Puck Soup - Linda Cohn

Episode Date: September 15, 2016

Greg and Dave talk hockey with Linda Cohn of ESPN and her incessant boosterism of the New York Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist. Plus, the World Cup of Hockey gets previewed; Eli Manning vs. Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady; why ESPN doesn't cover hockey; which World Cup team you'd most like to play for; how the musical "Cats" is about ritual sacrifice; the NHL Las Vegas team's gimmicks; and listener mail, including the best potato chip flavor.

Now entering nerdist.com. Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slap shots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to whatever you commute. But we also cover movies, TV shows, it's and tunes. It's your weekly bowl of Hockey and Nancet. I'm Greg Wyshinsky of Yahoo Sports Puck Daddy Blog. I wonder if you're doing this. I think we're just going to introduce Linda.

Aren't you a part of this? And I'm Milakunis and Jim Beam Bourbon. You're in Puck Soup. Yeah. We're honored to be in the presence of Linda Cohn from ESPN today. Not ESPN today. I don't even know that. It probably is a show at some point.

It's probably another network. By the way, I have thank you for the invite, and I have now checked you off the bucket list because I love both of you. I'm big fans. Oh, wow. Yeah. Thank you. Where are we in the bucket list?

Where do we rank? It's like licking a turtle shell. Oh, that's a great point. You know, I'm not about analytics, so I haven't figured out the numbers in the rankings yet. Buying a scratch-off ticket from a bodega and then going on Puck Soup. We're ranking somewhere on those. Is that yours? Will you host a game here?

Here's my bucket list. Oh, you already have it listed? Yes, because I'm a very unhealthy eater, and I imagine I don't have many. years left. We'll analyze your diet later. I want to go to Japan and have sushi in Japan. I've never been to Japan. I could go to the Tokyo

2020 games. That's a possibility. Wait a minute, let's get back to the sushi. You realize it might not taste like the sushi, you, me, and Dave knows from here. Oh, so this is where you're like... Some of the best. You're like, right here in the big apple. He's a fat American, so he

probably buys simply tempora fried sushi or that fucking California roll where it's just a mayonnaise and coleslaw and the imitation crap. No, no, Linda, I have refined sushi tastes. Okay. Like, what do you want to have, like, pulled right out of the ocean? No, I want to have the one with the salmon and the cream cheese. Cream cheese, that's very Japanese.

They call it a bagel roll. Yeah, the smoked salmon. Are you drunk? You miss the smoked salmon. Have you been drinking? Like, I want to have a steak in Texas. Hold on. Do you eat sushi? I don't even know.

What's your favorite? What's your sushi bite? You name it. I can put it in my mouth. All right. Let's leave it there. You name it. And I can put it in my mouth.

Can you tweet that later? Yeah, you didn't ask me. What is? I was going to get to it. I let other people order for me because they have no clue. But it always tastes great. I let the pros order. Smart.

It is smart. It is smart. Can't go wrong. A little sexist, though, letting somebody order for you. I like to delegate. I think it's actually more in the Japanese tradition, to be honest with you. There it is. Why be like everyone else, gentlemen?

You know what, the sushi and the, what's that Bill Murray? movie where he's in Japan. Lost in translation. They order the sushi when they're having a fight in the place. They look gross, actually. It didn't look like the sushi. A lot of people don't know that, but at the end of the film, he whispers in Scarlet for Hanson's ear.

I actually only like Tempora. Go to McDonald's next time. Just like. Honey. Linda, ESPN is back in the... We wanted to have you on because ESPN's back in the hockey game. The World Cup of Hockey is...

We all grew up with it, folks. Remember that. Brett Hollis to the St. Louis Blues as Ben Folds is to Ben Folds five. That dude is to Queensreich. Yeah, that's a little butchy flavor. That's fine. But, you know, for me, it's about lifelong love for the sport I played and adore.

And, yeah, I mean, ESPN, everyone loves the music, as you nicely. hummed. Yes, thank you. The first night when we were on the air in the studio with Brett Hall and Chris Gellio, the host on Twitter, there was a lot of lovely reaction regarding the music. So people were like really excited about that. Well, it's like, I feel like they're, and I say this.

It's comforting to a lot of us. I say this is somebody who's written about ESPN and the NHL for many, many years. I've written in the good times and I've written in the times when maybe poker was more important. Yes. But I feel like, I feel like it's come back. around to a point of real nostalgia for a few things for NHL Tonight, which I think people maybe didn't value at the time as being, I mean, think of it this way. NBC's had the NHL for

a decade. Way too long. Million years. There's never been anything that had the attempt at street cred that NHL Tonight had. They've only done a studio show with the same people for a decade. And NHL Tonight was trying to capture that ESPN2 vibe and be a little bit edgy and be a little bit different. That niche. That edgy too and the ESPN. Yeah. Exactly. So great.

Keith Oberman in a leather jacket. Hello. We didn't value that at times. So there's nostalgia for that. There's nostalgia for Gary Thorne. Gary Thorne. Bill Clement. What a relationship those two have.

And I think the Gary Thorne thing is just because like when you dial up a highlight from the mid-90s and you don't hear, you don't hear Doc. It's either Gary Thorne or Steve Lee. pretty much. Right. Well, I mean, you hear Doc a lot, but it's that other voice, and you're like, where that other voice got? Yeah. Well, he's on the Orioles. Yeah, right. Instead of like, and play you stop, it's the Garrett Thor. Right, and here's the thing.

I like that. What was that? I'm exactly. It was the Gary Thorne. Okay. I thought it was a dog imitation of some sort. Doc is like, and Garrett Thor's like, Oh, my. But you know what? There's a whole generation that has no clue. The mainstream hockey fan, the casual, I'll give you in a

whole generation that just thinks Doc Emrick is the only play-by-play TV guy out there. Right. It's been that long. Yeah. You think back to like, on ESPN and who else was, remember when John Davidson was? Yes, he was the color guy. And of course, he did it for MSG for the New York Rangers and was great with Sam Rosen, the dream team for Ranger fans. Oh, yeah, everybody knows Linda Cohen's the biggest Ranger. But I'm big picture, but I stay loyal, as you know, to my teams. Got to stay loyal. Every time I talk to John Davidson about like the blues and now the Blue Jack He'll be like, and that's why I think we're really going to contend for a couple of five years. I'm like, John, have you thought about quitting and coming back to do TV?

Yeah. I'm like, it's not that I doubt your plan. It's just you are so much better at it. He's running out of teams that have blue in it. Did you notice? Well, wait. All of his teams do blow. Oh.

Oh, yeah. Unless we go Las Vegas Blue Knights, I think he's out of the end of it. Where are we going with that name? So, the latest on that is that they're talking about the Desert Knights, the Silver Knights, Nights. Game of Thrones nights. Whatever. Not for nothing. I mean, why is it why is it.

Yeah. I get it's the military is why he wants to do it, the army, but like can we just, I mean, like, why can't we have a gambling term or like? But do the diamonds, but no. Well, first of all, because the NHL is not, yeah, slots. You're pouring it on. The NHL is not, doesn't want to allow gambling names because it doesn't want a team in Las Vegas associated with gambling.

This just in breaking news right here. We don't want to. call them the Las Vegas freeze because we don't want a hockey team associated with ice. But here's the thing. You can call them the asparagus nights. Can we share it to what just happened? Oh yeah, the lights go off automatically.

It's so amazing. You can call them the asparagus nights and it won't matter because they're just going to be the knights. They're either going to be Vegas or the knights. I like the knights. I'm sorry, I like the nights. Modifier will go out the window. What's knight-y about Vegas? Like nights, but not knights. That's a fabulous point.

No, you're both wrong. The Excalibur. ever been the Excalibur? It's like medieval times, dinner and tournament on the Vegas trip. What is it called the Renaissance? I mean, no, that's a hotel, but they have that thing. Yeah, the castle. Yeah. The Excalibur. You walk in and the first thing you smell is the carpet, because it's just never been... Well, you get it at a good price, Greg, that hotel. I mean, how can you say it correctly, but that's always available. There's always that one casino, like where, like, I remember back when, when Atlantic City

before the giant collapse of every casino in the Atlantic City, like you'd go and you'd look on, like, Expedia, and you're like, what are the rates? and you're like $35 for a room at Wild Wild West, I'm in. Then you go there and you're like, holy shit, why is... It smells like cigarette smoke and dead body. Why is this 85-year-old woman dancing on the bar wearing strapped on revolvers? And she, yeah, she has a gun. My mom has to work, okay?

My mom has to earn, like everybody else. What does your mom think the name should be for this Vegas team? Yeah, what would your mom say about that? The strippers? I don't know. I don't know. I said her dancing on a bar. Pat Wysinski, my mom would say the Las Vegas nice boy.

boys. They're all very nice boys and they're going to play their hockey. More people would come to see the strippers. I'm just saying. It's Vegas. The Las Vegas were always moderately disappointed in you, Greg. If it was the Las Vegas, are you ever going to get married? The Las Vegas Elvases. See, there you go.

Now that would be perfect. That would be great. They could have a fat Elvis mascot or the skinny Elvis mask mask. Depending on the part of the season. Elvis on skates. Oh, my God. Yeah, but now you've hit on something that I think. think is the even greater fear than maybe the market's not economically viable for a hockey team,

which is which parts of Vegas are we importing for this? Okay. So are we importing Elvis for this? Are we going to have Elvis night? And you're just like, Jesus, you know, are we going to have Donnie Marine night? Magic night. Magic night would be cool. Right. That would be very cool. But I think there are parts of Vegas that you're like, okay, this is great. For example, if every single place in that arena that sold food was a buffet, I think that'd be wonderful. I think that'd be a vagusy thing to do, and it would be new, and I love the idea of going back to my seat with mac and cheese, crab's legs, and, like, and flog. The line's got to move, though.

The line has to move. I mean, we're talking at a hockey game. You know what else would be kind of cool? You know, at baseball games, they have, like, you know, with the nationals, obviously, the presidents, they run, they race, you know, all these kind of things. So put these guys on ice. plane card, okay, a dice, and little races in between periods of very vagusy objects. Oh, man.

And by a dice, you mean, I'm going to race. Oh. Does he do this often? Is this what he done? He's like, dice, why are you trying to race on the next up? I'm like, shut up. I try to just inject him before the show. He's getting more mobile.

He's hard to actually trank before the show. Oh, my gosh. How's Team Europe? That's my team. That's my team. Oh, you're going to lose quickly early and often. Before I get to World Cup, I want to ask you about ESPN. Oh, please do.

So do, do we have, are there a number of... 24 years and counting, by the way. Fantastic. What do you get for 25 at ESPN? I don't know. I forgot what I got for 20. I'll get back to you if I make it to 25. Silver, right?

25 is... Isn't that about wedding anniversaries? I don't know. I was married and I didn't get married to I'd make it to 25 years. Are there a number of? of hockey fans at ESPN that we don't know about. Of course.

So why don't they rise up and overthrow the people that are keeping hockey down? Yeah, no. Well, we have to pay the bills. You know, and you mentioned NHL tonight. I mean, that's something that I wouldn't be alone. Obviously, Butchagross would be so into it as well as I would to do that again, to host that again, to have that, bring that

niche back. What ESPN did? You know, all due respect to the quality people at NBC, it's not about, oh, we do this better, we do this, whatever. I know what we do do right. When that network grabs their arms around a cause, something, one of their properties, they do a great job. Yeah. So they put it out in so many different ways, like commercials, okay?

These hockey players, why does every hockey player that I talked to when I was down in Columbus covering Team USA a couple of weeks back last week, Ben Bishop came out, he's like, I'm so glad, Linda. This is back on ESPN. You named Patrick Kane, which network is it on? This is so great. They would be rock stars on ESPN because of the outside the ice publicity and promotion of these personalities that we really didn't see. The NHL puts out great commercials. But if you're talking about the network that covers them, I don't see it as much as I would like. Ben Bishop said when I talked to him just the other day, I'm a nice is Ben Bishop.

And I'm a Ranger fan Davis, you know, and I love Ben Bishop. Fantastic guy. That doesn't mean you can't. I know. I know, I basically said, like, I'm happy the games are on ESPN because I know that my friends and family are going to watch it. And I'm like, and I know that NBC's pushback is always like, well, listen, you know, when, like, when Levy, in that story. Yeah, I gave him credit. When Levy was like, people can't find it in restaurants or anything hotels.

And then NBC pushes back and says, well, we're in like every hotel and you can get us in any restaurant. But there's always this going to be this. But it's not already on. That's the thing. It's not already on. And there's always going to be a certain. segment of the population that watches ESPN and is not searching out sports on NBC or Fox Sports One or any of the... They don't think of it. It's not on their radar.

The SPN is sports to them. Yeah. And if it's not on ESPN, then it's not a sport. And that's just how it is. Except for Sundays. But when they'll go watch it on Fox or NBC or whatever. Right. But you said, you know, NBC doesn't do anything wrong, but just what do they do wrong? List of things for us. Just from... Worse to the best. What's one thing you would change? Go ahead. Let it out. I don't have thoughts. I don't, no, you know, I really haven't had some deep thinking. Would you fire Liam McHugh? He's too handsome, right?

Well, you know, I'd like to do his job, to be honest with you. She would fire Liam McHugh. I don't have the power to fire him, but can you make room for somebody else like me? No, seriously. I mean, Liam's great. What a nice guy he is. No, I mean, it's like, I don't do the research. You guys do all the research.

You know, for hockey fans loving that product and what they give, I think it's just, again, you can't really find it. And the point is this. It was heartbreaking for me and others at ESPN who live and die hockey, where it's always on its radar. When ESPN lost it. We have a little taste now. We got the World Cup of hockey. And it's our time to really shine. Because this is where we have the hockey audience.

It's up to us to remind people that we're the best at it. Hockey fans are, it's a tough sell because, like I've written before, like it's a sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy that if ESPN doesn't cover hockey out on Sports Center high in the program, And the chat shows don't talk about hockey. Hockey fans go other places to listen and find highlights. So then when ESPN does its surveys and they're like, there are no hockey fans, the audience. I'm like, no shit. They all left. Trust me.

It's very frustrated for someone like me when I hear that. But I think the thing that ESPN could do that NBC can't is get people other than hockey people talking about hockey. And by that, I mean, like, it's one thing for Mike Miliburie to put out some Vecta opinion about hockey. and you're just like, I know, right? And then you're just like, wow, that's a really crazy thing that he just said. But he's Mike Milbury, who gives you shit. It's another thing to hear it from a guy around the horn. Right.

Or on first take or any of those shows. And I want to tell you the story about the whole John Tortorella thing. Because I was in Columbus. My job was to cover do some features, okay, on Team USA. Whatever, you know, USA hockey allows me to do, right? So they were great. And I know John Torterell, obviously, from the Ranger days, and also for a little bit, cameo appearance he did as an analyst on ESPN during the playoffs two years ago. Yeah, he was on there and he was on TSN for like a spell in between dials, basically.

You know, yeah, so, right, right, he was. And it was during actually the series when the Rangers played the Lightning, and then the Rangers just forgot the last to play the home games and forgot to out of score a goal. But it was a joy for me to sit there with John Tortarella and dissect two of his teams like that. But anyway. Not working hard enough. Needs more grit. So the day before we had the shoot scheduled, yeah, Max Pajoretti, I want more out of him. I want more out of you in the exhibition games.

By the way, we have to talk about Max Perturetti, who I adore and love. And Michelle Terrian is lucky to have his job. Did you hear that story about him on a golf course saying he's the worst captain ever? Yeah, I know. How about you as a head coach? Where do you stand? He's like smoking on the golf course. I mean, just because the guys from New Canaan in Connecticut, they think,

the guy's entitled and it doesn't work hard? He's no good. I mean, it's weird. Like, if he's a terrible captain... What does that make you as a head coach? You're lucky to have your job. If only Montreal had had another option for the captaincy in their locker room

with the time Max Patcheretti was named captain. Yeah. What happened to that plucky young man? Right. Oh, he's traded. Yeah, exactly. Shea Weber. And as soon as that happened, the locker rooms just totally split down the middle. And now he's setting up...

He's setting up Patchretti for the assassination. Yeah. Robert can come in and move to sea. Of course. It is Pronger Mike Richards 2.0. It is a guy that you think is an ineffectual no. What's the little like ineffective captain. And then you bring in the other guy who's going to be the de facto captain.

And then literally there's going to be people that write about Montreal and they're going to call him Captain Shea Weber just because it seems like he should be. And Max is like, hello, it's me, Max. I still got the C. No, and you know, I'm tired of the people that say, oh, the reason why we just went into the tank. last year because we didn't have our Vezan and Hart Trophy winner from the year before Carrie Price. You know, show some guts and play hard. Don't, you know, just blow off the rest of the season.

Totally mailed it in. And you had enough talent on that team. You could have made the postseason. You know, and Carrie Price, last I looked, is not the best goalie in the NHL. Jonathan Quick is. Whoa. I'm going to give you a little push back on.

See, this is why you have to have me on more. I like stirring the pot with you guys. You can see, you've stirred the. pot into it. Twice already, and I haven't even told my Torts story yet. He's not even the best goalie on a team USA roster. Jonathan Quigg? Last few years combined, Jonathan Quicks, even straight say percentage has been outside the top

10th. Are you throwing those numbers? I think, I think you could put, you could put... I want guts, I want Will. I think you could put Great and Holpey in front of them. I think those two are definitely ahead of them. You put Corey Schneider in front of him. Corey Schneider, for sure. Bishop in front of them. You're not even mentioning Lunkwist. Who? I thought so. And you're shocked

right now that I put Quick ahead of Lundquist. Well, I feel like you've just got the red, the red, and blue color glasses on it. I kind of do right now. By the way, by the whole entire. Not only that, I just bought new goalie gear

because I'm going to go back on the ice. I've been inspired by this whole World Cup of hockey. Oh, yeah? Spend a grand on it. I got a good deal and I still spend a grand. I got Hank Pads, a Bower hockey, and I got my new warrior,

a goalie stick. Where do you play? Jonathan Quick. Wow. So. Are you in like a league? I'm going to be. Oh, yeah?

I got a couple little, I got to do a little more Pilates and stuff. No, but I'm going to be on the ice Friday. No, when you get... We'll get to that in a moment. When you get gear like Lundquist, you also need to get all of the other stuff he wears to cheat, his big pants, the oversized pads. No, no, it's too heavy. I don't want to look like a snowball.

I mean, I'm still a woman. I have to look at my figure. I'll never forget. I'll never forget what the Capitol set of them. Trim and Slim. It's the Slim-fed goalie gear I wear. Yeah, come on. When the Capitals are losing to the Rangers or playing the Rangers, sometimes they lose something.

They went all the time. Yes. Their thing on Lundquist is their criticism was, they said, listen, he makes saves that he shouldn't make because he's wearing gear that allows him to make the save. Have they seen Ben Bishop's gear? Have they seen Ben Bishop's body? Or Corey Crawford, for God's sakes. Oh. I mean, wait.

These guys fill a net. What part of Hank's pads are? I don't think Hank is a big offender. These goalies all wear, well, first of all, like they're changing the pants this year. Well, they're changing the pants this year. Well, they're. Why do you hate Lindbigger? No, goalies are deprivers of joy.

They're tight. The pants are going to be more slim fit because guys like Jacob Markstrom, for example, were wearing fucking hammer parachute pants under his gear to make saves that he wasn't supposed to make. How that turn out? They slim nose down. And then guys, one of the things that all the golies do is they wear pads underneath their pads, right? So what they do is they get oversized pads underneath the pads, and those pads aren't regulated quite yet.

and then they just wear these big bulky things they get from Europe and make, and they close up your five hole. It's all the big schmah. It's all a big cheat. All a bunch of cheaters. They wear a piece of equipment called the cheater, for God's sakes. Here's a thing. In high school, Greg had a chance to win the States.

Okay. Oh, backstory. He came down to a penalty shot, and he tried to go five hole, and he missed the net completely, but he blamed it on the pad. See, that is such a lie because I can barely escape. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. John Torella, you talked to Torella,

and you were the one who lit a fire under the hockey world by getting Torts to talk about having people, suspending players for not standing for the National Lantern? Yeah, here's what happened. I mean, it's just, and this is what, when I look at my career and the relationships I have with hockey players and coaches and whatever, I care about that person first. So I saw Torts when I got there. It was after practice. We weren't even scheduled to have a sit-down interview shoot with John Torderella until the final.

following day, okay? But I wanted to attend practice, sort torts, you know, we said hi, we chatted, how's practice, great, he goes, Linda, everything's going great, I said, first question out of me, just like a friend, which I am, how's your son doing?

Knowing that his son is in the Army. Sure. Right? So, he says, Linda, I'll tell you, I got a text from him, an unexpected text from him before the practice today. I was beaming. You know, it was great. You just never know when you're going to hear from him, blah, blah, blah, and I asked about his wife and how they're dealing and the dogs.

And then I circled back and then I just said, you know, what do you think about this Colin Kaepernick thing? You know, like because it was following the hill. You know, it just was like a normal question one would ask, especially to a parent who has a son in the army. And that's when he went on his rant. And he said what he said from his heart. And then I picked out that one line.

I said, listen, can you save that for tomorrow? tomorrow, but can I go with that line you just said today and I post that? Sure, I want people to know how I feel. And that's where from an organic, just a couple of friends talking and he had no problem getting it out there. And it created buzz to people who didn't even know the World Cup of Hockey existed. Stephen A. Smith talked about it. Yeah. And boy, yelled about it. We talked about that on the last podcast. Truly unreal. If nothing else you're reporting should be allotted for revealing that Stephen A. Smith thinks that the United States Congress controls Team USA. I mean, that was...

It's a public domain, apparently. Yeah, and it's unbelievable. He just totally... And by the way, he's comparing the NFL and the NBA. Oh, that's, you know, private entities. This is an NHL event. You write your local senator, and you tell him, Corey Snyder should be starting for this teen.

You write that down on a piece of paper you send it to your senator. But wait, if you have the American flag on your pads and you go into the butterfly, is that disrespectful to the flag? You're sitting on it. You're kneeling on the flag. And what if they make the entire ice look like a flag with the miracle of CGI? Wow. Yeah, exactly.

You're skating all over. But the bottom line that was great out of that was called attention to the sun. People didn't even know John Tortoella was still coaching. I know, right? Yeah. Wait, this guy? Columbus?

Do you think that's a... What do you think that... Because I agree with you. I think the World Cup is not on everybody's radar, like even in D.C. last night, as we taped this on a Wednesday. They're still crying about cousins and inflated stats. Yeah.

But I was at the Team USA Finland game. And generously the place was two-thirds full. It was quiet, right? And it was kind of surprising because the capitals sell out all the time

and you figure a game in D.C. with Team USA is going to bring together even the guys and women aren't Capitals fans come out to this game to Team USA. And it was sort of a dead crowd until the end and about two-thirds full. And again, like, it is pre-tournament.

But you mentioned NFL, Pennant races. NFL, Pennet races, NFL, NFL, NFL. The weather is still kind of nice. Yeah. I feel like, I feel like American sports fans need to be taught to like something. Well, that's where ESPN comes in. Do you think the ESPN could teach us to like the World Cup? Well, I think it's, they have a fighting chance because it's the TVs are already on ESPN, like we spoke about before.

So then, you know, it is no question. We are told even. me hockey geek and others like me don't assume our viewers know who carry prices and don't assume that they even know who Patrick Kane is. No, they might know who Patrick Kane is. I think it's 50-50. I really do. Who do you think are the players that would resonate? If you walked up to a casual fan and said a name, they'd know who, they know Sidney?

They know Alex. Sidney Crosby and then Alex Ovechkin. Yeah. That's it? They might know Henrik Lundquist because of the whole New York thing, you know, and everything. But that's really it. Do you think getting P.K. Suban into Nashville, they'd know P.K. I wanted him in New York.

Not because I'm a Ranger fan, but I wanted him in a big. I mean, that would have been gold for the NHL. Absolute gold. Nashville is going to be good for Nashville that he is in Nashville. Yeah. That's what I think. See, I was thinking... People don't know there's a hockey team in Nashville.

With all due respect, I love the Predators. I love that city. It's one of my favorite cities in the country. No, it's fair. It's amazing. The NHL isn't kind of a pickle because, like, honestly, like, I'm watching Finland last night, and, like, Patrick Liney's great. He's going to be fantastic. He's going to be really, really good, and he's got...

And he's a bit of a swagger guy and stuff. But he is... He speaks well, too. And so we'll never see him again. Cona McDavid's in Edmonton. We're never going to see him again. Yeah, it's a problem. That's a great point you just brought up because I thought the question you were going to ask me is I try to read your mind, Greg.

Is that if they're for the non-hockey fan, if I wanted to sell some players and say, watch this guy, you're going to like them. The two guys that I would say on Team USA are Dustin Bufflin and Ryan Kessler because of what they bring their brawn, that way they hit people, the way they don't care. For the Ryan Kester one, are you going to give them your time machine to back when he was fun to watch him? He's still, Come on. He's still a noticeable guy on the ice.

He's one of the greatest 42-point guys in the NHL today. Why he's so down on Ryan, on Kess? I like Kess. You'd love him on your team. You don't have a team. By the way, if you read my mind, you two would be humming the theme from Thundercats. But if you, I detect a trend with you.

How's that go? Thunder cats are on the loose. No, they're on the move. Okay. And then they're out of them. Speaking of cats, I went with Ruby. When you get the lyrics, correct. I went with Ruby, my fiance, to see cats on Broadway for the first time.

Wow. Is that still going? They brought it back. Have you seen it? No, but my boyfriend, Matt, loves cats. Like the animals or to show? No, the animals. All right. He's a cat guy. No one's perfect. Have you seen cats?

Yeah, I know. I didn't grow, you know. Have you seen cats? The musical? Would he like it? Here's the thing about cats that I didn't realize. This is a spoiler. But I don't give a shit Did they live through the performance?

Here's the thing. The entire show is this. It's about a bunch of cats who are in a junkyard for a once a year celebration of their tribe. And the point of the celebration, the point of, I didn't know any of this shit before. I wish there was video to see our looks.

There's a tribe. Yeah. I didn't know any of this shit before I saw it. Like Jewish people? Like I could say that? Because, you know, the tribe. Hey, are cats part of the tribe? You're like, oh.

Look, Mitt and Svinklestein. Welcome back to the truck. No, so like, so like, they go, they go to, they go to the celebration every year. And I didn't know anything about this, but the whole point of it is, they're like, and one of the cats was chosen, and he will ascend. The chosen one. Yes, and he will, and the lucky cat will be, will ascend to another existence. Like, wait a second.

Like, send to another existence. What are you thinking? I turned to Ruby, I'm like, is this, is this musical about them ritually sacrifice? one of their own? Oh, wow. So religious kind of thing? And so at the, I don't, you've probably seen this in like the pictures of the musical over the last like 30 years. At the end, there's like a platform that rises into the air and there's smoke pouring out of it.

And like there's a cat, a dude in a cat suit. And there's another cat with them. And the whole point of the show is they pick an old ass, decrepit, like close to death cat. And they don't show it, but it's implied that they murder. this cat and she she flies to the ceiling of the of the theater heaven to and we never see her again so all fucking point of the show is that they kill a cat because it's old you are and then they all sing about it so so team europe is yeah let's do that they're one of the older teams i'm telling you they average over 30 years of age so here's here's the thing Greg thinks team USA is a lock

to come out of that group i do i disagree with both of you here's the thing Canada's going to go three and no, checks are going to go 0 and 3. Either Europe or USA is going to go 2 and 1, and it's going to come down to the first game on Saturday. Yeah, I am not. Which I'll be hosting. See? Yay, yay.

So Linda Cohn's doing her homer thing for Derek Step on and, you know, all those guys. Nice off to a good start. He's got a nice goal. Yeah. Although it should have been stopped. Opened up. I know. That's a good move, though, when you fake the slap shot.

That is cool. He had all the time in the world to do it. Never would have that have that time in the NHEL. You said a shout out to me and Lozo on the show by saying that Team Europe's offense is, is, is, fluctuating more than the euro. Write that down, so I'll remember this. Don't credit me with that joke. That's just...

No, that's just so... It's code. I'm trying to give her something that she can say that she's not going to get her in trouble. Okay, everyone's counting out Team Europe because a bunch of like 18 and 19-year-olds ran them out of the building.

Now, what do we know about young people? They're excited at the beginning. Right. They go too fast out of the gate. Right. Older people take their time. They know this isn't important. They're going to buy their time

until it really matters. True. So that team USA game... I still don't think they can beat Team USA. I think they can't believe. Is it because Linda's here that you didn't complete your thought by saying they blow their load early and then lose interest? I know. I know exactly where he was going.

I'm trying to save him. Once she gets to the joke in her mind, there's no point in me actually. I just want to point out that it's the first time in the history of Puck Soup that a thought like that wasn't followed to not only completion, but then overjoking, the land of overjoking. Can you bring that back as well during this podcast? Because I love that show. Now, I think your point. There are some advantages, though, of course. Right, right. There's stamina.

Yeah, stamina. The look. They can go to bars. Good optics. And you could pout afterwards and then they'll overcompensate by buying you something. Yeah, exactly. Their mom doesn't pick them up afterwards. We've all been there. So anyway, team Europe.

Listen. Okay, here's what's happening. Let me just tell you what's heavy. Obviously, it's Canada and USA out of that group. And the other group, here's my sleeper. I know I'm not, you know, I'm not being reactive just because they beat up bunch of old guys. I like Sweden and North America.

I agree on that part of it. Just the one team I think we disagree on is Europe and America. Yeah. Because you're anti-American. I got it. I'm a commie. Yeah. You don't like the flag.

I know. I could see through you. I wasn't all that impressed. I'm on the floor for the anthem. I wasn't all that impressed with Finland, to be honest with you. I think you were, you weren't. But was not. No, why?

So I think the thing with Finland is that people see them and they think, okay, they're the, they're the, quote, unquote, structure team. And Team North America is a bunch of kids skating around without. any rhyme or reason. They got nothing to lose, Team North America. That's the thing. I know. Yeah, they really love is doing to show people, and they're getting along and there's good

chemistry. They're, you know, responding to McClellan. You know, he's used to coaching young guys, whatever, right? So I like it and I love their goaltending. I kind of agree. And I think your assessment of the USA Canada group is correct. I mean, like, it's basically like the NHL said, how can we get USA and Canada to the semifinals?

We all know this. We're going to put them there. Of course. Team Europe, God bless them, they're good people. But it's just a mess. It's a mess. I wrote about this morning. Think of it this way.

Every other team in this tournament has at least two guys that might have some history together on a line. And you could put these guys together and say, okay, you can put these two guys in the line and feel good about life. Yeah. Except for Team Europe. Yeah. Team Europe literally has not. They have two guys that basically Zena Chara walked in a room. He's like, oh, Dennis Seidonberg.

I remember that, cat. Sorry about the buyout. Yeah. And that's all, everybody, everybody else doesn't know each other. Who do they play tonight? Who's they play? Sweden. Sweden.

I think he's earlier. It's the first game because tonight's the big one, the big pre-tournament, Canada, Russia. You know, Russia has no defensemen. I mean, that's there. They can score a million goals. They're not going anywhere. Where I'm at on it is, I agree with you. I think I'm actually going to say USA wins the group.

Oh my God. USA is going to beat Canada in prelims. They'll win the group. It won't matter. But hold on. But hold on. That means they pull North America. Well, that's going to be dicey.

That means Sweden, Canada, North America, USA. Because you can't hit somebody, you can't catch. And that will be interesting, if that is true, if you have a Team USA, Team North America showdown. What are you rooting for in that game? Wow, that's a tough one. I do like the young guns. I mean. No, but seriously.

Of course, you know, wow. I will root for, let's face it, Team USA against Team Canada is what will make the most money, not for me. But we'll get the most eyeballs. It'll be good for hockey, big picture. But you can make a case. A team North America in the final would also be good for hockey, too. Especially to bring out these young guys that nobody sees to your earlier point, Greg. That's a good point because I've long said about the Olympics,

although Olympic hockey is amazing. It would be better served to have younger players in the Olympics to give him that moment. So you have things like when Peter Forsberg was on a postage stamp before he got to the National Hockey League, and I knew his name. Even before there was YouTube, I knew Peter Forsberg's name before he came to the NHL, because the Olympics. That's impressive. So I think, thank you. I think, um, I think, um, I think, yeah, oh, I was, I was, Peter Forrestberg fan before YouTube. Um, before I even sent me off. So I think, um, I agree with you on that. If there was a, if USA and Teen North America meet,

which I guess I'm going to say they are, because that would be amazing. By the way, that also would be good for hockey. See, I'm torn because I'm really pissed off at our country right now for a number of reasons. Yes. But I'm, I'm also really sick of millennials. Yeah. So I guess at the end of the day, I'm rooting for Sweden to be Canada. But the millennials you're Sweden and B. Canada, that'll be boring. The millennials that you're sick of don't even know team North America exists and there's a World Cup of Hockey events.

But at some point, don't those teens have their, like millennials, like a millennial is like somebody who's four years younger than us. So the Team USA is loaded with millennials. So the under 23 team is like a generation behind that. They're... I believe that... So you're saying that they're not millennials. I mean, I don't know. Where is the millennial cutoff?

I don't see millennials with them. I think if there are any millennials on the team, they'll be very upset that they don't win the World Cup because their parents told them that they're special flowers and that they deserve to win the World Cup. Here's what I think. I'm stirring the pot already. That's very cute.

Sturring the pot. If Team Canada goes with Carrie Price, they're not getting out of anything. God, what is this Carrie Price thing? He's just not ready. I'll give him his... His due as in plays since November. It's the only reason why Team USA won that game.

Kerry Price was awful. No one's saying it. He was bad. They're saying he's a little off his game. He denies that he was bad on that one hole. That bounced that Jack Johnson's a footshot. He was like, I couldn't do anything about it. Two of the three were just, you know, so tonight's a big night.

I don't know if I'm dating your whole thing here by saying tonight. When you listen to this tomorrow, tonight will have been a really big moment. Wow. So let me tell you what's going to happen. When Carrie Price shuts out, Russia, he will lock up the job. I tweeted earlier at Linda Cohn that, and it's true. For him, this game means everything.

So when you're listening to this, if he had a good game against Russia, he's got the number one job. If he did not, and if it was just so-so, like, let's say, you know, so-so. I look at my two other guys. I love Cory Crawford. You can't go wrong with Holpey, I know, but I love Cory Crawford. I know he would. But can I tell you, I love Corey Crawford? They're both amazing, but I love Corey Crawford.

I like Corey Crawford because I think at the end of the day, Corey Crawford's done exactly what he needs to do to give that team the three cups. He makes timely saves. That's how Matt Murray contributed to the Penguins Cup. All he had to do was make timely saves and shake off bad goals or so-so goals. That's what Corey Crawford does. Well, you see, you're speaking like a goalie. Because I am a goalie.

You say timely saves. And Dave and I both know what essentially you're saying is don't fuck up. Yeah, just don't fuck up. No, it's like, yeah, when my team pulls ahead on an amazing goal and then they come down and on a two-on-one and I make a big stop, that's a timely safe. Keep my team in the lead. That's how I define it. It's not don't fuck up. Yeah, of course it is.

That's why Mark Andre Fleury didn't get back in because he's just, he's like, oh, sorry, boys. Forget timely saves. What save? But the thing for Matt Murray is he had to make like 19 saves a night in the playoffs. Didn't Marty Bredor get into the Hall of Fame by making 19 saves in the playoffs? No, he was just an elite goaltender. Oh, stop. Come on.

Oh, give me a break. And ability to score from you. Oh, I'm sorry. Did they change the rules for Henrik Henrik Lundquist at some point put a trapezoid behind the net to make sure that Henrik Lundquist couldn't do the best thing he was good at? Mike Richter right here, man. Mike Richter did more with less. Oh, God bless.

Yeah, he had one good season. You literally had one good season 1994. But he was all... Do you see the players he had? And the defense? He stopped like 40 shots a night. He won us the World Cup in 96.

Yes. Stood on his head. All right, that tournament that none of us cared about. 1996. You forget this guy's anti-American. You keep going to him. That's the women. That's the women's soccer. That's a women's soccer World Cup, by the way.

All I'm saying is put my director. It's that whole stupid argument. we have in the NFL, like put Mike Richter on the devils. Oh, wow. He would have had, you know, at least three cups, if not five. Oh, my goodness. He would have beaten the abs because Marty couldn't. And he would have beaten the Kings because he would have been 47 years old at the time.

It's unreal, man. It's all making sense because John Quick is like the modern day Mike Richter where he had one good too much run. Never complains, never throws anyone under the bus. Remember way back when when I saw. talking about Thundercats. I remember what my thought was going to be. My thought was going to be that you value playoff performance more than anything else.

No question. I do that in the NFL too. That's why you love Ryan Kessler and you love Jonathan Quick. Right. I love Eli Manning. Yeah. You like people who get it done when it counts. When it matters most.

Right. And who contribute, not just go along for the ride like his brother Peyton. Jesus. It's just made me Smith here. I'm sorry. I wanted to do that. I just got it in my eye. You love numbers. You don't want to bring back the numbers.

Forget the Broncos Super Bowl, because that was a joke. I don't even think that was him and there. It was just anybody. I think it could have been you in that uniform. I mean, to be fair. I have the ring at home. I don't talk about it a lot. Okay.

Right. But the first Super Bowl, when he was with the Colts, one pick, one touchdown. Oh, give me Super Bowl MVP. Thank you. And he blew the one against the States. Right. Three TD passes, seven picks in that postseason in which the Colts won that. Super Bowl. That was Peyton Manning's

numbers. So you're, you're like... Because you love numbers, so I brought that out for you. So you like Brady more than that. I love Brady. It's the best all time. So Montana or Brady? You know what? Definitely Brady. I think he did more with less. It's all about what's around you.

So by your... But using your... Because Eli had no... Eli's had no offensive line and no running game. No, he just... Nobody to catch the ball on top of his head and fall down to the ground and not drop it. I feel like Brady's had good stuff around him. I feel like that gets overblown. Like before pre-Gronk, who is it?

Randy Moss one year. Troy Brown was really good. No, only because he was... Think about all these guys. Look at your boy, Wes Welker. He was in nothing. He was not nothing. He was something on the Dolphins.

He was nothing. He didn't make a fantasy team when he was in the Dolphins. Oh my God. You say he was great? I was like a really good receiver. I'm just saying... Oh, it's gone from great to really good.

I'm saying he's like a... I'm making my point. Servicable. Randy Moss. Come on. One year, Randy. I think Brady. With all the information he has that allows him to cheat and go out there every Sunday and win games by cheating, you think he'd be better than he is, though.

There's no cheating. I think Brady, Montana. It's getting the most out of the rules. That's the most out of the rules. And they all do it. It's just they have a commissioner that can't stand the Patriots because he feels guilty from all of his. all of his stuff, that's right, and pouring it on the saints. So he feels guilty about all of that.

It's so obvious. He's taking it out on the four patriots. Well, it's just so obvious, isn't it? And you know what? Don't be surprised if I was a betting person. They're winning at all. First of all, Jimmy Garapolo shocked the world, including me. His performance against Arizona.

He didn't screw up. He could go 4-0. And you know Tom Brady's going to be well-rested. This team might lose two games, if at all, and if they did, they're winning the Super Bowl. It's the big FU. It's the big FU. What if it's Giants Patriots? Oh, I'm always Giants.

I was the one that two times they'd be there. I think Brady, Montana. I was there in each building. Brady, Montana, and Bredore all have the same thing, which is I think that they are the perfect person for the systems in which they play. And if you took them out of those systems, I do wonder what they'd be. You make it, you definitely with Bredor, you're absolutely right. I think Bredoar and the Rangers.

I think Montana was the perfect guy for the West Gock offense. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think Brady's in the right system. You know what's hard for me to go against your argument. with Brady is the fact that I've never seen him in another system. So you're right. I'm not going to be a hypocrite. And I'm not going to,

but I'm just saying. And there's also the point where he's a disgusting human being with a punchable face. Just because you're jealous that he's married to Jazella. I'm a joke because I'm a Jets fan. Oh, that's it. Oh, God. Let's get into your team.

Do we really need, it's a very, we don't, we simply don't have the time. I mean, it's, I'd be worried about your storm. Years of shock therapy haven't helped me with my team. You're going to lose Thursday. Stop. Why are you being mean? You're Lister Rex and yeah That's tough break

Ryan Fitzpatrick going to Buffalo I have a yeah The last time that happened was really good times I want to ask Let's not go, Jeff It's already I'm already like I wanted to change the subject Because I already wasted too many tears

About that Bengals game really this week I got you blew that one I asked Dave before this question That's a lost opportunity Thank you Yeah 9 and 7 missed the playoffs All because of that first game

It could be worse You could have Jeff Fisher coaching me too. It's always fun at the end of the season as a Jets fan to be like, hey, oh, man, we missed the playoffs and wonder which game did it. And like this year, it's going to be easy because it's like, oh, it's that Bengals game that we completely screwed up. No, you'll have others to blame. Wow. Coming up. Nick Folk missed an extra point.

Don't blame it on the kicker. Linda Cohen's knifing you right in front of you. That's like, Nick Falk missing an extra point was like waking up one morning and being like, where did the sun go? How come it didn't rise? That's right, with our backup kicker, who's now cut. Without Josh Brown. We survived. All right.

Now we're really off of the market. I asked Losa this about the World Cup, and I'll ask you, what team in the World Cup would you most like to be a part of? Be in their locker room. I think we all know the answer of that. Team North America. Yeah? Well, yes. I've already been in the locker room of Team USA and they're awesome.

They would be my second choice. But, yeah, I think Team North America. Do you think they're really that fun, though? Or you think you're just like... I'd be their life coach. Conna McDavid doesn't seem like fun. He's very quiet. Yeah.

He's a quiet human. Eichael's fun, but not within the context of a team. Like at a bar, he'd be fun. He's fun. Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure. But no, I think it would be cool because I would think how do you get all these young guys who, you know, all together is one and with nothing to lose and do their thing. For me, they're fun.

I'd like... Yeah, I'd like to see what's in the minds of the kids. For me, it'd be Team Sweden. They all seem like... Because they're very nice. They're very nice. I feel like... All hockey players are nice, Greg.

I feel like Team Canada's like mean girls where like they all kind of like they probably don't like each other. They all think their kung fu is the best. Team USA is just whatever. They all have small penis syndrome about Canada so they don't want to really I don't want to deal with that.

I think Team Sweden knows their shit doesn't stink. They're all beautiful people. They come from a peaceful nation. I feel like, here's what I feel like, Here's what I feel like. I feel like if you're in Team Sweden's locker room,

eventually someone's going to make a pun. And everybody will laugh at the pun, and then let's go back to their business. That's the kind of thing that happens in Team Sweden's locker room. The most insane fucking thing I've never heard you say. Why? Well, yeah.

You said they're probably all shitty, beautiful people that do puns, and that's why you want to hang out of them. Have you ever been in IKEA? Of course. Yeah. It's like that. It's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, you're given an instruction manual, you put the things together.

Maybe one of the screws isn't fit right. Forget IKEA. I've been to Sweden. Yeah, and it's beautiful there and nobody gives... No, they ignore everybody. They just smoke a lot and they drink a lot. Yeah, they're all beautiful. Not all of them. They're not all beautiful.

I feel like... I expected when I went there that they would all be beautiful. Shell Samuelson wasn't beautiful. But I would say that overall, like, it would be... Yes, Carl Hagelin and Henrik Lundquist are beautiful beautiful. It would be like being at like a celebrity rehab center where it's just very serene and there are nice people and you're just hanging out all the time

and having a really nice time. What about you? I couldn't do Team Earth America because they would just talk about stuff I wouldn't get. They'd be like, hey, did you see the latest I-Message group chat thing we just did? And I'd be like... Oh, come on, you are hip and happening.

I got tickets to the Austin Mahone concert tonight. Moses is like, whatever, man. Skinnered. You want to go see... You want to go listen to my EDM? EDM, right. Don't knock EDM, but you're right. That's what they're into.

I couldn't do that. Sweden. Yeah, there'd be a lot of idiot. You're a lot of E. That's what they come out. I was going to say Sweden, but you really made Sweden sound terrible. So go for something. They're like an IKEA.

I don't think you should choose Sweden because you basically look Swedish. If you like Sweden, go Sweden. You do look Swedish. I am Matt Sundeen's body double when he goes on the road. Hey, it doesn't, if it pays. All right, so I have Sweden and Linda took Team North America, so you have to make another choice. I'm going Russia. I just want to get drunk.

Oh, wow. You like vodka. You like vodka is a choice. Vaca is a choice. I like the vodka. I like the vodka. I like the party atmosphere. Do you know the language?

Do you know some of the words? Spatsiba. Nostradania. Fodka soda. You know, they would be fun. Yeah. Nah, they're less fun that at Bridgegoloff's not there.

David, you and I should probably go and hunt tigers together in China at some point. By the way, that invitation sounds very Monty Python-ish. Exactly. I don't know where I'm actually are more like character true.

I think of accuracy. Right. Yeah. It's wonderful to be back on the ESPN. That is very a disturbing. I'm not really, actually. Definitely, Russia. Remember in the World Junior?

My favorite show was Playmakers, but I don't understand that. That was good. He didn't want you to have the playmakers. See, that was good. That was a Goodell Nix. I mean, that was great.

I miss when ESPN did movies. Remember the Bobby Knight movie? Where Brian Denny. Oh, yeah, who played that? He did a good job. Like, you guys used to put out movies. Huge. That was, now 30 for 30s are good.

Do you have a favorite 30 for 30? Oh, there was so many. Yeah. Oh, you know what? My favorite that was from ESPN. E-60, which is a difference. Yeah.

Was that Dominic Moore one. Oh, yeah. Okay, they did a great job. They did a good job for the 30-for-30, of course, with Wayne Gretzky. Yeah, him and Peter Berg walking on the golf. I think that was the first one. Yeah, the golf course.

I mean, that's a good one. There's so many great 30-for-30s. My favorite, though, of course, is the Brady one. That one that must have been an E-62. What was it about? Oh, man. It was about how he was picked so late in the draft.

Oh, I never heard that story. Oh, my. You know, you're so, when you are anti-Bradie, you, who is your team? The Giants. My favorite, you know, it's funny. You know, it's funny. You know, my favorite 30-for-30 was actually, would you like fries with that that Drew Bledso story?

I think that was a really good one because he's not playing football anymore because of Tom Brady. Guess what nobody's crying about it, especially in Foxborough. Yeah, exactly. He moved on. It's sports. happens. It's amazing how a fifth round pick with real note.

But here's the thing that I always say, just like I made you spit up when I mentioned that Peyton Manning comment, you know, Bill Belichick would be a losing head coach if it wasn't for Tom Brady. No, don't go, it's true. I mean, the guy, I mean, he's a great decontator where the Giants, goes to Cleveland, sucks. Sucked in Cleveland. Sucked.

Everyone sucks in Cleveland, though. And then he comes to the Patriots and starts winning as soon as he made Tom Brady has started quarterback. Again, another wild coincidence how a bad. coach forever suddenly became the greatest coach of all the time. The thing that makes me think they cheat more than anything, I saw the stat, it was a game on CBS, and it was like the Patriots record at home over like a certain period of time, and it was like 55 and 5. It was like a college football program.

Have you ever seen a game there? It's a huge home field advantage. It's a salary cap league where players come in and out and they've lost like five times. By the way, how about that game? Remember the Patriots played like, I think it was in Baltimore and all their iPads were not working? And no one's said anything about the Ravens shutting it off or their headphones. If that happened at Foxborough, it would be like World War, you know. Because they're all using

Microsoft surfaces and they suck. They looked like a... It looks like a child would use to learn the alphabet. Their communications were down. Now, here's the thing, no, but blows those points, well, I assume that Foxborough was like, I assume Foxborough was like the Truman show.

Like, wherever you go, there's a small, tiny camera filming you at all times, and Belichick's like Ed Harris somewhere in the moon. watching the whole thing play out. 100% all the time. Excuses, excuses. You can't win this division every year of your existence.

You just can't be... When you're on the radar, when you're on the NFL and Goodell radar, you can't get away with it. Don't you think they're at the point now where they've cheated for so long that if they were to reveal all the cheating agent,

you can't just throw out that word just because of one situation with the Rams. First of all, Eric Mancini, by the way, give me a break. Where is he now? Exactly. He leaves New England.

Wasn't he? And the ESPN alumnus that you're talking about? He was. And I already got along with him and I put my disgust aside. Who was the animal being a cheat himself? Who was the in-and-out pro-athlet or coach analyst that you hate? Who was the one that was the worst that you didn't let? You're like, I'm so happy that this person is leaving now. I don't know.

I made everyone around me better, just like Tom Brady. Oh, my God. Who was the Wes Welker of ESPN analysts? Oh, okay. Who's the most annoying sports fan? ESPN. Who's the one that always talks shit after his or her team wins. Oh, man. That's probably one of those college people, right?

Who do you avoid on Mondays when you come in? Oh, I don't know. You know, I can't go there. I'm sorry. Do you have a hashtag college hockey hat or shirt from Butchagrass? No, I don't. I love But he is more college hockey man and, you know, NHL to me. Yeah. Because he's all about, it's frightening. It's frightening. It's frightening. It's his timeline. I'm a little concerned.

I hope people in the federal government are looking at his timeline because I'd be concerned. He's, he's, he has a lot of followers of, you know, young hockey players. That's what I'm saying. Like, bootie cross. Right. I'll be scrolling on my timeline. And his shirt's always off, which I don't understand either. All of a sudden, there would be, there would be, like, this, like, college co-ed, and she'll be, like, on the beach, and she's wearing, like, a college hockey hat and, like, a bikini.

And I'm like, am I doing it wrong? We got to start making hats. I do give him credit for that overtime challenge. Anything that groups, the hockey community together is a good one. But no, I don't need to follow. I'm a leader. The light's on again. See how that God looked down when I said that?

The light went on. Thank you. Before we get to the mailbag this week. The mailbag, good. Where do you see the Rangers finishing in the... A lot of changes. Have you noticed? Okay, the fan base, and I speak for them.

Before you answer, were you one of the celebrity fans that helped recruit GVC? No, I was. But it was more that, and you know what, Patrick Kane told me, he told me in the Lock Team USA Locker, he was like, first thing he said to me, so you got Visi. He knows, because he always brings up Regents with me. I don't know why. He goes, you know, I was trying to get him big time. That's what he said. He was out recruiting.

Patrick Kane, and he could not even get him to the Black Colts. And I said to him, and I said to Patrick Kane, and I said to Patrick Kane, I said, it's because. He would not get the opportunity to play on your talented team. Your team is so much more talented than the New York Rangers right now. So, yes. Where are you on the Rangers fan, celebrity fan pecking order? Are you above Adrian Greenerre from Entourage? I think so.

Are you above Margot Robbie? Who's that? You ever see Wolfel Wall Street? Yes, I saw it. Yeah, so she jumped on that wagon. You're probably above Anne Burrell Celebrity Chef. I hope so. Are you above Frances?

I'm a lifelong... Francesa. Francesa's not a Ranger fan. He shows up to games. You forgot to say Matt Harvey. Matt Harvey. Yeah. Probably.

I'm right there with him. We're a Noah Sindegard city now. So I think Matt Harvey is probably below you as well. He's an Islander guy, isn't he? Who? Noah is. But Matt Harvey is all Rangers. Absolutely.

I don't remember him being at a game last year. He was. He was definitely at a game last year. I'm not saying, but he's not bigger than me. But I do welcome him on the wagon because I'm a Met fan. You might be the most famous rangers fan because I think you're probably. also more popular than anybody that was on the Sopranos being that she was been off the year for 15 years.

You do give me that. But yeah, no, no, it's true. What was the other question about the Rangers and how they're going to do? You know, obviously the cream of the crop in the Eastern Conference is still the penguins and the Capitals. Yeah. So, you know, a lot of changes on the Rangers. The interesting thing, the thing that I had a problem with guys, and I was very vocal on

Twitter about when it happened. And I even told this person before he left the end of the year, they should have done. did anything they could to keep Keith Yandel. You don't give up that much to just say goodbye. And that's going to hurt them. I'm a big Keith Yandel person. That's number one. My only hope for the backliner, so I do love, who got a lot of abuse last year,

the Girardies, the stalls, to name two. Kevin Klein didn't have as great a year as he did the year before. So they're well rested. And you could laugh at that, but being knocked out in the first round will help the older defensemen. because they weren't used to having all this time in the off season to recover and get healed again because they were all beat up. Now, McDonough, it's an interesting situation with Ryan McDonough. His captaincy is not a Max Batcharelli situation.

No. You know, but he was not exactly the same player wearing the C. And Lozo, you know what I'm talking about. He, he, it's not, it's hard for a young guy. guy to be the captain, especially of a franchise, original six, New York Rangers. And it's going to be interesting to see how he comes off this World Cup and get right into it. You know, Derek Stepan would be a great captain. I know they're buds, but he's good, you know, he's good.

McDone's good. Zimvinajad is going to be interesting. Yeah, that lights a fire. That's the speed. You know, brass, you know, is a range fantasy. He's sort of a West Welker type and that he was pretty good with the senators. Good guy. Good guy.

It could be great with the Rangers. Yeah. A transformative player. Yeah. And, you know, Loza knows this. I'm a Rick Nash apologist, so I'm still waiting for a real center to center align with Rick Nash because I've always had dreams of the last four years since they got Rick Nash.

God, it would be great to have a guy like John Fentaves or Ante Copator. I like Rick Nash a lot of a person, and I've become increasingly more uncomfortable talking to him. Why? Because now you don't, because you don't like him as a player anymore. Well, I don't like him as a player anymore. He's 32 years of age. It's really hard. A lot of concussions.

Yeah, and it's hard to, you know. It's hard to cover a guy that you love. Yes, exactly. I don't have a lot of friends in the NHL. I wouldn't consider him a friend. But, like, it's hard to cover a dude that you've, you like. You like that you know is kind of creeping on the downside. And also is just basically a pariah.

Just basically everybody shits on Rick Nash because he doesn't produce to his contract. And you just feel bad. You feel bad that it's kind of gone that way for him. Plus, you know, he handles all that criticism of. so well because he doesn't pay attention to it. You know, he's like the Eli Manning of the except without the two rings. But he's like, the Eli Manning goes, Eli blocks everything out. Constantly in the shadow was brother Steve Nash.

Right. That Riley Nash, Raleigh, Nash. Everyone, Riley Nash came into MSG and hit Lunkwist in the throat with that shot. That was, that was revenge because his brother Rick. That's right. He stopped producing it up for you. He was just like, what's up? Vend for Wanda.

And here's the deal. And, you know, this was a. If this, here's a good question you can ask me. Oh, oh, I'm sorry. Please. Please. This is how the show works. Linda has to approve of all questions before she gets them.

She's like, all right. When I kick your ankle twice, you ask. I'm surprised. I'm so surprised you haven't asked me this one. If Henrik Lindquist will finish his career as a New York Ranger. Hey, Linda. I'm just curious. Do you think that Henry's Lundquist will finish his career as a New York Ranger?

You know what? If I'm... Tell me it's a good question. Okay, that's a fabulous question. Thank you. If I'm Henrik Lundquist and I want to win the Stanley Cup, okay, aren't I going to Dallas? Yep. And aren't the stars throwing everything in their grandmother at the Rangers?

And aren't the Rangers considering this deal? But, see, I completely agree with you. And I think it makes all the sense in the world for the Rangers and the Stars. However, it requires Henrik Lunkwist to leave New York City. And I don't think he's going to do it. And I'm with you. John McEnroe. Yeah.

Leave his guitar shops. His modeling career. His modeling career. Leave it all behind. The foundation. Everything he does and he's the face of the franchise. I just, he says that's all he wants is to win a cup. It's not going to happen here.

But it's not happening if he wants to stay with the New York Rangers. I mean, everything's got to go amazingly right this year. And then he's only got a three-year window, really. Because what is he? 35? Something like that. 4, 35. Somewhere than...

It's more of the team than him at this point. Yeah, he's great. Even though Greg doesn't think so, and I was even talk about him as an elite go toad him. He's like, Marty Bruner could go in there right now and win the cup. Yeah, right. But it's not... It's the people around him.

You know, it is. And it was a better goalie than Longquist. Who? Brador was a better goalie than Lungquist. There's no, there's never disputing that fact. No, of course not. Linda? Would you like to wait?

I can't go there. Sorry. Who's better? Cam Talbot, Marty Bruder. Cam Talbot or Marty Rador? I'll go with... I'll go with Rador on that one. It goes John Van Biesbrook, Bob Froes, Marty Bredor.

And he's just ahead of Kevin Weeks. Is that how it works? All I'm telling is he was just one piece of those three Stanley Cup champions. But do you think he leaves? You just say no? You think he's here for the long haul? I think if he really wants to win a Stanley Cup in the next three years, Odds are stacked against him.

There's nothing more than I would love to see him as a ranger and stay a ranger and win a cop. If I was his representation, I would be rich. I would not, well, I would be on this podcast for you too. She thought about it. Yeah, I did. I stopped for a second. Before we get the mailback, I want to ask you a question. Do you think we'll ever see a woman, menel reaum it for reals and play goalie in the NHL?

Oh, I was ahead of my time, and so was she. I don't know. I don't know. I don't think it's necessary. You have Shannon Savados. I'm probably what you're going to last name. But yeah, playing minor league. Yeah. And I always thought that, you know, that's a position where a woman could in theory break through. Well, now with the goalie interference rules and there's really protection for the goaltenders. Right, exactly. Could it ever happen?

It could, but, you know, life won't end if it doesn't. Right. I mean, I have no problem with that never happening. There are enough quality men goaltenders that are endless that are looking for an NHL job. As long as there's a Finland. It's a Czech Republic. But again, I don't know.

Maybe that's the problem is that we're only focusing on men goaltenders. There's like, there's like, how many good ones are there? 20? At least 40 openings. Right. Like, if you took the best woman goaltender on the time. You know, I tried out for the Panthers. Yeah. Two years ago.

I mean, it was bullshit that you got cut. I don't know. I don't know how that happened. I could have at least sat on the bench. But I think the best. Have you ever? I'm as good as more Alamatoia. Have you ever been an emergency goalie at any point?

No, I would have loved that out of me. Yeah. because the Oilers almost had a woman play golf. But I did play, you know, my last time was on the ice in a game was in, almost a year ago, Rangers Charity, but it was all like former players. And on my side, I thought there'd be like, I'd take a break. I'd play a half or one period, maybe two. The guy on the other end, there were three different goals on the other end.

They played the whole game, lost 13 to 12. Thought I played well. Well, where is your question going to be? I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm sorry. I was going to say, like, if you took, who's the worst goaltender now? Okay. All right.

Think of it like this. Say this 20-year-old. We're starting goalie? Right. You took Mike Smith from the Poudy. He used to have one good year. Somebody who plays 20 games. You don't think the best woman in the world could do something similar to what?

You can make a case. The 40th or 40th? You know what? Two times 30. I don't know. I got to be honest with you. I don't have to tell you guys. You go ice level and see how hard those shots come.

It's a different. It's a different game and the quickness and the speed. I think you're better than Jonas Enroff. Wow. Right. If it's like a five... Let me think about it. The way he's played in pre-tournament games, I give you that. Like, there's short goalies.

Like, who's the smallest goalie? Five-nine, probably? See, if there's like a five-nine woman who's technically sound... Speed is amazing. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. I don't know. I think you can play.

It's now time for the Puck Soup mailbag where we go to the listeners and they send in questions for all of us on the podcast. Michael Castillo writes in, what is the proper way... Is she nuts? Oh. It's not live. What is the proper way to store ketchup at home? How do you store ketchup at home?

In the refrigerator, turned upside down because you know how these ketchup bottles. First of all, I don't have ketchup. It's not good for you. But if I did. No, it's full of sugar. But that's me. Do we have to get back to Greg's diet to help him as well? But it always gives me such energy.

Yeah. That's why. It's full of sugar. But you store it upside down because the bottles are now made. where you can do that. So it's not like the old Heinz commercials where you're, you know, tapping the bottle so it comes out. Well, first of all, there's no tapping the bottle anymore

because you get the squeezes. Right. But I now keep it in the fridge, only because Ruby told me too, because I always just kept it in the pantry. No, always fridge. I'm like, what do you think? Like every diner puts their ketchup

in a refrigerator every night? No, it's just out. It's just out. It never goes bad. But those go quicker than yours because they're at a diner. It's a fair point. Thank you. Oh, yeah.

Good thinking. Tom Ginsburg writes, and rank your top five potato chip flavors. Oh, I did this the other day on Twitter. Also bad for you. I mean, I'm not going to, I don't think we have time for top five. Is this the time I can go to the bathroom? I'll just say that.

Oh, you did yours right. You did your yesterday. I got to call them. Salt and vinegar is my favorite potato chip. Do you have any? If I had to eat a potato chip? If you were forced to eat a potato chip, it would be. I like barbecue.

All right. Yes, if a Brazilian security guard had you at gunpoint and a gun to your head and you were like, whatever, man. I'll let you go if you eat this chip. It would be barbecue. Yeah. All right.

All right. All right. Salt and vinegar one. Sour cream and cheddar two. Nacho Doritos, the originals, three. Cool Ranch Doritos, four, and then five. Tomato and basil. Terrible.

And by the way, cool ranch over nach cheese all day every day. We'll do one more here. I'm going to pick a winner. Oh, we'll do one more, yeah. Corey. ZVB writes in. Next time. Next week.

Who would get the furthest on who wants to be a millionaire? The famous question and answer show, probably hosted by who? Cedric the entertainer these days. I don't even know who's there. Meredith Fierre. Boy, talk about stealing money. I would love that job. Game show hosts a big.

Yeah. If only you had an agent in the family. That's right. I know. My dream, and I'll make it happen at some point on this podcast or another podcast, which is to host a hockey-style family feud show. Let's do it. I would.

Do you invite me? Go back to the beginning. That is just, that is the bucket list. So like top five inches on the board, name your favorite hockey player? Right. Hockey players answering regular questions. Right. And then you buzz in and say, um, who is?

His winky. And then I'm like, what? And then it's why it being number one. I think it would be a hidden Canada. Yeah. All right. ZVeev wants to know who would get the furthest one who wants to be a millionaire. Jeremy Roanick, Mike Milbury, or Pierre McGuire.

Oh. Oh. It has to be Pierre. The guy is a brain. I mean, meaning he remembers everything. He's good comprehension. I think Pierre is not the answer because I think his knowledge base is too wide. He'd second guess himself.

No. He knows a lot. He's also really stubborn in what he believes. And I feel like he was the oldest guy, too, on the list. So he has the most knowledge. He's older than Milbury? I would say so. Really?

Looks good. Yeah, Milbury looks like a catcher's mitt. Wow. Tweet that out. God. Wow. All right. Finally, Los Deng.

Beringo Barnellaba, aka Dan Straight Edge, wants to know. I have a cold. What makes you feel better when you have a cold? I would say wearing a sweater under blankets. And the thing that I, whenever I have a cold, no matter what the cold is, it's always salty and crackers, even if it's not bad belly. Just because you like crackers. Yep. And then also ginger ale.

Okay. For me, just OD on vitamin C. It works. Same thing, but NyQuil. There's an alcohol content to that. That's shocking. It's a nice buzz.

She's got a tall glass of orange juice on ice and you just pour the NyQuil over. No, just the supplements. Orange juice is a joke. Do you mean like... Vitamin C supplements. Like coldies? No. Just go to anywhere.

It says vitamin C and take a lot of them all throughout the day and OD on them. Are there other letters? Yeah. Is there a D? Yeah, but in case of a cold, go with C. Do these come in shapes like the Flintstones? Nowadays, they come in gummies, but probably not as effective.

I got some gummies in... I got some gummies in Denver when I was there, and they certainly definitely cleared up my cold. Like when I have a cold, it just, no, matter what I do, vitamin C, whatever, it's just there for a certain amount of time. I just, I don't know. I don't have the, I don't know, immune system at this point. Linda Cohen, you're the best. So where can people find you during the World Cup and all that of their stuff? Okay. I am doing hosting duties and I don't want to date the podcast, but starting September 17th, group play begins.

You will see me on ESPN 2 and then on ESPN News and USA plays Team Europe. You will see me with Brett Hall and Chris Cellio's beginning then. And you will also see me doing random features throughout our coverage. Who do you have lined up for the features? Well, I did, it was played last night, the three goalies, all three of them in a row. And then right after it, Quick was officially named his daughter. But they did a rock, paper, scissors thing, you know, because I asked them, how are you going to, it was really cute. It was really fun.

They were all in. They were all fun. You know, I asked them, what is this about us goalies? They think we're all nuts. And, you know, I looked at Ben. I go, Ben Bishop, you're not crazy. You know, so it was fun. But I have fun features coming up.

Ryan Kessler, he does this between two Zams. This little feature will interview some players from Team Canada. I have Patrick Cain, Dustin Bufflin, sat down with both of those guys, and T.J. Oshy, seriously, a great story regarding his family and what he has to overcome and what his daughter goes through and just, you know, all these kind of things. So it's a nice little...

What an interesting concept, a fun coverage of hockey. Yeah. Really bringing out the personality and getting people to watch through human interest, which is what is done in the Olympics. This is actually kind of rude because you're going to do this for two weeks. It's like giving somebody free drugs for two weeks and then the drug dealer moves to another. Yeah. Listen, I know I'm going to go through withdrawal too. It's awful.

Drug withdrawal. Drugs are great. So anyways. Thanks, guys. I really appreciate having me on. I hope I can come back. I'm Greg Wischinski of Yahoo Sports. You can find my stuff at Wichenski on Twitter.

You could find all my stuff on Puck Day. There's also another podcast to do called Merrick v. Wichinsky. And then my book, Take Your Eye off the puck. is still available from Amazon. Can I get a copy? Of course. All right, go. Hey, I didn't get a copy.

I just got new copies. Well, I want a signed copy. So where can people find your stuff, Dave? Yeah. On Twitter, with your 5,000 different names. I saw my Jim Beam bourbon at pretty much any liquor store that you can see. I sell my pencils at several street corners. How's that store doing? Business good?

That's doing really well. Ever since I started promoting Jim Beam, Jim Beam Bourbon, the sales have gone up. Nice. You can find me on that 70. show reruns on many networks. Oh, you mean Jim Beam Bourbon, the name so nice, you say it twice. It's really good. And you're a body double four. I do work on the side for Matt Sundeen, but really my passion is Jim Bean bourbon. So please go out and buy it because I get it, I got a cut of every, every bottle sold. It's delicious. Wow. And yeah,

book of Ely, I'm in that as well. And then finally, I suppose, to celebrate hockey's return to ESPN, we should all finish the show with a rousing rendition of the ESPN hockey theme song. Duda-da-da-da-da-da-da-dha-d-da-da-da-da-da-dha. Thunder cats are on the moon. Thunder cats are loose. Feel the magic. Hear the roar. Thunder cats are loose.

Oh, I love Barbara Streis, and I saw her at Barclays. She's one of my faves. They sacrificed a cat at the end. It was all about genocide. I love that song too. Bring your kids to cats. Thanks everybody and thanks to Nerdist and we'll see you next time on Puck's Soup.

Oh, you have to say your big goodbye. No, I'm tired of doing it. Say it. Jim Bean Bourbon. Barrel-aged, beachwood combed or something. I forget the slogan. I forget the slogan for how it goes. Look it up. Now leaving nerdist.com.