more than, there's more than three? There's a hundred. Oh, Sean Fitzgerald. John Fitzgerald, right. Yeah, okay.

Shapiro, Fitzgerald, McIndoo, Gentilly, Leahy. Lehi. Yeah. Who gets left out? Should I start a feud with Shapiro? He sucks. He sucks.

Yeah. I don't know him as. I never spoken to them. Shapiro, definitely not a great writer and a really nice dude. Fuck him. Fuck him. The other one is sushi items. Sushi items.

Yeah, what does that mean? I got to tell you, both of these stink, Greg. These are not good. Let's move on. Chicken wing flavors. Okay, now we're talking. Here we go. Let's fucking go.

Yep. Okay. Chicken wing flavors. Overrated. Standard barbecue. Overrated. Don't ever need it. Standard barbecue is my answer as well. Buffalo for me.

Oh. Fuck off. Fuck off. It's no. Good. It's great. It's so good. It's not even the best of like this kind of spicy wings you can get. I'm not. I'm not fucking. The vinegary goodness of a buffalo sauce.

It's a bit too much. Combined with the creamy greatness of a blue cheese dressing. Is one of the greatest tastes that you can find on the planet. On the planet, those two tastes. It's good, but like I like a Chipotle instead. Well, don't get ahead of yourself. Underrated. Underrated.

Underrated, just like a classic, like, Cajun dry rub. I feel like people don't give that enough love. I was also going to say a dry rub of some kind. You can't fucking beat it, I think. There's a... Terriaki. There's a... Okay.

No, because here's the thing. Everybody thinks the terriaki chicken and other dishes. then they wouldn't get terriaki wings, but you know what? Terriaki wings are really fucking good. There's a, there's a local wing chain here called Big Shot Bob's, and the whole gimmick there is they have like 100 different sauces or whatever, and it's wild. The place is insane. It's fucking crazy, dude. Favorite. Favorite for me is like spicy parm. like garlic parmesan is so good

garlic parmesan is so good really really fucking good need a little need a little bit more heat so give me some buffalo and some in a nice a nice dusty parm

mixed in that's my go-to always has been my answer the Italian cowboy that's a me that's a me that's a me

that was incredible there you go that's me that's me Oh, he's dusty palm Bop-a-bop-dy-boop-ty This a town ain't a big enough

For the both of us It's either Okay, that's a good question Is it an Italian person saying cowboy shit Or a cowboy saying Italian shit? That's a question I think it's one of each And they're rivals

I don't know But this sounds like an amazing spaghetti western Yeah, well I knew her, yeah My answer, by the way, the soy garlic from Bon Chon. Okay. Specific. I like you. You ever have that?

That fucking is like a 15 out of 10 for me. Huh. Love it. It's unbelievable. My favorite is a spicy barbecue, a spicy buffalo wing. But like a step down from the one that's kind of like a challenge to eat. But like two steps up from regulation. so hot.

That's basically my, like, that's where I'm at too on Spice level. Yeah, that's like, I don't want hot where it hurts. Like, Josh Cooper took me to get Nashville hot chicken once. And he fucking just killed me. Where'd you go? Do you remember which one you specifically went to? We went to, he took me to one I had never heard of, but then I went to Haddies and I realized my, the issue was that he got like the extremely hot. He said, he's like, I'm, Greg, I want to get you the extremely hot one because I wanted to impress you as a tourist in Nashville.

And I'll never forget. You and I went to Bolton's together. I just remembered that. You remember that? Oh, the catfish place. You got catfish and I got chicken and it was great. It was perfect. That's right.

The hot catfish was perfect too. No, he took me to this place and he had me eat extraordinarily spicy hot chicken because he wanted to impress me about the spice levels in Nashville. And I'll never forget this because it was right around the time. It was the John Scott thing, right? And NPR had me on to talk about the John Scott thing. And they had me on, like, I forgot about the. call, as I always do with fucking interviews.

I was supposed to do the interview during our lunch, and I ate this food, and I swear to get, it numbed my tongue. So, like, they're bringing over milk to the table to try to like reactivate my mouth so I could actually speak during this interview I had to do with NPR. And so, I don't know,

it's probably out there somewhere. It's like, Greg, tell us about the enforcer who man. Also, yeah, like, Dad Scott made the game. So it's, it's like, it was horrible. It was nightmarish. No, but like not painful buffalo wings, but really good hot.

Least favorite type of chicken buffalo wing flavor. Hmm. Like when they just put that like non-specific glaze on it, you know what I'm talking about? Like where they're just like, it doesn't really taste like any identifiable thing, but there is like some kind of a glaze on it. Get the fuck out of here. You've got to put some effort into it. Garlic? I know this is not...

Go ahead. I was saying garlic butter is typically not enough for me. I know people like to keep it simple and go with that. I don't love that. But, I mean, Greg, this dovetails right in what you just said. Anytime it's like the fucking psychosis sauce at whatever, get the fuck out of here. Don't eat it at all. Like, I am past, I'm definitely past that point in my life where I want to just ruin myself for the sake of, you know, double dare food.

No, thank you. Never again. No, I think I've maybe said this on one of our podcasts. Let's put it that way. Of one time, like, I do like it quite spicy, usually. And around here, when you go get spicy food, you've got to be like, can you make it a little spicier than you normally would just because, like... The Puritan pallets can't handle it. We really can't.

We're like, oh, this milk is... Send this back. This is too hot for me. And so they were like, okay, if you say so. And they did it and I was like, oh, I think I'm dying. I took like two bites. It was like, no, no, no. I fucked up bad.

This is a place that takes it seriously. My choice here, and I know it's not going to be one that's popular, because it breaks the rule of the game, which is I'm not going to say a flavor, but fuck it. My least favorite kind of buffalo wing is a boneless wing. What's the fucking point? point. The joy of using your teeth to rip the flesh off a bone is the joy of eating a buffalo way. It's for little kids. I went to a Celtics game the other night and my friend and I went to a restaurant to get dinner beforehand and at the table next to us a dad was saying like we should

get you the boneless wings to like a five year old. You know? Yeah. And, uh, and, and, babies. Yeah, it's, it's for, it's for little kids. That's anybody who gets a bone I totally agree with you. But like, psychologically, why do I reject Buffalo, boneless buffalo wings or boneless wings? And why am I okay with like tenders and nuggets? Like how, what's the thought process there? Why are those good to me and why do I have no time for boneless wings?

Well, in the case of tenders, it's a different experience. It's long, it's a different. It's a different sort of chicken configuration than a wing. I think it does fall back on a classic food rule that we talk about on Measemot a lot which is that if there is a better version of the thing, you're not going to like the thing.

Yeah, it's simulation versus simulacrum, right? Where like if they were saying, well, you know, like we have just pressed this chicken into the shape of a wing to make you think it's a wing versus If they were just like, here's a fucking chunk of chicken in nugget or tender form,

you would go, oh, that's fine then. You know, like, that's really it. Like, they're, they're trying to deceive you in a way that your brain reject. There's also, there's also, like, a social aspect of eating wings too, or it's like, yo, we're going out with wings with the, dangerous knights crew, or whatever it is.

It's just not, it's just not there. It's not there with boneless either. Are you guys doing market price wings? Do they have those? Do they have those for you right now? Oh, no, no, no, no. I don't know.

I think, no, they haven't reached that point. What, are they treating it like lobster by? The damn supply chain. 100%. I went to a, I got wings a couple. I got wings last week, and it was straight up market price. It was listed on a menu like it was like it was fucking. King Crap legs?

Yes, exactly. Wow. That's incredible. When they take the chicken informant into the, the shape of a Tyrannosaurus rex but you're not actually eating T-Rex

is that bother you Lambert? I wouldn't again, I'm not a child I would never get that kind of thing Juries out. Someone got that for me as a joke

one time and I really was like I'm not going to fucking eat this shit, get lost. Yeah, I can imagine that joke went over well. All right, that's Puck's Puck Sue for this week. My God, so much to talk about.

You can read my stuff on ESPN. I had a A story on the three California teams drop on the morning of the Eichl trades. I saw that. I saw that and I was just like, oh, oof. Congrats to the three people that read that. Well, hey, listen, good news is that my column is actually running on Friday.

So that didn't get market correctly and not what allowed me to write about Eichl. You got hit twice this week. You had the Rule 48 look back that they dropped on the on Betman Day, right? Yeah, that might have been in my favor, though, based on how the NHL felt about some of the parts of that story. Hey, look over here. You have to do a press conference about sexual assault. And so it's fine. You know, you know me.

I write a lot of shit. There's never a good time for stuff to... Hey, the Douggy Hamilton thing felt on a good day. Nothing else was really going on, and everybody read it and liked it. So if you missed any of this stuff, Rule 48 on Monday, Dougie Hamilton on Tuesday, California teams today. I wrote my Eichl trade grid like Gentilly did. You could all read that stuff on ESPN.com, provided you pay for it.

in most cases. Yeah, go to E.P.Ringside.com. I wrote a pretty good amount this week. I wrote about the Adam Fox. Oh, we didn't talk about the Adam Fox extension. Who cares? Yeah, it's a classic no notes extension. That's not the interesting thing about that deal anyway.

No, the interesting thing about that deal is the nightly prayers that Chris jury is making to have Alexe Lafranier break out in like three years rather than to, so you can bridge them? Yeah, same thing. Yeah, I mean, oh, the other thing about the Rangers is, boy, wouldn't you

have rather given up the fucking package or maybe even the package plus that Vegas did? Instead of giving Mika Zabandajad eight years? For seven years or whatever or whatever? They got Sammy Blase. They'll be fine. Oh, yeah, that's true. Yeah, I wrote about them. I wrote about how the Canucks

stink. I wrote about college hockey. I wrote about, or I did a mailbag and then I wrote about the Eichl trade. So very busy week for me. And if you want to sign up for an annual subscription to EP Rinkside, use the code I Love E.P. All one word and you will get an extra

three months tacked on to the end of that subscription. For free. Wow. What a steal. So sign up for that. There's like overt advertising on this advertising free podcast. I don't even know what to say. Yeah. What about you, Sean? John, you got, you got, you do things?

I was on, so I was on hammer dropping duty for the Blackhawks last week, so I wrote a few things there. I got the trade grades that's rolling now have some, oh, have a good, have a good bit that me and Cussons got out of Bryce Salvador in wake of whatever bullshit he to deal with over the weekend. So we did a write-up of that and also have the podcast posted on the feed for the athletic hockey show. And after I hang up with you, it's time to crack into the old power range. rankings with Don Lus Chishin. Hopefully he doesn't fuck up as horribly as he did last week. To remember how you say his last name. Here we go.

It's like Curtis Lusician, right? No, it's not. No, it's not. It's not. That's what I always say it. It's not right. It's loose chishin. It's like loose chicken, except there's a shish in it instead.

Loose chish. I wish there was a shush every time you were freaking talking. You motherfucker! So it's Morticia? Is that close? Or is there no M in it? The alphabet in Ontario. The Ontario, the Ontario alphabet, Donless Gession.

I wish we used the term Ontarians more. It sounds like a Star Trek race, and I kind of dig it. It does. Wow. Good point, Greg. He did it, folks. Ah, an Ontario like James Myrtle. Anything from BC? He's a British Columbia.

Yeah. But he lives in Toronto. Yeah, but he's going to be pissed if you said that. Okay, so if you live in Toronto, but you're from BC, you can't be in Ontario. You're a Torrentonian. Toronto. But he's like, he's like Colombian is actually what he is. Right?

I think there's any British people in Colombia and then they would actually be British Colombians. And they're by way of London and then it's really confusing. It's like babies in Guadalajara are New Mexico. Well, I grew up in London and now I live in Quito. I'm a British Columbian. There it does. All right.

The one lonely fishing chips joint in like Bogota. All right, we'll talk to you guys soon. Mailbag, all that good stuff. Thanks for Gentile for pinch-hitting for Dan Goes Brown. Who should be back soon. All right, thanks, everybody. See you. Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slapshots and goons.

We've got sportly commentary to what if you commute. We also cover movies, TV shows, it's and tunes. It's your weekly bowl of Hockey and Nonsense. Park Sue.