Puck Soup - NHL Midpoint Awards

Episode Date: January 5, 2018

Greg and Dave give out  NHL Awards at the midpoint of the season, including MVP, most disappointing player and the team that's convinced you it can actually win the Stanley Cup. Plus, Buffalo gets shafted in the Winter Classic, and our feelings on NHL outdoor games; Greg's truly insecure and bizarre rules for when to wear a Flyers jersey to a Rangers game; TV news people are weird; the best goalie in hockey; trading Max Pacioretty; fining goalies for diving; those, um, interesting All-Star Game jerseys; and you tell us how it feels to know the NHL front office picks the All-Star teams. Sponsored by Seat Geek!

Today's episode of Puck Soup is brought to you by The Foreigner. Never push a good man too far. Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosden star on the explosive action thriller, The Foreigner. From the director of Casino Royale, don't miss the film critics are calling sharp, exciting, and compelling. Own The Foreigner now on digital, on Blu-ray and DVD January 9th. Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slapshots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to what if you're going. commute. We also cover movies, TV shows,

it's in twos. It's your weekly bowl of Hagi and Nancet. I'm Dave Lozo of Ice Sports. And I'm Greg Rishinsky of ESPN. You're in Puck Soup. I did a video from the Winter Classic, like a Keys to the Game type thing. What were the Keys? Squirmargoals. I think the Keys was make sure you play Buffalo.

But on the video, I did the Greg Wyshinsky ESPN thing, and of course it took criticism for not doing it in the proper modulation as I do on the podcast. Yeah, you got to really sell it up. Yeah. And then say the letter. Last night we were watching the news before this bomb cyclone hit the East Coast. The bombogenesis? Yes, bomb cyclone is to you what when you heard that name for the first time? Ice pop.

I will bite off some. The red, white, and blue one? The red, white, and blue would be a bomb cyclone. Yeah. the uh well would it would it be the shape of it would be like an ice lollipop like an ice ball then if it's a bomb cyclone well oh like sort of like it like it like it like it's like a bugle on a stick and it's shaped like it looks almost like a sex toy like whoa i mean i listen i don't know where you shop but i don't know what you're what you're doing your ice pops when you get him home my friend melting them baby apparently uh i well the first thing i i'll bite off a joke that i heard on on twitter uh the first thing i thought of was a street fighter character

bombocleon wins see i heard so i heard it as bombbo genesis first and i thought of star trek i was like because that's how they destroyed the genesis but the the genesis machine the genesis machine a bombbo uh-huh that's right well fire the bombbo actually dave uh the genesis machine was destroyed uh because uh oh god it uh it didn't get destroyed it it worked it went off it was a bombbo so so con is on the ship And he's just like, from hell's heart, I spit it thee. And then the enterprise gets away because Spock's boiler warning puts his hands on some dry ice and twists the thing. And then the Genesis machine explodes and it populates, it creates life where there was no life.

That's great. That is a really good story. That's right. And then, and then, like, Spock and Kirk have that thing where they're, like, going to kiss, but there's glass in the way. And he's like, Spock, I can't believe. We can't kiss. And then Spock's like, Captain, it would be logical if we tongue to each other before my demise. Call 911.

Yes, that is fantastic. Bombs cyclone happened. Oh, we were talking about the news. So there was a woman on Channel 7 last night who stand. There's only three places that people really stand before a giant snowstorm. It is in front of a green screen telling us where the snow is going to be. It is on the streets where the plows are starting to go. and the reporters either get hit with snow or with salt or some shit.

It's like a Gallagher concert, basically. Or there's always that reporter they send to the giant igloos of salt and sand to tell us about the preparations for the night of assaulting the road with these elements. So there was a woman on Channel 7 last night who gave the greatest fucking pause to a news report I've ever heard, which is it was like, and that's when they'll begin dumping the eight tons of salt and sand on these new New York streets and they'll find out in the morning if it was enough. That's, that's, that's so is like a 1990s TV thing, like a TV person tick. That's how they talk.

Yeah. Like, it's, like, if you watch, like, if you watch Vice, like, Shane Smith when he does a report, just talks like a normal human being. Right. But like, when he does his voiceovers, he very much has a voice that goes up. Yeah. And down. That's just how people do things, I think, when they think about their voices.

Right. And I can't figure out why that. And it's infected everything because you're, both of our, okay. Okay, both of our ESPN impressions, as Ruby Edmondson has established the fact that I created it and then you picked up it. You picked it out. Involved that inflection. That for like pause for dramatic effect up and down sports thing. Yeah, it was always a field report.

It was always a split screen. Saw Palantonell Antonio still does it. Like every once in a while he'll do a report from Philly because the Eagles are good and he'll do a thing where they hope Nick Foles can do the job that Carson Wentz did earlier in this season. I'm Sao Palantone. He does it. And there's no irony to it. And when it comes to the quarterback position, the Vikings are certainly hoping that's the case. We hope these foals don't get lost in the woods.

I'm South Palantoneo. ESPN. ESPN. It's just, I don't know. I don't know why they do it. I don't know how it happens. It's a disease. The snow, we were going to have a guest today, by the way.

It's a freescape with me in Lozo because our guest is in Brooklyn and couldn't come in because of this. It's like five inches of snow. You can't expect someone to get out of train. Informa. You know, say, oh, I was like, was it the 10, how many inches of snow was that album?

What? The snow album. How many inches of it? Hang on. That was, the name of the album was like blank inches of snow. Yeah, you didn't know that?

I'm so mad about the guy. Twelve inches of snow. The weather guy who deleted his tweet. You saw that tweet yesterday from that weather guy. It said, update colon. Yes. Like, why, I don't get why he deleted it. It was perfectly harmless.

Are you talking about the one where he was talking about the answer? Get ready for a password. You're pounding. Get ready for a pounding. Here comes six inches. It's like here comes, you know, here comes eight inches, dash, dash, dash. That's too much for me. It was the perfect.

First of all, I saw that tweet and I saw it on my phone and I couldn't enlarge it because I was on the subway. I thought it was like an 80-year-old man who did it. It was like a young dude. So like maybe he did kind of want to go double entendre, but I read it as like a harmless weather tweet that just had the word inches in it. It's a weird, it's a weird dynamic one, you know, it's that line you have to dance on where if you become self-aware of your double entendre, then you have to

apologize for it. But if you're, you know, calling a Chargers game in the mid-1990s and you're like, and Butts sticks it in the hole, then it's fine. Oh, look at Butts just running people over. You just, you got the Chargers game plan, butts first. Establish the run. And then it's... Yeah, Humphreys snuck it in.

You could see right here, Butts is behind him. He's got butts behind him. When you combine Humphreys and butts... You're always going to have a great game. Running backs are better named in the 1990s. Again, this is not, this is a bit of old guy nostalgia, but show me one player in the National Football League today that's got a better name than Christian Akoye. There is none. And you could tell that it's been the law debiting returns because who did they replace Christian Akoye with in Kansas City?

Barry Word. I mean, for God's sakes, they couldn't even come up with a better name. They just left it as Word. Barry, I don't know. Word? Yeah, what's the word? Word. What did you think of the Winter Classic?

I was there, and I think this is going to be an interesting experiment in the, does it matter if you're there versus watching it on television? Because you watched it on television and thought? That was terrible. The first 10 minutes were in shadows. The game was fine, but like, it's just another game. I was watching college football. I was going back and forth.

I saw the first two Ranger goals, and then I saw the winner in overtime. Like, I kind of was back and forth. And I got to tell you, there's nothing like, and this might be the highlight of my hockey life, as both the reporter and a fan. Nothing like hearing the single worst goal song in all of sports sung by 43,000 people at City Field. Oh, did the, the bills? Did the sabers do the, let me clear my throat?

Sir, I don't know if you knew this, but although the Sabres were the home team for the Winter Classic. They didn't play their goal song? They played both goals songs. Yeah, yeah, that's what I thought. Yeah, I heard the ringers goal song. The Sabers should have their goal song play it. it. They did play it. Yeah, okay.

No, that's not the worst. The Rangers' ones is the worst. Fucking terrible. The Rangers goal song is funny because it sounds good when there's like 20,000 people screaming it. But if you go to YouTube and just play it by yourself, you're just like, what the fuck is this? Yeah. But I think it's, it sounds like there are more people singing than there are because the song is sort of like sweetened. It's like, it's like when, it's like when Def Leopard would do like the beginning of pour some sugar on me. And they echoed the voice. It sounds like an entire football stadium is like, oh, hey! It's like that for the Rangers song. Yeah, it's not.

It's not the best golf song. I completely forgot about that. It sounds like the generic goals. Like, we couldn't get the rights to the Gary Glitter's song, so let's write something for our hockey movie. And it sounds like that. It's very 80s cheesy rock that somehow has lasted. Whoa, whoa, whoa. It's the worst.

Hey. Hey. But, I mean, I did feel bad for this. Like, the Sabres fucking had to wait 10 years to get there. Hey, thanks for holding the first one in your stadium just so you can get railed by Crosby. Apology game. And then it's in City Field. They're technically the home teams.

They lose a home game, basically, because if the Rangers, if the Rangers of the Knicks play a home game outside of MSG in New York, the MSG runs the risk of losing a $40 million tax exemption. So the Rangers have now played three outdoor games in New York, two at Yankee Stadium won at City Field. They've been the road game in all three. You know, what's funny is going to be like if, I mean, the Sabres won't be there, but what if the Rangers make the playoffs by a point?

And they happen to play 42 home games and 40 road games. That's true. Two points that they get in the City Field game. makes the saber is fucking like there's nothing buffalo you'd expect there to be a giant bottle of Franks or something or anchor bar

wing sauce in the outfield somewhere just so you can have a little buffalo in there there's nothing how about a giant cascading Niagara Falls out near the apple or something but instead it's all New York all the time our friends in western New York how about how about like a

like a mannequin lit on fire going through a fire table while wearing a Thomas jersey. Something that would tell us that Buffalo's in the game. Well, that's the thing. They don't want you to know Buffalo in case you haven't figured that out. Based on the ratings, I don't even think Buffalo knew the Buffalo was in the game. I love the excuse for the ratings in Buffalo was it was a Buffalo Bill's hangover. That's what I read in the Buffalo news was maybe it was because the Buffalo fans were all just exhausted from the playoff game. It's a really good point because when you're hungover, when you're hungover, I mean what you're doing is you're not watching television in bed.

No, no, no, not a literal hangover, a sports hangover. A sports hangover. You just didn't want to watch any more sports the next day. Yeah. Buffalo Bill's fans got a taste of success. You're like, I can't wallow back in the mire of a losing franchise. It's like, well, you know, LaShaul McCoy's probably not going to play this. I don't want to hear it.

I am riding high. You know, Mike Tolbert's going to get like 30 carries. I'm so happy. You don't want to watch Jack Eichol and the Sabres come back and get a point? Nope. The ratings sucked because of the Sabers, but also because no one gives a shit about two New York team is playing each other. And also because. In order to get the

In order to get the A casual fan to watch the Winter Classic You gotta do you gotta have one of like two of three things You gotta have an interesting venue You have to have an interesting matchup Or you have to have a fuck ton of snow And they didn't have any snow No one gave a shit about the game

And what does City Field but like The ninth of a series of cookie cutter Baseball stadiums that all popped up in the last 15 years You just can't admit that nobody wants to to watch the Winter Classic anymore. Oh my God. You need to have all these specific things happen just to get the rating up to 1.8. Are you a,

are you a, a, a, a, a, a, a, because of the stadium series and other shit,

that the novelty is gone and there's no reason to watch it anymore? That's part of it. If it was once a year, I can see it being a more special event, you know, capital E event. I also think, too, if you're a casual fan,

and you're deciding between the two or three college football games that are going out at the same time, you flip on NBC at 110, and the game hasn't started yet and the 1 o'clock football game has and you put it on at 110 and you see Jeremy Roneck doing a zany bit you're just like I don't want to watch this

and then when the game finally starts half the first period's played in darkness you're probably not going to come back to it I think that's part of it Jeremy Roneck did two bits on the pregame show or at least I saw two bits recorded and I saw them online I know one of them made the pregame show

one of them was that he went to Nathan's and did like a miniature hot dog eating contest. Nathan's? Coney Island. Yeah, Coney Island. In Brooklyn?

That was, yeah, you know, in Buffalo. So he did that. And again, I was actually talking to somebody about this yesterday, about you,

how this entire, like, Buffalo playing a home game in New York, so all they do is show in New York shit, is exactly the Rutgers thing. It's exactly when Rutgers plays a home game

on national television. And they show a picture of the fucking Chrysler building. They come back from commercial, it's like, Rucker 17, Maryland 9. Oh, there's the Empire State Building that's not that far.

way it's an hour drive. It's actually an hour drive. Rockers up 10-0-0-0-Irable. Beautiful shot of the Brooklyn Bridge here in Percipney, New Jersey. Here's some beautiful shots of the Coney Island boardwalking. Oh, look at the Seagulls getting the French fries. That's just classic Ruckers. Roneck did a fake

Nathan's hot dog eating challenge, which is cute. Like, they sent him to one of the hot chicken places in Nashville during the cup final and he ate hot chicken and it was like, brawuga, you know, steam came out of his year. Wait, wait, so he didn't really eat the hot dogs? No, he did. Oh, okay. Yeah, I mean, he did the hot chicken too. But the second

segment, the one that made the air, was him participating in the polar bear club, running out into the ocean when it's freezing with the people that were like wearing their bathing suits and shit. Classic New York thing we all know. But here's the amazing thing. I'm thinking they shot

the Nathan's one first because he was the only person amongst the polar bears to wear a shirt into the water. Wait. What? So wait, so you think they shot the hot dog one first. Yeah, I'm thinking he didn't like it and they were like, no, I'm thinking maybe after like 30 hot dog, he's feeling a little self-conscious about

life and he decides to keep a shirt on going to water. A little hot dog blow. Hey, listen, as a man of certain proportion. Hey, you're still like 20 pushups. You're fine. No, I'm all right. I can take my shit off at the beach, just in the right company. I just don't understand why jumping into the polar bear water with the polar bear people is like a New York thing. Like there's like, think of all the New York things you could do. you could like you can go to the Guggenheim and you can't bring a camera in the Guggenheim so you probably can't do that but like there's like a million central park you can go to top of the top of the top of the top of the top of the top of the top of the top of the top of the top of the top of the side face of this monae it looks like her boobs or forehead huh go figure this guy looks like Keith Jones with that haircut like you know just go through and do stu-stick I don't know but like why is jumping and like how is that? different than like playing a game in Boston or anywhere on the East Coast in the winter.

The ultimate irony is that the polar bear club canceled their plunge because it was too cold on New Year's Day. So like it's clear that they did it days beforehand with like a group of like polar bear ringers I guess but the day of they didn't do it. It was a big story. They couldn't do it because of the temper. Oh well that's fine.

I don't I don't need to have the reality of the situation matter for me if it's like New Year's Eve or like December 29. NBC executive is in the boardroom stressing oh man they canceled the baller park. People will know free taped, I don't know. We got to keep it under wraps. Okay, let's make sure we get all the proper angles

and they'll put any time stamps on this. Ready? The shadows in the first period did make the game pretty unwatchable. I saw that on the monitors and on the ice too. Like, Shatton Kirk told me that when he was trying to, like he would look up to make a pass out of his own zone. The sun would be in his face.

He literally couldn't tell what team he was passing to. Yeah. It's like in baseball when you're pitching from the sunlight into the shadows. Yeah. Only it's like vice versa. You're the blind person at the plate. I was born of the shadows. I can hit my.

Randy Arboruns in that situation. It was hard on the eyes, too, because the second goal that Kevin Hayes, like, I don't know if you banked it in or if you passed it, whatever it was. It all happened so quickly, and it was in the darkness and, like, Robin Leonard wasn't moving, and you couldn't really see them, and you're just like, oh, that was actually a pretty nice goal. Let me put a bow around this nonsense with two questions. Is the necessary evil of having the Winter Classic on New Year's Day and seeing the ratings

decline for three consecutive years, although I imagine they're going to go up next year when it's Notre Dame because you're going to have a pretty cool venue. Yeah. Awesome venue of that big Notre Dame stadium. Well, and someone was telling me that you can't even, you can't even see touchdown Jesus like from the field. So you know it's going to be like one of these things where every single ad break, it's just going to be shot of touchdown Jesus over and over again.

They're going to do like an offensive thing pregame with Jeremy Ronick is Jesus. That's going to get them in trouble. It's J.R. as J.C. It's Slapshot Jesus. Outside the stadium. Jesus. How are you? Jesus Christ born of Nazareth to a mother and a father.

It was immaculate conception. Played his junior hockey in Nazareth under the guidance of God. There were three wise men that came to the major that night. Doc Kennedy, one of them was a gift of the magi. One of them was... No, but I mean, like, I think it's not a usual place to... Like, we've seen fucking hockey in a baseball stadium now. This is now hockey in a college football stadium.

It's a different thing. And it's an iconic venue. We've seen it. But it's also going to get promoted, like... Not at Notre Dame. I know what you're saying, the big house. yet yet. That wasn't even like that. That was just like get 100,000 people in a place to watch

a football game. See, my hockey game. My theory on why that game was like the last highly rated game was because that was the first outdoor game in like two years because of the lockout. It was but I mean it was also... I think that's big part of it. The snow? The crowd. It was the Leafs and the

wings. There's snow. You don't know it's snowing if you're not watching it. You're either watching it 's snowing or you're not watching it and you don't know it's snowing. I'd also proffer that's, I think that might be one of the last years that they did a like 24-7-esque show leading up to it that people actually gave a shit about. Oh, yeah.

Because I remember that, I remember, like, the, uh, HBO, yeah. Yeah, and I remember, like, the, the whole thing of, like, the, the wings, like, the wings were super, the wings were super boring. The only thing, the interesting thing was Babcock, basically chronicling all the injuries they had for the, leading up to the game. Oh, on the show? On the show.

And then the leaves were, like, kind of interesting. That was the one with the fucking, um, Kessel and the, um, Kessel and the, um, not the, uh, the, the, um, the, the, Randy Carlyle Toaster bit. Or he didn't know how to work the toaster. I remember Phil Kessel just saying, good one, Randy, good one. Like, that was a memorable 24-7, and then they were like, we got to stop doing that. You still had the hype in place. The game itself was compelling.

The snow was there. The venue was incredible. Toronto was a new team involved in it. Yeah. So I think you're going to have that next year. So I think the ratings will up. But the point being is this. Is it a necessary able to have the Winter Classic if it means that we get a totality of outdoor games,

or should they dump the rest of the outdoor games and just have the Winter Classic? Well, no, I think they're at a point now where they should just do as many as they, because they're all going to be the same ratings-wise, right? Like, bad ratings, but, like, the 14th most watch game ever, bad ratings, but the 12th most, like, it's fine because overall, that's still more people watching. So if it doesn't matter, you know, saturation-wise, why not do four-year-old? That's a really good point because, like, whenever we talk about ratings and hockey in the U.S., like, it is fucking stunning how small the margins are. Like, let's put Buffalo in the game because Buffalo actually has people that want to watch hockey on television. or like the Winter Classic is the 12th highest rated NHL regular season game of all time because no one watches the NHL regular season.

Right. And NBC corrected me. I originally in my story had it as the 12th highest rated regular season game on NBC in its history. It was of any network. ESPN, Fox, what have you. That was the 12th highest regular season game they've ever had. There's more human beings on the planet now than there were 20 years ago. It's not how ratings work.

You're going to get more households watching the game. So there's that. Now, the other question I had for you, to go back to a point you made earlier, which I think is interesting, because it's something that came up in the World Junior game, which is, you know, are we at a point now where if the Rangers, you know, make the playoffs by a point and they had an extra home game or they, you know, someone was punished playing in a game outdoors and maybe they're not as good playing outdoors? Like, are we past the point where that's a, that's a legitimate bitch? Or is it still, is it something where, like, you can actually. kind of get upset about it. I mean, it would, nobody would ever actually get upset about it,

because as you know, let's say you cover a hockey game. Red Wings lose 3-2 to the Blues. The game-winning goal is Colton Pereko shooting the puck into his own net. After the game, what does the coach say? Well, we didn't lose the game on that play. We had a lot of opportunities before that

to get the third goal before we got to overtime, so we don't really blame Colton. Yeah. So what are they going to do after 82 games? They're going to say, well, we had a lot of opportunities to get another point, two more points here or there. Can't blame it on the one extra home game. Unless, of course, you're the Columbus Blue Jackets,

in which case your coach will say, the NBC was trying to fix the game to make sure it goes to overtime. That's what they wanted to do. They wanted to screw us to make sure it goes to overtime. Remember that? You remember what a dicky was back then? It was the best.

Because I thought about it after the, because I saw the end of the Rangers' Sabers game where they all shakans. At the end of the Flyers game, everyone was standing around, waiting to shake hands. And Toronto was like, fuck off.

No, we're not shaking hands. And it was, I remember it very distinctly. Like, Somebody asked Lungwist about the call, and he, like, made some mention of something or other, and then someone followed up with Torrella about it, I think, or some such. Oh, the penalty shot? Yeah, the penalty shot. And then Torrella just goes off.

Yeah, it was a secret cabal between the NHL and. But it was, whoever it was covered the puck in the crease. Like, it wasn't like a... It was McDonaldah. It was McDonough. It wasn't like a weird sort of hooking call. They were like, penalty shot. Like, you can't cover the puck and that's always going to be a penalty shot.

There's still a part of me that feels like it is unfair. And I know this is... I'm getting ready to see... the world's, like, I'm getting a fucking microscope to see the violin that's about to be across from me when I say this. Oh, God. I do feel it's unfair to the Blackhawks to have to be in some of these outdoor games and have to deal with these elements and all the hype and all the hoopla and stuff.

Why can't they say no? Because they can't say no. Sure they can. Well, I don't, there has to be some devil's bargain that Rocky Words made with the NHL, like, I mean, they have to have paid it off by now. This is, this is what, six? This is the sixth one. Well, wait, where do you stand on having one game of year versus four games of

where you can work in some of the other cities that haven't had the games? I honestly, truly believe. What if every year we did, Blackhawks Blank in the Winter Classic and then there are three more games involved six teams that could rotate in? I'll listen. I love outdoor games. I really do like the Winter Classic. I think it's a special thing.

I go back and forth. There's a part of me that likes keeping them to maybe like two or three a year because they do really become these centralized celebrations of hockey. When you're there for one of these things, the tailgating, the gear they're. sell everything else it makes it feel like the gear they sell the gear they I love the fucking gear forty five dollar t-shirts that say whenever class I got them

it's getting back to the roots of hockey 649 dollar varsity jackets that the coaches I saw that yeah I'm not saying I would pay $645 for that but I would probably it's a good looking coach you're like a gear geek too like you kind of like get off on scene oh I'm not it I haven't bought it I haven't bought a jersey or anything forever but that looks really

good yeah that's what I'm saying like I'm not saying that you're a gear geek in the sense you buy this shit I'm saying that your geek in the sense that you like what the jerseys look like you're kind of curious about that. I have thoughts, but I mean like,

no one cares what they are. I forget what they are, two minutes. Like the All-Star jerseys this year, like everyone's like, these are awesome. And I'm like, these are from like 1995

roller hockey international. And then like whatever. I fucking love the Atlantic Division ones, the blue and yellow ones. Like put that as the Seattle colors tomorrow. I feel like if you like one of those four, you have to like them all. They're all the same ugly,

you know, garish, like old tiny. No, two of them, look super generic. They look like, you know, the uniforms that you, like when a, when a, when a, when a team turns heel and they start wearing black or whatever, like that's, that's the jersey they wear. There was one that's for, what it was. I think it's the central that's like that. What was the one for the Pacific? I forget. I like purple. I don't know. I don't know what colors go. Who gives a shit? The one for the Atlantic that looks like the, like the L.A. Rams hockey team is fucking killer. And I would, I would, and I would wear that in a second. Wait, let me ask you this, though. So say, you're a devil's fan, so you're a Metro guy. But okay, like it's Metro versus Central in the final game. And I'm wearing my Atlantic Division jersey in the arena.

I do this. Do I have to leave based on your rules for Jersey wearing at that point? Because I was the rival of the Metro team. Okay. I'm going to pause on this for a second because I want to finish my Winter Classic thought before you make me very angry. I go back and forth on whether or not I want the Stadium Series stuff and the Winter Classic to be like three a year to keep it special.

Or just admit that it's maybe not special, blow it the fuck out and give everybody, give everybody a different game. Like, make there be 15 games 16 when we get Seattle in the league. Like, I don't know. Like, I would be fine if every team played an outdoor game each year. Right. But I'm also fine, though, making it super special and it's an event when it happens. I could go either way. And I'm not quite sure which is the better solution.

I think it's too late to do the one-of-year thing at this point. Like, once they came back from the lockout and did six. So you just said three would be special. That's still a lot of games. That's still a lot. That's still a lot of games. But at this point, because the Winter Classic is not the event, that the national event they want it to be,

if it's a niche thing where people show up and they pay the money for the tickets, you may as well just do a game in Dallas, do a game in Nashville, do a game in Tampa. I still think we have some venues that we can hit that are special. Like, I think an outdoor game in Nashville in the next two years will be great. I think Notre Dame is interesting.

Obviously that Beaver Stadium game between the Penguins and Flyers, and then we've all talked about forever. Penguins Flyers at Beaver Stadium should be. Chicago and Detroit at Lambo would be fucking great. There's a lot of games I think still could be played that we haven't done yet before I could say the whole thing's been tapped. But I think with those games, they have to just be regionalized games. Like you just can't have, like you said,

like it can't be like Detroit. I don't think Detroit Nashville and Lambo would be great, but like Detroit Chicago again. I think it's interesting though. Like the thing that you kept on hearing this week about the outdoor games is, well it just goes to show you you show the same teams over and over again I challenge

hockey fans if the NHL gave you the lightning and the Panthers in the Orange Bowl I fucking challenge you to watch that game because you won't you'll think it's great that it exists but then the ratings will come in

and it gets well the Panthers it gets outrated by Paul Patrol oh God wait don't don't don't light a match by that take because I wouldn't want the Strawman

Florida the Panthers to catch fire there. Why would that be an outdoor game anybody would ever ask for? No, I'm just saying that, you know, give us... Tampa Nashville in the Orange Boat? Okay, fine, Tampa Nashville. P.K. Sue Ben, Staphanco's. Sure.

Tampa, Nashville. It's a great game in the vacuum, in theory. What does it get... Does it rate? Do people give a shit? Or are they just happy that it exists? And you're like, oh, no, I was going to watch it, but Iowa and Bull Evil State were in the fuck nut bowl.

It's four years in a row. Four years in a row. No one's watched the Winter Classic with the same team's always in it, and you're still stumping for the same teams. Well, let me tell you this right now. What if it was Edmonton, Pittsburgh, and Hinesfield? You think that game would rate better than Buffalo Rangers? That is not the way to book the Winter Classic. What do you mean? I mean, building the Winter Classic around two players is not the way to do it, because if one of the players is out of the game, then you have Leon Drysidal and the Edmonton Oilers against...

But I mean, like, if you book a team like the Sabres that you think is going to be good, and then they end up being one of the worst teams in the league. you still got burned that way too. Jack Eichel. By the way, those commercials where they had like Shatton Kirk and Eichel standing there like in front of the green screen and they were just like, the Winter Classic, it's fantastic.

We're just some of the least enthusiastic things I've ever. We bust on Patrick Cain for always being in commercials when he has no charisma, but oh man, that was a bad, bad, bad, bad. Well, listen, if we ever get around to having Tampa and Nashville at the Orange Bowl and the Winter Classic, I think you know exactly where you need to go to grab them ticks because they're going to sell quick.

I don't know. Our friends at Seekkeek. Oh, right. Buying tickets to sports and concerts can be complicated. Thankfully, there's a better way to buy. It's with Seat Geek. Seatkeek is the smartest, easiest way to get tickets to every type of live event, whether you're searching for last minute ticket deals, planning a night out or need to find the perfect gift.

Seekkeek helps you get the best seats at the best prices, fully guaranteed. I've got the seatkeek out of my phone. It's by far the easiest way I found a shop for tickets. I could be anywhere with just a few taps. I can find seats. I definitely saw some Seekykeek customers floating around the Winter Classic having used their apps to find some ticks. 159 bucks for the top of the upper deck, by the way, at City Field. I hope the guy in the Flyers jersey bought his tickets with Seekeekeek.

He gets that in a second. Make Seek your go-to app for finding the best deals on every type of ticket. Sports, concerts, comedy, theater. If you're headed to Broadway, if you want to go see, you know, Dear Evan Hansen or School of Rock or any of the other Broadway shows that are on Broadway. that I think are still here. Broadway, too. I didn't know that. Get your ass to Seekek.

Best of all, listeners to Puck Soup can get $20 off the first Seekkeek purchase. Just download the Seek app today. Enter the promo code SOUP. That's both soup. That's promo code Soup for $20 off your first Seekkeek purchase. Seek for geeks who want seats. I don't realize Broadway was a part of that.

It probably is. That's informative. I know where you're going with this. So let's just, I told people who we talk about it. I'm not going to fucking make it the show. I know you'll try to make it the show. I don't want to do it. You were the one that was, you spent eight hours on Twitter on New Year's Day arguing with people about this.

I took a picture of a Flyers fan at the Winter Classic at the New York Rangers versus Buffalo Sabres Winter Classic in New York. First of all, strike one. You shouldn't do that. You shouldn't just take pictures of people at events. I used to do that all the time and then like I started thinking about it. Like you just put someone's face on the internet. Like, who doesn't want it there. Like cut his head off.

From behind. First of all. That's the first thing. The minute you enter a venue, you are consenting to have your image capture it by either the media or the cameras. It's on the ticket, bud. Like, if I'm just taking a picture of some guy at a bar, like, let's say, you know,

I saw a guy in a flyers jersey at a bar, and I took a picture of him. I might think twice about it. But at a game, it's fair game. You were consenting for your image to be captured. But like, if they cut to a guy in the stands and, like, his team had a goal scored against him, and he's like, oh, like, all right.

But if you're like, look at this asshole in this Flyers jersey, like, that's a little... You're like... By the way, that guy actually found you on Twitter. I was... Oh, I couldn't even tell if it was actually him or not. It might have been some other asshole in a flyer's... But all right, that's like secondary.

So what you're essentially saying is that by taking a picture of someone who is clearly dressed to elicit a reaction... But you don't know that he's there. You're projecting that onto him. See, I don't... We're getting way ahead of ourselves. I took a picture of a guy in a Flyers jersey as he had a Rangers game. Everybody knows already.

I said, hey, there's one of these guys, you know, here's another one of these guys that just does this thing. and he was just standing there by the way he was just standing there in the outfield and city field where he'd just get like food and beers wearing his flyers hat his flyer looking like a traffic cone

yeah and then thus began an interesting day of mostly Flyers fans telling me that I'm completely wrong to try to tell a Flyers fan not to wear their jersey to a Rangers game in which the Flyers are not participating

and then the other third of the internet because I would say the majority of the people were like don't be the fashion police the same ones who have clicked on jersey fouls for the last 10 years. Yeah, you weren't ratioed at any point, but you were like, yeah, no. You were a couple miles outside of ratio. You know, the same people who prejudge every All-Star jersey said, don't be fashion police.

But, you know, so the, uh, about a third of the people were like, hey, you know, you're completely right. It's a fucking dick move to wear a Flyers jersey to a Rangers home game, be it the winter classic, be it there's 42,000 Rangers fans there. Here's the very specific thing that I want to make clear. I am not telling you that you can't wear hockey gear to a game that doesn't involve your team. I'm not telling you, Minnesota Wild fan, that if you are in Florida on vacation and the lightning are playing the Dallas, okay, wrong one. If the lightning are playing the Los Angeles Kings, that you cannot wear your Zach Parize jersey to the game.

Of course you can. Promote your team, celebrate your team. if you were a fan of the of the Carolina Hurricanes and you're in New York City seeing Dear Evan Hansen or School of Rock or any of the other Broadway shows you can get on Seekkeek. Did you do like a little Broadway

like over there? You got anything of Broadway. Outside of Hamilton though it was the only two shows now. I'm dear Evan Hanson and I'm here to say Alexander Hamilton's on his way. Sorry, guy. Guy.

Didn't mean to interrupt. I'm not thrown away my cast. That was a deep Broadway joke for all of you Broadway fans. So I'm saying you can wear your Carolina Hurricanes or a Rangers game with their playing like, you know, the Oilers or whatever. I'm not saying that. I'm saying this very

specific thing. If you are the arch rival of a team and you are going to that team's game and the arch rival team is not participating in that game, you are just trying to be a dick. Wait, that guy wasn't wearing an I-Olanders jersey. The Flyers are much more of an arch-rival of the Rangers

and the Islanders. I don't know if you remember, but the Rangers and Flyers played in a winter Classic while the Rangers and Islanders only played in a stadium series. That's true. But also, that goes for Islanders fans. That goes for Devils fans. I saw Devils fans wearing Devils gear to a Rangers Sabers Winter Classic. That's fucking wrong.

But why? When do we get to the... Okay. I'm going to tell you why. I'm going to say exactly why. One? Because the Rangers have like three rivals. Because you're just looking to get a rise out of people.

But what if you're there much in the same vein as the Minnesota person on vacation? You're just celebrating the flyers. Because there's a much different context. It's like wearing a, you know, like a Jill Stein shirt to the GOP convention. No, it's not. And you're like, oh, I just like politics. I mean, it's horses shit. You know exactly the context.

The analogy there is if you wore a Flyers jersey to a Rangers fan fest event, then you're kind of a dick. It is a what the fuck do you think the Winter Clives? It's a hockey game between two teams. It's a Rangers fan fest that happened to involve the Sabers as a home team. So what if you go to the Tampa Bay fan fest in the Minnesota jersey in Florida? That's fine. No one gives a shit. Why is that fun?

Because the lightning fans don't give a shit about Minnesota. But if you are going to a Flyers fan fest in a Minnesota jersey, guess what? No one's going to care. They're going to be like, oh, this is so weird that there's a guy from Minnesota here in Philly at this bingo hall. But if you wear a Sydney Crosby jersey to the Flyers fan fest, it is the same principle. And that is the point I'm trying to get across to all the Flyers fans. If you see a guy in a baby blue Penguins jersey at a Flyers game,

against the Sabres on a Monday. Are you just being like, wow, this is so cool. Somebody finally representing the Pittsburgh Penguins here at a Flyers game, even though the Penguins aren't even playing. Let's give hugs, friend of hockey. No, you know exactly what that fucking person

is doing. They're trying to make themselves the center of attention. They're trying to draw I or they're trying to troll the Flyers fans that are there just to watch their fucking team try to get a point out of the Sabers. It's so transparent. So where does it come from? You're putting so much on that jersey.

Where does it come from? Oh my God. I'll tell you exactly where it comes from. And you know exactly what I'm going to say. This is a very specific psychological place for this comes from. And this is why probably a lot of people couldn't relate to it. It comes from the place where I grew up in Jersey going to Devils games. And the Devils for a very long time were a shot upon team in this market.

The Rangers shout on them. The Islander shouted on them. The media shout on them. They were a team that many people said shouldn't even fucking exist. And then I would go to a Devils game against, let's just say, the North Stars, to keep it Minnesota. Sure. I'm like a Tuesday night and I'm there with my dad

and we're trying to have a good old time and then there's some fucking guy in a Brian Leach jersey sitting in front of me ruining my whole time What did he do? What do you do?

He just existed. He just sat there and you sat there and seeded for two and a half hours But he didn't even know you were there He's there to root against my team He's there to show up his You know

Represent Rangers Nation or whatever Rangers Town Or whatever at a devil's game And it's a very annoying thing I think Rangers Town Wasn't found it to like 2012 And so I think that My point is that

Just be selective with it I don't care if you're a Flyers fan Don't wear your shit to a Rangers home game You're just doing it to elicit reaction You're just doing it to make up Rangers fans upset Or fucking draw their ire towards you And I don't believe for one second This notion that the Flyers fan shows up to the Winter Classic

And is like I'm just trying to show off my colors And support hockey as a whole Because it's just one big hockey family But you just told me that the Winter Classic Was all about a celebration of hockey and that's his team to celebrate. If I go to a Team Canada

inner squad game, and I'm wearing a David Bacchus jersey from Team USA, pile up a strong. I am not there to be like, hockey is you. Hockey's love. No, I'm there to piss off a bunch of Canadians, much like a Flyers fan

is there to piss off a bunch of Ranger fans, but we're in a bunch of Flyers swag, the Winter Classic. Let's say the guy in the Flyers jersey is there to do that, right? Like, okay, let's say I go to a Giants game and it's like Giants, it's a non-divisional game. It's like Giants diners. And there's a dude wearing like an Eagles jersey. He's wearing like a Donovan McNabb number five, a green jersey.

And I see it. Like it's annoying for sure. But like for me, it's an, on a scale of like one to ten or like one to like a hundred, it's like a, it's like a seven. I dare say football is a different sport. Oh my God. So it's hockey specific. If you grew up rooting for a team that was shit on in the 80s and 90s, then you. It's not hockey specific.

I think it also. I think it also applies to John Hamm wearing a Cardinals hat to a Cubs World Series game. I think there are certain examples of. rivalry that was So in Seinfeld, when the Yankee security threw Elaine Benis out for wearing the Orioles hat, you were like, good. Oh, no, because who gives

a shit about the Orioles. No, at that time, I guess the Orioles were the Yankees' main rival. But yeah, no, I was like, good. Yeah, I completely, it's the, it's, you know, it's a different principle than not allowing a Blackhawks fan to attend the National Blackhawks game because you're

trying to bar them from the arena to keep the purity of the game. That's a different thing. The team is there. You wear a penguin shit to a flyer's penguins game if the penguins are playing. It's fine. But don't wear your penguin shit to a Flyers game because you're just trying to be a dick. You're just fucking attention-calling troll. It's bad enough we have to exist in this society where you've got YouTube vloggers

strolling through suicide forests taking pictures of corpses. It's the same principle. Suicide Forest, Logan Paul, Sydney Crosby, Jersey, Flyers, Salyers, Sabres game. I can't, it's an SAT comparison. You're like Charlie Day with the Pepe Soviet but just like all the strings like that are sliding over. So like if I wore

like a King's jersey to the Sabres Rangers game, that's fine. Yes. Even though the Kings beat the Rangers and that's not like I'm fine. The Rangers fans don't give a shit about the Kings. See, the thing is is that you have to judge the fan on what they do at certain moments of the game. Like if there's a guy in a Flyers jersey's watching the game

and the Sabers score and he's just kind of sitting there watching the game, that's just a guy in a flyers jersey but if the saber score and he turns around to his section and starts going no yeah iko now what are the chances i should get the shit kick what are the chances of that happening what of a flyer of a flyers fan doing that at a rangers game i can't tell if you think it's good or bad no i'm saying i'm asking you i'm not i'm not prejudging i'm saying what do you think the chances are the flyers fan a fan from philadelphia i don't know born and raised on the playground was where he spent most of his days i don't judge people by the color of their jersey.

I judge them by the content of their duchiness after the other team score. I believe that you can, in fact, judge someone on the color of their jersey and I say if there is even a 1% chance that a Flyers fan is going to get up and cheer for Jack Eichel, then we have to treat it as an absolute

certainty and not allow them to wear that jersey to the game. Master Bruce, even you got too old to do this. It's amazing. I couldn't believe how many consecutive tweets you sent that day, fighting with people about this. And I'm trying to picture like Pierre LeBron doing this on Twitter, like as the ESPN senior

editor. Hey, listen, it's a whole, it's a whole new ball game, my friend. Man, so seriously, you're, you're, you're going to wear a fucking Scott Stevens jersey next Wednesday at the Helium Comedy Club, aren't you?

I feel like you've, I feel like you've painted yourself at a corner now where you can't do it. It's a different venue. You should have like a, like a t-shirt that has like a, like a spray painted thing, or like a, like, what is it? What do they do with the screening? Now, now I could think of is now, now, the fucking Batman v. Superman Rangers Flyers comparison.

Where he's the list, you get your foot in the throat of a Flyers fan. He's just like, Steve, Brian! What did you say? Why did you say that name? Brian Elliott's his goalie! And I throw my spear away and take off my Batman gear, and it's a Brian Leech jersey underneath.

Who's the best Devil's Flyers crossover players play for both teams? Like ever? Ever. Oh. That's a good question, because I don't even know if they've made a trade. Yeah, is there one? Um, yeah. I was going to say,

there's really no one you can call out that both Devils and Flyers fans would be like, I took shit from somebody for wearing my Scott Stevens Devils jersey to a St. Louis meetup that I did. But again, like that's like going to the fan fest. That's the same. That's a problem. Ah, but you see, you've fallen into a common trap in criticizing me, which is to believe that I am holier than now when in fact, I am a criminal who understands the behavior of criminals. I am a troll who understands the behavior of trolls. I am the hacker you hire to test your company's.

security systems because I know how to break the code. So you're like Chris Hemsworth in Black Hat? Is that what you were telling me now? Exactly. And then therefore you are the other guy in Black Hat. I don't remember anyone else in the movie. Mm-hmm. I don't even know what happens in that movie. It might take place in another country. Does he have his Aussie accent in that way? No, I think he goes American in that accent. Oh, sure. I'm a master hecker. What? I'm a master hecker. Dot EXC slash activate. I don't know any computer terms.

This is a Unix system. I know it. A dingo my baby. I believe my brother's not dead in there, Loki.

Dot EXC. You sniveling quim of a hacker. Quim. You should actually, seriously, for like ESPN.com, you should write a thing that breaks down all the jerseys you can't wear

to each team's game. So people know. It's way people will know. I can do that right now and right here. Here's an easy test. A Carolina home game. You can pretty much wear any jersey. You can wear any jersey? Because there's not one jersey there that the majority of fans are going to treat as trolling.

So Minnesota Wild, what do you rule out there? Blackhawks? It's like Minnesota, L.A. Yeah, I would say Blackhawks jersey. Don't wear a Blackhawks jersey to a Minnesota game. So no King's jerseys at Ducks games. No, duck's jerseys at Kings games. Wow, it's almost this is an extraordinarily simple concept that you're able to wrap your brain around. I mean, no, no, this is an extraordinarily psychotic concept that I can wrap my brain around. Don't wear your fucking Leafs' jersey with a little a Leafs game. Don't wear your Habs game. Don't wear your fucking Flames Jersey to Oilers game. Don't wear an Oilers' Jersey to a Flames game.

See, much like Thomas Gibson in criminal minds, I can get inside your brain and figure out where the manic stuff exists. And I can see in your mind right now. And just like Ben Linus, in person of interest, I have a computer that spits out logical things. Hence, don't wear an oil's jersey to a Calgary Sabres game. Oh, do you remember what you wore to the Bears bar when the Jets played the Bears this year? Yeah, I do. You do? No, it was.

It was last year. I wore a Jets, Brandon Marshall jersey. And Brandon Marshall used to be on what team? The Bears. It was a new jersey that I had purchased for the explicit purpose of maybe wearing it to the Bears bar.

But again, you keep on saying these things. A bar. A bar is a different venue than a professional sporting event. Does that bar have a Bears flag flying outside of it on Sundays? That bar has a Bears inflatable player outside. See?

Yeah. That's way worse than showing up to a Flyers. The Sabers, Rangers game with a Flyers jersey on you going to a Bears bar in a Jets jersey wearing the jersey of a guy who used to play for the Bears to root against the Bears Check and mate

It's not checking mate. I fully accept the fact that I should have not cast the first stone because I am not free of sin. I am a sinner. I fall to my knees and say I am that person who wears the jersey to the game to piss off people but I recognize

the error of my ways. Oh now it's all. Now it really is clicking in because of your own self-loathing, you assume everybody else doing that thing is exactly like you. That's not true at all. That's not my behavior at all. Also, I do support a constitutional amendment to ban people from buying food after 2 a.m. Pizza, Taco Bell, it goes right to your hips.

It makes you fat. I'm just saying that if it's not available to me, I probably wouldn't buy it. So I support, I mean, I don't project, right? I'm just saying that having that as an amendment might be good for society. True or false? At the Jets Bears Bar, when the Jets scored, did you start singing, I'm not here to cause no trouble? I'm just here to do the Browning Nagel Shuffle. Do you know the story of the Bears Bar in the Manning jersey?

Or the Marshall's Jersey, rather? Did you get your ass kicked? No. So I didn't know this. So we go to this Bears bar, me and Ruby, and our friend Charlotte and some of the people that are Bears fans. It's a cool thing. We're in New York. And I don't know if this isn't true in every city.

but like there literally is a bar dedicated to every NFL team. I once looked it up because I wanted to do a thing where I would go to every team bar the Patriots were playing and then just were against the Patriots. Yeah, but the Patriots have like 50 of them. Right. And they go 14 to 2 every year. Yeah, but it was like a Vikings bar. It was like a, anyway, so we go to this Bears bar. And so I wear my Brandon Marshall jersey just to piss people up.

And I get I get chosen to participate in a ritual. and the ritual is that they give you this three times the size it should be pitcher of beer and they say I like it

as a guy who has decided to wear this jersey to this bar and this is typically something that would give to a Packers fan you have to now

drink the entirety of this pitcher Wow this is terrible you have five minutes to do it if you don't complete this then you need to pay for it if you do complete it

then you get it for free Wait, so the punish you, they give you a free giant pitcher of beer is what you're telling me. It is, it is obscenely large. Like, like, to the point of... Is it two pitchers? Or is it like... No, it's like maybe like, it's like a fish tank. Like, it is one of these things where it is specifically made to, at some point, how do you go,

and then the beer just kind of like, you know. You have to drink it out of the pitcher. You have to drink it out of the pitcher. Yeah. That's hard. It's a bit of a double dare challenge. So, okay. But the other thing, too, is I've come to find out is you don't know where the

where the beer came from. You don't know who prepared the beer. You don't know what's in the beer. Oh, you think there's like pee? It could be really anything. Yeah, you don't know it. I mean, I doubt. You don't watch the guy on the tap pulling like, I'm sure.

No, because it's a shittiest light beer they have. It is presented to you literally within seconds of you being selected for this challenge. So you don't know where it came from. Now, I would imagine being health codes what they are. It's not some guy, you know. Stirring it with his dick. Yeah, stirring it with his dick. So it tasted of sort of like,

ratchet, uh, papsed, almost. Yeah. And I, I choked the whole thing down. I didn't have to pay for it. I, partially because I didn't want to like, fuck up in front of Ruby and be like, the guy who's like, I can't do her, dude. Just all the money.

She's like, re-evaluates everything. Like, oh, man. What a coward. Couldn't drink seven pictures of beer in five minutes. It probably has come in it. Some like six foot four handsome guy in an Aaron Roger jersey comes over and just pounds in a four seconds. Hey, baby, what's up?

Yeah. So the, the punchline of the story, though, is I get done with this thing and I'm feeling just tremendously shitty. Oh, shitty. Oh, I think you're going to be like I was feeling, because it's one o'clock and you just had like six years at once. Well, I already had a couple. And like, I was

sort of not feeling really good about the amount of alcohol that I had just imbibed in such a short period of time. It might have been less than five. It might have been like three minutes or something like that. I get done with it. I'm like, and I look over. And there's a guy there are a couple tables away

in like a Jets lineman jersey. And he just looks at me and goes, man, that was me 20 minutes ago. So to be clear, if you go to this Bears bar and wear the jersey of the team the Bears are playing, you basically get like two free pitchers. Yeah, pretty much. Wow. But you don't know what the beer is and you don't know what it is. I'm a gambler. Give me the free three pitchers. We're going to take a short break. And when we come back, we're going to talk about the midway point of the NHL season and some superlative. superlatives that we want to hand out.

All right, be right back. Hey, what is the deal with live comedy shows on a Wednesday? I mean, it's a Wednesday. Are they doing comedy? Is it hump day? I want to know. How many people listen to this podcast are from Philly Show Hens? Oh, look at that.

Look at that. Yeah, that's great. That's great. So here's my thing about Philly. What's the deal with the Pennsylvania Turnpike? Am I right? Is it a pike? Is it a road? I don't know.

No, but seriously, you're a great crowd. And so the rabbi turns to the bartender and he says, Liberty bill, I thought you said, bliggity blill. I think the point here is that we have a show coming to Philly, a Puck Soup live show on January 10th, 8 o'clock at Helium Comedy Club, helium, it's a gas, on 2031 Samson Street in Philly. It's January 10th. It's 8 p.m.

The usual fun in Mary Mill. we will have Frank Saravelli, our good friend from TSN. You may know him as the stately gray-haired gentleman on Canadian television you occasionally see on an autoplay video. The Silver Fox. The Silver Fox. The Pennsylvania... Punning.

Yes, the gray street. The gray Quaker. The... Anyways. The not Canadian guy on TSN. Frank, air quotes, Apple Turnover. Saravelli will be joining us to talk about. It's just something they eat in Philly because it's the Dutch country.

You ever go to the terminal market with... I've never associated Philly with anything like the cheese steaks. Apple turnovers? You really need to broaden your horizons. I associate Philly with cheese steaks and saying words like phone and home. Well, that's just it. I think the selling point less than Frank Serevelli will be our amazement with the Philadelphia accent. You will see live WIP phone calls enacted in front of you.

Zach Bernardo needs to set the tone First time, long time, Glenn When we play at home What if we play Donovan instead of randle? I don't know It's a weird Twilight Zone in which both those quarterbacks from Philly at the same time The tickets are $18

You could head to Philadelphia Hyphen Helium Comedy hyphen That's some website name But it's probably also accessible With Philadelphia.healiumcom Do you feel like there's like a Philadelphia helium company that got the first URL

so the comedy club couldn't get the actual Philadelphia Helium Comedy Club.com. They had to put hyphins in there to get around it. It's possible, but also it occurs to me that I don't think it's ever been established whether or not we have to do the entire show on helium. Oh, I was going to do it on helium. Lithium and apparently Apple Turnovers.

And aluminum, as our friends in the UK would say. All right, so tickets 18 bucks, January 10th, 8 p.m. We'll be playing a live version of Schlemcode, Philadelphia Centric. We will play, does Sidney Crosby like, including, I imagine a question for the ages, does Sidney Crosby like Philadelphia? And so much more.

Also live Q&A for the folks that are there, fun, prizes, games, would have you. Go to philadelphia.hilliamcom.com for tickets. They are dwindling a number, so good luck to you in acquiring them, and we'll see you. And Fully. If we had done Schlemcode where it was just guys, Zach Bernaldo, who has hurt from illegal hits, Could Philadelphia people get them all, do you think? Glenn, first time, long time. If Nick Fowles plays better,

I can't even finish it. Nick Fowles is open. If Alshan Jeffrey is open, Fos needs to hit him in the chest so we can win the game at home. See you in Philly. And we're back. A couple things real quick

before we get to the midpoint superlative stuff. Freddie Anderson of the Toronto Maple Leafs was fined $2,000 of his $5 million base salary The second diving violation I only want to bring this up because, well one, because it was kind of a bullshit Did you see the play? Which one was it? His skates got kind of caught up with David Perron's

as he was behind the net and then he kind of stumbled into the net afterwards. It was one of these things were like When I think of a goalie embellishment, I'm definitely thinking of a bit more contact than that And then mostly Chris Osgood is actually what I probably Or Mike Smith. Henry Lundquist has been doing it a lot this year too. Anytime someone skates in front of his crees, his head snaps back.

I think he A, wants to draw a penalty, and B, wants to let the hair flow out a little bit because it's a lot of Quist there. But no, I didn't see the Freddie Annerner-Sill. Yeah, it was kind of a bullshit call. But, like, to me, the interesting thing about this fine, I look back at it. This is only the second goalie since 2014 when they redid the diving standards for supplemental discipline and started finding people and potentially finding the coach if there's like a billion infractions in the single year. it's only the second goalie that's been dinged by it Michael Noravareth when he was at the Sabres got fined $2,000 in February 2015

and so this is the only only think about how many times a goalie embellishes and this is only the second time one of them has been fined under these standards and neither goal time there is Canadian who's ever been fined huh interesting no Canadians have ever been interesting

Mike Smith never been fine for diving Mike Smith Well, look, here's the point of this segment is that we at Puck Soup are starting a GoFundMe to help Frederick Anderson pay for his fine because we feel like it's just too much for him the handle. So get the word out, gofundme.com slash Freddie Anderson and we'll help him pay the bills this week. If you spend $300, you become a friend of Freddie. You get a free Freddie sticker and then you can, or you can give $600 and then you become a. Freddie, a defreender, a defreender, and you get a Freddie Anderson diving club t-shirt.

If you pay the entire fine $2,000, you get a kick in the nuts for spending $2,000 to try to pay the fine for a man making $5 million a season. That's, I mean, look, yeah, he makes $5 million, but you got to factor in taxes. Toronto's an expensive city. Certainly is. You know, escrow. I don't know, escrow works. I know that's a thing. Well, David, glad you asked.

Escrow is the greatest thing that ever happened ever because it gives us something I like to call. Say it with me, kids. Cost certainty. The second thing I wanted to talk about was Max Patchyretti. Max Patchyretti is in an interesting spot. One, he's had an absolutely terrible season. Interesting is a nice way to put his spot. He is currently smoldering in the tire fire that is the Montreal Canadiens.

Trade rumors abound for a guy who, has a year left on his contract after this season, in which case I think he's going to be about 30. Two things about this. First of all, the trade destinations that have been mentioned, the potential for him to go to the St. Louis Blues as a last piece of the puzzle-type player. There's been a talk of that being a fit. And then the other thing that came up this week, courtesy of Ray Ferraro is a Max Patchy Ready for the new Ryan Nugent-Hawkins trade proposal between the Ebbington Oilers. in Montreal. Now, the first thing I'll say about this is I kind of treat any trade the oilers would make like seeing my child play with a giant box of matches. I just slowly reach in,

put the match back in the box, close the box, take it away from her, and then hide it. Because the oilers making trades at this point would scare the shit out of me. What does Nugent Hopkins have left on his deal? I know it's six million a year. Is he the same thing? One more year after It's a few more, but I think the other issues I could double check actually. I think the issue is that he's younger. Yeah, those were the parameters for Mark Bergerand. He wanted somebody that was younger

and assuming better. And a center, which is something obviously Montreal could probably use. And by that, I mean, an actual center and not a guy that they trade for that are like maybe he's a sooner? Could they have fucked up Alex Galchenguk anymore? The Alex Calcenaic stuff reminds me

of the Josh Bailey stuff where like they just brought him along too quick and then like they soured on them and they moved them in the wing and they put him there, put him in the bottom six. And now Josh Bailey, obviously, he plays with, I saw that was a thing too for you on Twitter, where you didn't have Andrewsley on the Olympic team and you were like, well, he plays with John DeVaris. Did you just sign through 2021? I think I think, I think, I think that if you're talking about players that should be on the Olympic team, it should be not guys that have played on John Tavares's wing for the last

years and racked all those goals. And as of the Americans, we don't want to coonets up our team here. We want to have just the best forwards out there. But it's not even a Kunitz because we don't even have Crosby. Like, Tavares is Canadian. That is true. Yeah, he gets to play with him. Yeah, exactly.

It would be like Kunitz without actually having the awesome player who made him awesome on his wing. It's a bit much. And that's not, again, like, any time you get into this whole, like, building USA roster, and by the way, for the Puck Soup listeners, I just fucking forgot about Willie Nealander, okay? I was going to put him as a reserve. It wasn't a snub. I wasn't going to, honestly, I wasn't going to have him on the team because I think that Brat at the end of the day will kill penalties. for you and he's a... You put Yesper Braat?

As a reserve, yeah. Over... Oh, but you forgot. Yeah, I mean, still... No, no, no. I wasn't going to put him on the team. I just forgot to list him as a reserve. That was my thing.

Over Newielander? Over Newielander, yeah. Wow. Yeah, listen, you make some tough choices. But honestly, like, that's... I mean, I was going to have him amongst the... Because I didn't have Louis Erickson. I didn't have Patrick Hornquist.

I meant to put him with that group, and I just forgot to list his name. But he wasn't going to make the team anyway. So I guess he's all in all in void to begin with. Wait, wait, wait. Where's, where's, we, we, we, we, where's, we, we, where's, we, we look, we lander's available for who? Canada. Oh, oh, oh, I thought he was, I thought he was eligible because he was born in Canada. Is he a dual citizenship?

I thought. Maybe I'm, hold on. Well, if that's the case, then obviously he's not in team Sweden if he's a Canadian citizen. Well, people are yelling at you about it. They must know better than, but, but, but like, I, I didn't realize he had Swedish eligibility. I thought he was like, a, um, Canadian kid, like a, like a coterie type situation where he, he, he already made his bed. Well, regardless. Maybe he wasn't on the team and who gives his shit.

shit. I mean, it's fucking... Who gives a shit? It's not. It's the greatest internet argument of all time where people get upset about a team that doesn't exist. And can't, and literally can't exist. But enough about the Florida Panthers. What were we talking about? Oh, Pat you're ready.

Yeah. Oh, no, I think the thing about Nugent Hopkins is this. And I think I've made a mention this on the show before. Like, I really believe that he is Jordan Stahl who can't win a face off. And you need him on a team if you want to win. I think he does a lot of really great little things. right. He's never going to justify

the cost. He's never going to justify the lofty draft status. I just think he's a real good player. And I understand that you need to make this move to get a patchy ready because you've royally fucked your team on the wings with scoring by all these other dumbass

trades you're going to make including that Taylor Hall for Cody Sisi one when apparently they were going to make two. Well, oh yeah, they're still assuming Leon Dryshael is going to be his own center. He has to be. Yeah, I mean, he has to be. He has to. He's being paid to be Malkin. If he's not, then they're fucked.

That was always the issue with that contract. Yeah. So, they don't need three centers. I just think that to win, it's great to have three centers, but I will say this, maybe you aren't afforded that luxury anymore because you traded fucking Taylor Hall for a defenseman and Jordan Eberle for Strom. Like, maybe you don't have that luxury anymore to have Newton Hopkins because you, you completely royally fucked yourself with those other trades.

What does Mark Berger-Refat have to do to get fired, do you think? Like, what exactly would you have to have? Like, would you have to, like, I picture like a stanza situation where, like, he has to show up in, like, Gila flourished old jersey from the Hall of Fame and, like, wipe, like, sauce all over it that maybe get himself fired. I think that's pretty easy. I mean, I think all you have to do is give a huge contract extension to a bad coach. Wait, no, you did that. All you have to do is trade your best defenseman for a defenseman that significantly, no, I'm talking about Tarian. Oh, oh.

I am, he, I would not want anybody else to be in the foxhole with me. I just want to get rid of a Peky Suban. Yeah, you'd have to trade your amazing Norris Trophy winning defensemen for somebody who's significantly older or not as good. I did that. You'd have to probably trade your best blue chip top defensive prospect in a league where a defenseman are a premium for a winger who you're going to make into a cent. I know you did that. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know what he has to do to get fired.

It's just, God. Like, I wish I was a hockey player. Not so much so I could have played hockey, but just so I could. just been a 40-year-old, a 70-year-old man who could steal paychecks from our front office for the rest of my life. That's the best retirement plan of all time. If we ever get around to making t-shirts, I want that in a t-shirt. Sometimes I wish I was a hockey player, but not to play hockey. Just like fucking skate around the NHL for like four years in the 80s and then just steal paychecks in the front office for the rest of my life. Speaking of Suban and Patchie

Ready, the other thing I wanted to say was this. Like, we went back, remember a few years ago when there was that big debate about who should be the captain of the Habs. And it was like, we were Team Suban or you were Team Patchy Ready. And most people weren't Team Patchy Ready. I think the world was Team Suban. And then he gets passed over for it. And now there's like all this talk of like, no one should be asked to shoulder the load of being a captain in Canada. You know how hard it is for him to do this every day? And all I can think of is like, do you understand that P.K. Suban would fucking tattoo the sea on his face, like the goddamn Canucks logo if he was the captain of the Habs. He would have handled this job better than anybody else in the room.

The fact that he wasn't the captain, and you gave it to lead by example eyebrows over there, it didn't make sense at the time and makes even less sense now, because now you've crushed his spirit as a player on top of all this stuff. Just make Shea Weber the captain. Do a Dustin Brown Kopitar thing and just get him in a room. Actually, you should be, it's the Chris Pronger Mike Richards thing, but Pronger never wore the sea He just was the captain

Yeah But I mean like if Max Patriotty already He's tired of all the responsibility That comes with it Like a little, do a little Patrick Marlow Joe Povalski Hey uh hey my great news Got a veteran in the room

You can learn from What Chris Pronger We traded for Chris Pronger He's gonna be here for a leader I'm the captain Yeah but he's not the captain You see he's just a veteran

To help you be a better captain But I'm we don't need one Of those I'm the captain Right, Jeff? Am I the... Right, Jeff. Am I the captain?

Yeah, I mean, last time I checked you were definitely the captain, Mike. Hey, guys, just wanted to say it's a pleasure to be here in Philly. Just want to work with both of you, become a better, you know, leader. Do any of you guys have wives? Just curious. All right. Oh, boy. By the way, live show in Philly on January 10th.

I mean, if we're going to do the cocaine bit about those two guys, and we're going to make it seem like Chris Pronger was not rumored to be doing stuff as well. Now, listen, I had nothing to do with cocaine. It was definitely post-nasal drip. Time for the midpoint superlatives. The National Hockey League and its teams are nearing the 41 game mark, which, of course, by my math means we're halfway to the end of this miraculous season. Almost there.

We have a few categories we wanted to present to you. I will leave all the awards for the writing that Dave and I will do on our respective websites. I'm sure you'll check out all that shit when it publishes. Maybe. Let's start off with one that actually is an award now that I've given that preamble. who's your midpoint heart trophy most valuable player type? Who's your guy? This one was tough because...

It is tough. It's a very, very crowded field. Because you have the whole Stamcoast Kutrov thing. What came first? The Stamcoast or the Kutroff? The Kuthorov or the Stamcoast? Because Kuturov is pretty damn good last year. First I ate the chicken, then I ate his egg.

Right, yeah. Oh, there you go. Oh. What? I agree. Kuturoff's great. Stam Kuteroff's been great for two years. Kuturoff was doing this.

this before Stamco's got there. Oh, like a hipster player. He was just like, yeah, I was scoring a bunch of key goals and having a lot of points way before you were ever here. I don't know. I don't know if you haven't heard that yet. So, I don't know. I was thinking about maybe a goalie because of John Gibson.

Hey, there's a, there's an idea. How about Andre Vasseleski, the real MVP of the Lightning that'll be passed over because those guys scoring so many points? Really? He's been good. He's been fucking, he's one of the few goalies. I think he might be the at this point. the only going in the league with goals against under two.

He's been great. He's like top five in a save percentage. He's bailed their asses out. He's in the Babrovsky area, but I'm going Kuturoff. Okay. I mean, I think he's going to be top three if he finishes. I know it's boring because he's first a point. No, no, no.

If he wins the points race, he's going to be top three. Yeah. My top three right now would be Kuturoff for the reasons that we stated that there's no way he's not going to be top three if he wins the point race. Although I don't think he's the MVP of his team. Anj Kopitar. Finally freed from the dour hands of Daryl Sutter,

found his smile again, made Dustin Brown into the Brett Hall of the L.A. King. Finally free of the coach that won him to Stanley Cups. Jopatar, I think it's been amazing this season. And if you look at his point totals vis-a-vis the rest of the team, and then you also think about the heavy lifting he's had to do without Jeff Carter in a lineup for the entirety of the season, I think he's definitely been a heart trophy guy.

But my guy, I hate to do this because I know it's going to and it seemed like a quasi-homer pick because I used to live there and what have you, but it's Alex Ovechkin. If Ovechkin wins the Richard, he's going to be a Hart Trophy finalist. And if you look at this team, two things that I want to point out. One is that rare is the season in which Alex Ovechkin is playing so well, they put him with Nick Baxter to get Baxter going. Like, it's rarely that.

It's usually the other way around. Two, Brayden Holpey's not been that good. He's been, what? He's been a, it's been a very middling season for Brayden Holpey. Ovechkin gave that team a kick in the ass when it needed it. He's going to score 50 goals. He is the emotional leader of that team. He is the spark that lights the resistance.

He is a Putin supporter, which is kind of a shitty thing. But also one of the most exciting players in hockey, and he's my heart trophy pick for the midpoint of the season. Wait, now I've got to look up Bradenholpe's say percentage, because I feel like you're just making that up. By all means. But, yeah, Gibson's a good, like, Bobrovsky, I think,'s fallen off a cliff. Gibson's an interesting choice. And the other thing, too, is that, like, I don't know about you, but my rule is that you got to be in the playoffs to win the Hart Trophy. And as we do the show today, Tavares isn't.

But I think if he was, he'd be very, very close to my top three as well. Yeah, Brayden Hope he's in 917. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's kind of an issue. Come on. Who does his homework here? Me. Me. That's who. Ugh.

Okay, fine. You win. Thank you. I'm surprised you didn't go Taylor Hall. I thought you're going to go Taylor Hall. I mean, you're Corey Schneider on me. I mean, the MVP of the devil is Brian Boyle. Who is the player that you believe is not getting the recognition that he deserves at this point in the season?

Yeah, I don't know if I have an answer for this one because it's just, I don't know, I don't know, who's your guy? Tell me your guy. Braden point. 36 points. Mike Babcock. 36 Braden points. Oh, my God. And 39 games.

He's playing with Palat and Tyler. And let's be honest here. I mean, you know, you can't be a one-line team. And Kuturoff and Stamcoast, obviously a dominant line together with that guy whose name, I always assumed his name of Stinkoff. Name Stinkoff. And so you need another great line. And so far, point with the, oh, let's call them the new triplets point with Pallat and

Johnson has been great. And 36 points and 39 games with not having Kuturoff or Stamcoast on your line, it's pretty pretty damn good. See, like, it's just, it's a weird year because of all the extra scoring and how certain guys are having big years. Like, Josh Bailey's second in the league in scoring, but like, people don't shut up about that. So, like, but is that just around here? Yeah, I think it's because we have a lot of Islander fans on our feuds. Like, it's gotten to the point where it's like, hey, you know what?

I think the new head coach at Arizona State should be, oh, Josh Bailey. And it's like, oh, Jesus Christ. I'll go Braden Shen. That team is really good, and because that team is good, everyone's like Alex Paterangelo's got to win the Norris now, but, I mean, I think a big reason why is Braden Chen's actually living up to the potential

he had for like 100 years. Yeah, the only caveat I give there is that his points have dropped since Schwartz went out of the lineup, but you could say that was a symbiotic thing, and you still say that Sean had a good season. Braden Chen, I mean, Nathan McKinn's another good one too. Oh, yeah, he's been great. But he's fourth in scoring, so like, how unharreled it is he?

He's not unharreled it, but that's, I mean, he's an interesting one for the heart, too, where if Colorado ever climbed back into a playoff spot, like, that guy's a fucking heart candidate if you ever saw one. I don't think I have to worry about that. Most disappointing team this season. Oh, the Sabers. Really? I thought they can go to the playoffs. Like, it's one thing to be like, well, I think Calgary's going to go to the playoffs.

And then they missed by four points. Like, all right, whatever. Like, the Sapers are done. They've been done since the beginning of December. They were supposed to be better. They got a new coach. They got it. in the defense and they got some play and they're just fucking they're a train wreck i think there's

something to be said for the oilers being the most disappointing team but i got i would go montreal like i think montreal not only being a disappointment in the standings and and not only having a bad season from carrie price after signing into that contract but like just being in a in now a crisis of faith where you know jeff moulson is eyeing the candy like button on his desk to blow this whole damn thing up i mean that to go from the drouan trade to this is uh is a is a is a humbling experience if you're from Montreal. What's, what's Cary Price sitting at right now? Like a 906, I think.

There's never been a more overrated player in the history of this league. I'm telling you. Oh, then Carrie Price? Like, again, you go back and look at Cary Price's numbers year by year, and he's had some good season. Well, he does he's an MVP. But, like, he's had so many years where he's just been average or not that good. Just think they could have your R's off a lack,

and Carrie Price could be sharing time with Thomas Grace on Long Island. I mean, they could still have Mike Condon, who probably has a 906 in some week at this point, right? A winter classic hero from Massachusetts, Mike Condon. Like, Carrie Price is either not healthy, which I know isn't his fault, but I mean, that's an issue too. And he's, like, it's one of those things. When he's on, Greg, best goalie in hockey. He's been awful than he's been on.

I got to tell you, Dave, when he has every Canadian all star in front of him in an international tournament, he is unstoppable. You can't beat him. When he has a third pairing of Alex Pitterangelo and Jay Bowmeister. Yeah. And he faces 14 shots from a lot. He is just the hero. Oh, yeah. When your fourth line center is Jonathan Taves,

you, I mean, he plays extraordinarily well. It just drives me nuts how he, whenever people mention the best goalies in hockey. Like, they mentioned Jonathan Quick because he went through Stanley Cops.

They mentioned Carrie Price because, like, everyone just assumed he was going to be the best goalie of. And he just, he was for that year. I had this discussion on the other podcast this week with, with Emily.

Like, I think if, I think best goalie in hockey, dollars to donuts is Bovrovsky. If I have to win a game, it's quick if I have to win one game it's quick

all day every day maybe and maybe Matt Murray is a possibility just because of what he's done in the playoffs but like quick without question but like best goalie in hockey even though he's not played well lately is Bovrovsky who may I would almost pick Braden Holby

but he always shits his pants against the penguins that's a problem for me I like my goalie's pants to be poop free well Pierre looks like we've got a bit of a stinky situation now to the Capitol's bench talking Eddie Braden Olby, shit his pants again He saw Malkin could come down on a two-on-one with Kessel

He just dropped her load right in his pants The whole creases brown It's a lot of poop A lot of poop when he plays the penguins Who won goalie? I might go Lundquist I might still go Lundquist I thought he was done after last year But he's been he's still living in the 920s

We better put that situation in our game log Oh God Jesus Most disappointing player I hate to say it I wanted to, I wanted to like pick someone. I had to say it. That's my sting, uh, lethal weapon song for lethal weapon three or four.

I forget which one it was. You're a lethal weapon. I had to say it. Oh, that's not from lethal weapons. It's one of lethal weapons. Is it? Yeah, it was, it was him and like David Sandborn in somebody. You're a lethal weapon.

It's probably me. You're, you, uh, lethal. it's a weapon that's lethal the lethal weapon the army yager yeah he was he was a consideration for me too I just he's just you had to be done at some point

and he yeah it seems like he's the age of 71 Yarmer yager is no longer and he's gonna miss the playoffs too like it'd be one thing if he was bad on a good team and he you know maybe he could scratch a couple times and he pops in and there's like a little you know butt assist or something

Yeah, it feels like the end of an era this year, my friend. His butts a lethal weapon. Most disappointing player injury division is Martin Hansel, big free agent contract, three goals, three assists in 26 games, but he's been banged up all the time. That's probably that. He might have had that anyway if he was home. Let's be honest. He's really tall. By the way, he plays with the Dallas Stars in case you forgot.

Also, Cam Talbot is my most disappointing player, because not only is Cam Talbot, extraordinarily mediocre this season but camp talbot also ends up being the thread of the sweater that you pull to unravel the whole fucking thing where now the oilers are a mediocre team because he was the goaltending he had last year it was awesome last year yeah so i think he's most disappointing because like you because like like you like you need i mean he he's the reason they're not very good on top of other things but matt murray's been disappointing too well he's been injured too all they are they're all very tired yeah it's it's funny how like they're gonna they're going to stop being tired once Crystal Tying plays for two straight months and they're suddenly

second the division. They're going to stop being tired on like April 15th and then all of a sudden it's just going to start rolling there. They're going to play the capitals in the first round and sweep them and it's like oh the penguins are back. There's nothing I want more than the penguins to make the playoffs in the last day and then get the caps in the first round because of that. It completely could happen. Talk about pooping in your pants. Give me caps penguins and devils rangers in the first round. Oofah. Yeah, a lot of jerges you can't wear into those games according to Greg Wischinski. That's right. Don't go wearing their flyers Jersey to either of those games, Flyers

guy. What if I go to a King's game? I'm just supporting hockey going to a Devil's Rangers game in my Flyers jersey. I love hockey. Not the flyers. How about if I go to a Kings Vegas game in a Jared Stoll jersey with

Coke under my nose? Well, and you're supporting both teams. Yes. The anti-troll. Yeah, it's the anti-troll. That's right. The anti-troll equation, as it were. I go there in a Jared's Stoll jersey and like those bathing shorts where you can stick the drugs in your pockets

and just be like, go everybody? If you go to a Dallas Stars game in a North Stars Modano jersey, that's also anti-trol, I think. But if they're playing the wild, no one knows what your intentions are.

Boy, your head just exploded. I can't. I can't. I finally found the one little crack to get through. I'm going to have to meditate on this one. Who is your, finally, who is the the team that all of a sudden you realize could probably win this Stanley Cup that you didn't previously realize could

probably win the Stanley Cup. It's still nobody. It's Tampa or it's Pittsburgh. You don't think anybody of the West can win the cup? Nope. Not Nashville? The West is bad. Kyle Turrus? Call Turris? Maybe Nashville. But like I just... Flower! What's your opinion of Carl Turris?

But going into the year, I would say like Nashville, the Penguins, and Tampa were my three teams, and I don't feel like any other team still has a chance to do it. Like a Vegas? Look, look, look, I love you. I love you. I love the Vegas. Love the Vegas.

The caps, they were worst team in the anywhere last year. The devils, no. Who else? The Rangers, no. The rest of the Atlantic stinks. The Pacific's garbage. L.A.? Literally the only question I have about Vegas right now is who collects the cup when Gary asked them to come over and get it because they don't have a captain.

Would be flurry, you think? Who gets the cup first? Yeah. Like, no. You're right. Who gets the cup second? That's what I mean. Who's the emotional guy that we don't.

You know, waiting to get their cup for all this time. I don't know who it would be. Shippachov, that guy. The Russian is no longer on the team. I'll agree with that. They fly him back in. Oh, it would be James Neal. We leaving a cup finalist to come to Vegas

and putting on his big boy pants and being a leader. Who's the oldest guy on the team? Is it James Neal? It might be Flurry, right? Flory's older than Neal, isn't he? Yeah, you got drafted in 03. How old's Engeland? It might be him.

It would be England to get the cop. He's in Vegas, he's Captain Vegas. He talked to the crowd. Yeah, if you talk to the crowd after a shooting, you're going to be the guy that gets the cup. Yeah, you got to be the guy gets the cup. But who would he pass it to do next? Bill Foley.

Neat Schmidt. Bill Foley shuffling onto the ice and his low first cup. Come on, boys! $500 million! They give it to one of the medieval times nights. Just skate around. From the fucking Excalibur? That'd be amazing.

Just keep passing the cup to different people. A carrot top from Mandalay Bay and, uh... Oh, no, they bring the cup out in the rock and they pull it out like it's Excaliver. As you can see, Doc and Eddie, the cup has gone from carrot top to Chris Angel to Marie Osmond. The golden nights are on top. Carrot top. I'm Doc Emrick, ESPN.

Apparently. The greatest tradition in all of hockey, as you see Penn passing it to Teller. And Teller passing it to the tiger from the old Siegfried and Roy show. Oh, and here comes Lady Gaga. Oh, and she's giving it the timber like. next. Oh, that is just so wonderful. And here it goes now to all of the Backstreet boys. Nick Carter

passing it to AJ. Now on to Kevin. And now it's kind of that weird Pokemon lizard mascot they have. Seriously. I forgot about that. My answer, by the way, is the L.A. Kings. Like, I'm kind of a believer right now

in the Kings the way they play with Quick, with the fact they've done it all without Jeff Carter. I think this is a really dangerous team and I think and again part of this is a wish that your heart makes where as a guy who wants there to be the dynasty debate, the fake dynasty debate between

the Blackhawks and Kings, if the kings get their third, now we actually have a... What, dynasty? They wouldn't want a playoff round on like three years. But they would have three cups in the span of like nine or ten years. Oh, you think the devils are a dynasty. Oh, the devils are clearly a dynasty. Oh, God. Four cup appearances, three Stanley Cups within a span of

appearances. See, once you throw the word appearances, in there, you're defaulting to the fact that they're appearances are amazing. Like when you go, when you watch a special on TV and it's like, appearances by Jay Leno. Like you're like, oh, this is so exciting. I didn't realize Jay Leno would be on this. So what do you think about the Buffalo Bill's late 90s football

dynasty? Because they never won. They appeared, though, four straight. Yeah, but that's, you get a participation ribbon in them, but you don't win anything. The devil's won three cups. The Kings would have won three cups. What about the Cleveland Cavaliers dynasty? One championship, three appearances. Three straight. Yeah, but don't they also get a piece of the ones that

heat one too. Like, don't they get like a third credit? It's dynasty watering down. You know, here's the thing about millennials ruining everything is they've ruined dynasties. I don't know how. I'll figure that one out next week, I think. You know, it's a dynasty.

How many Sundays in a row I've had avocado toast. And bottomless bloodies. Turkey sausage. Was our guest this week going to be a millennial? No, he wasn't. He wasn't. He's going to be on soon, though. So I'm going to go on.

I was just because I was just millennials may not like four inches of snow. I was sure if that. Oh. People on Twitter were complaining about it. I can't even wear my hugs. My office is not closed today. Oh. What do you mean?

You can't pick up my laundry. Oh my God. Seamless is like an hour and 45 minute wait today. I agree. Somebody said the biggest, the biggest, and I say this here at the studio, so hopefully nobody outside these glass can hear me. because the studio is open today and explicitly. The biggest assholes of the world are the businesses that are open today.

The second biggest assholes of the world, the people ordering seamless today. No. And the, well, fine. The third biggest assholes are people that go on Twitter and do the performative tweets of, if you get something delivered today, you better tip your delivery person like a lot of money. Yeah. As if the rest of society does not understand how tipping works in bad weather. Like you're the hero on Twitter pointing out that, oh, my God, it's like they look outside and see it snowing and it's always the same people.

Yeah, if you get seamless today, you better really, really take care of the delivery. Yeah, I fucking know. Yeah. Not Christmas. I know. And also the day before, Twitter is entirely photos of, like, empty grocery shelves. People plan ahead. I'll say this about the people delivering on a snowy day for, like, Seamless.

Like, kind of what they signed up for. Isn't it like the post office? Like, you don't give a fucking, you don't give your postal worker like a, like a $50 bill when it's snowing. It's part of the oath. You know, I figure if you sign up for Seameless, you're like, I will ride my bike through darkest days and blackest nights and snowy days and rainy nights. Well, I go back and forth because if the business is open and you're just sitting there and not getting any orders because everyone's being noble and not getting seamless, like that's bad for the person whose job it is. Also, yeah, seamlesses are the heroes.

Like, these businesses wouldn't have anybody in their their establishments because there's four inches of snow on the ground. Were it not for the seamless people, they'd probably suffer financial calamity. I think if it's like a foot of snow, then maybe like shut it down. But like today in New York, it's four to eight. You can probably order food if you wanted to. And just tip the, give the man or the woman the nice tip. That's it. You don't need 18 tweets in my timeline about how, oh, man, if you order seamless, you better

make sure to take care of your, I know how it works. It's a great point. And you can feel really good about yourself until you open your bag and they didn't give you that zesty sauce for your onion rings and you're like, fuck you, seamless. No, here's the thing, though, is like, I always order in the snow. And I had not realized I should tip more in that. situation. I had been beating the shit out of my delivery guy when he gets her. I'm like, you stupid idiot. I hate you. Push him down the stairs. But then I saw Jeff's tweet and I was like, oh, right. I should tip him.

You push him down the stairs. He fell into the snow. He made a little angel with his lifeless body and you're like, I see the air of my ways. I held, I was like holding his face down in the snow and dumping my soda on his head. And then I checked Twitter and I was like, oh, I should tip him more. That's what I should have done. Fuck. This website, man. All right. Before we go, it's time for the question of the week, the question of the week, of course, being, uh, you, you asked it. So what was it? It was about the All-Star game? The question of the week was because since Hockey Ops picks the rest of the All-Star team after fans picked four, four guys, I wanted to know what the fans thought about it. I want to know what their favorite part was of having Colin Campbell picked the All-Star team. And, uh, there's some... A lot of grit. Grit in sand the paper,

my friends. This is Adrian Messini. Abbs Messini. I don't know if he works for the Aves. He says it feels like going to a restaurant you don't really like and having the waiter order your food for you. Glenn Russell says the fact that they rigged it the process so Crosby wouldn't have to think up a new excuse to skip the game. Yeah, he's not an all-star captain, by the way. One assumes that maybe he'll be in the game. Maybe his stats aren't good enough to be in the game.

Yeah, he's only like top 30 in scoring or something this year. So maybe he can actually get out of the game. Oh, yeah, what do you think about the idea that they're going to boycott? Like, that's never going to happen. It's never going to happen. Yeah, I think a lot of these guys have come to grips with the idea that this Olympic thing is just whatever. And honestly, like, if you really wanted to hit the NHL where it hurts, don't boycott the fucking All-Star game, boycott the next international event that they do. Yeah, but they won't.

But, yeah, because they get revenue from it. Right. Like, they made a good amount of coin off that World Cup game. And there's no, like, if you wanted to do something, you should have boycotted the last All-Star game as opposed to boycotting the All-Star game after they've already decided they're not going to the Olympics. And they just picked the Olympic team. Mm-hmm. But whatever. Casual Friday says,

I love that we can be 100% short to exclude non-top 100 players such as Evgeny Malkin. Alex says, any chance cap-strap teams look to the Olympics for zero-loss add-ons for a cup run? This I guess was just a random question

about the not related to the All-Star game. What was a question? If they're going to look to the Olympics for players to play in the Olympics for add-ons for a cup run. Yeah, absolutely. Like, I think Jiantha's going to get a contract you have the Olympics.

No. We didn't really talk about that at all. I guess we'll talk about that in another episode. But, um, Janta, uh, Matt Matt says, I can spend more time

not caring about the all-star game because they took the fun out of it. Nice neon unies, though. Yeah, I mean, the, the fan voting was always a really fun thing.

And I say that as a guy who obviously did the thing with the John Scott bit, but like, also just like going to the game and poking out little, the little circles on the sheets were always a lot of fun.

Yeah. I also just miss seeing the vote totals. I like knowing how many votes a guy got. Sorry. What? That's me. I, you know,

kind of, I did that. Oh, because of your John Scottlove? But also the Roy Fitzpatrick thing. Yeah, but they kept showing the vote totals after Rory Fitzpatrick. That was the time to stop doing it because they obviously, you know, invented boat of fraud. Wait, my Trump is my Francesa, apparently. Valkyri Liz says, the NHL, trust us, we know your favorites.

Don't need you guys swinging the vote to see someone new in the All-Star game. Moneymakers only. Yeah. Stephen Lowry writes, and really tired of everyone complaining about the voting being fake. It's a popularity contest, not who's the best. It's all about money and corporate greed, not even going to get into Russian bias. Anyway, enough with the 2016 election. The whole All-Star thing is whack too.

But I'm bum. Wow. Richie Flores, the one thing he misses is putting 11 Chicago Blackhawks on the roster. Hashtag not. Melania saw the All-Star vote totals, and she started crying, but not tears of joy. I was so out of touch yesterday. I still don't even really understand what happened with this. There's a book coming out that basically chronicles all the backroom shit with the Trump's

stuff and it's pretty great. It's basically someone said the book actually draws the comparison we've always made, which is it's the producers. It's like we're going to create a musical that's going to flop, then it winds up being a hit. They're in a room thinking, okay, we're going to lose all these states. Oh, he was trying to lose all of course they were. They're losing states. All of a sudden they're the president.

That's what blows my mind that he's still the president is like, once he won, he should have just been like, I was just fucking around. My favorite thing about the stuff that came out yesterday was there was actually a conversation between Anne Coulter and Donald Trump in which Dan Coulter had to say, no, you can't name your son-in-law chief of staff. Like, that's your guardian angel stepping in to make sure you don't make a mess out of things. She's like, look, I'm a fucking monster. And I got to be the one to tell you this.

Like, maybe this isn't the right job for you. Hashtag politics. Any other ones? Well, Mike Haxtad said, ha, ha, ha, ha, all the funny ways to say, so now I don't have to be engaged or have the smallest care already taken. That's a very good point. Finally, Matt says, when Scott Darling makes the All-Star team, Because they might think he's still a Black Hawk.

It's pretty funny. The less said about Scott Darling in the show, the better for you, by the way. People still are always bringing up that shit about Darling. Look, here's what I know right now is that Carolina has more points in Chicago this year. And what's changed between those two rosters? There you go. Scott Darling. There it is.

That's not a coincidence. All right, folks. That is the show for this week. Next week we will have a guest, we assume. I think, maybe. I forget what the timing is. Oh, next week. the fucking Philly show.

What are you doing? Tickets available at Helium Comedy Club Wednesday, January 10th. I'm like, you're doing a secret show without me at some point in the week. Frank Saravelli will be one of the guests we might get another who's to say, but Frank's a good guest on his own. Game shows, prizes, everything else. And then after that week, we're going

to have a guest too, I think. We're working on. It's a pretty cool guest. A very specific guest, which would be a real fun time if we get him. Oh, yeah, I got an email that guy about. Yeah, he should be here. He should be here that week. Yeah, if you're a podcasting fan, I think you'll dig it. Anyways, I'm Greg Gushenski at ESPN. You can find my shit at Wasinski on Twitter.

All my writing at ESPN.com. Just find the NHL tag. My other podcast is ESPN on ice. We had Linda Cohen and Brian Gianta on this week. Oh, Linda Cohen, huh? I remember she used to come on this podcast. Yeah, I'm going to, yeah, you know. Sure, Linda, whatever.

And that's about it. What's up with you? I'm going to go pee before we do the mailbox. All right, that's the show. Dave is going to address his bladder issues, as he has want to do. And I'm now in a room. by myself speaking into a microphone as someone has literally just left the room

because he had to make pee-pee. He's had to make pee-pee for a good number. If you felt that Dave's answers were getting shorter and shorter, it may be because he had tiny little sprigets of pee dotting his underwear and making a perilous journey to the front of his pants.

But now he has left the room in order to remedy this. I will no longer vamp to see if he comes back. I will simply bid you adieu and say Come to the Patreon for the Mailbag segment. Thanks, everybody. Have a great new year. Pee-boo-boo-boo.

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 tools. It's your weekly bowl of Hagi and Nancet. Bork Sue. Thank you.