Puck Soup - Unemployed Coaches Edition

Episode Date: December 13, 2019

The boys look at the firings of Sharks coach Peter DeBoer and Stars coach Jim Montgomery, for every different reasons; the NHL's four-point plan to stop abuse, including a hotline no one will use; the latest Akim Aliu embarrassment; the future of the World Cup and Olympics; Jack Eichel for MVP; the Red Wings stink; 'micro-cores' for Cup teams; and our favorite holiday movies. Sponsored by Seat Geek and Away!

Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slapshots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to whatever you commute. But we also cover movies, TV shows, it's in tunes. It's your weekly bowl of hockey and nonsense. Puckoo. I'm Greg Wischinski of the Worldwide Leader in Sports. ESPN. I'm Ryan Lambert from Yahoo.

Sean McAnew, The Athletic. And you're in Puckoo. and let me pull back the curtain boys. Let me show you how the sausage is made, as they say. Here's how I found out that Pete DeVore got fired. I was at the dog park with little baby sneakers. What an adorable pup. It's a very busy couple of days. She has not had a chance to go to the park. Also, it's been rainy, which is weird because I live in California. So I had her at the dog park. We're having a grand old time. I come to realize I left my cell phone in the car, which was a problem for me because I was with, for a national hockey league coach to call me. And so I figured it might be later in the day.

I didn't think I needed my phone necessarily by my side. And besides, if he called, I would just call back and say, I'm at the dog park with my adorable pooch. Go back to the car and I fire up the cell phone. Of course, there's like messages from the PR guy because, you know, obviously the 10 minutes I take out of my day to take my dog at the park is one that's got calls. and the messages read, hey, are you ready to go right now? And then the next message reads, or are you on this DeBoer thing?

I'm just like, fuck. So I'm like scrolling through the old Twitteroo, saw Elliot's tweet that the sharks were making a change and raced on home to get on the next in the seemingly endless domino fall of coaches getting fired. This one, for hockey reasons, Pete DeBore axed by the San Jose Sharks.

Boys, what was your reaction when you saw the sharks return from a horrific road trip in the midst of a five or six-game winless streak and saw that Pete DeBore pays the price for the worst goaltending in the league over the last two seasons? Yeah, I was going to say, like, he should have told his goalies to be better. That was his big mistake. If I was the coach of the Sharks, one thing I would definitely say, is like, hey, guys, we're trying to try making a fucking save.

You ever think about that one? I would say, I would say, I would just hashtag be best to my goalies and have them just be better than they are, absolutely. Sean, is it as simple as that that the sharks can't stop the puck and hence, much like every other coach that gets fired, it falls on Pete DeBoer that they can't? I think the scary thing for the sharks is they can't stop the puck, but they couldn't stop the puck last year and they were good enough elsewhere.

to be at least a reasonable facsimile of a contender. And this year, the defense is bad too. So now it's two problems. And I don't know that that's a coaching issue. That's more in line of something we would typically point a finger to coach for. The market board classic issue. Yeah, I mean, when your guys are old and signed long term and you don't really have any option other than putting them out there for 20 minutes every night, it's, it's, you know, like, Brent Burns hasn't been great this year too.

Like, point wise, he's been, he's been good. But, and even Eric Carlson is, you know, he still has those moments and those games of brilliance. But I don't think he's been entirely what they thought or hoped they were going to get. So it's, it's a situation where what we thought was going to be a strength has turned into not that. And maybe even a weakness. And you can live with bad goaltending for a little while. live with bad defense if your goalies bail you out, but you can't live with both of them. And I think what on top of that, what really seals Pete DeBore's fate and what might make

some other coaches around the league nervous is when you look at all of these coaching changes that have happened, and obviously some of them have been for different reasons and some of them have had something to do with on ice and some of them haven't. But if I'm a coach of a struggling team, I'm looking at a team like Toronto that was headed in the wrong direction and has been better, not great, but better since they made a coaching change. And I look at a team like Calgary that just looks like a different team as soon as they make the change, even though it wasn't a change they wanted to make.

It's awfully tough to preach patience to a GM when two of the highest profile underachieving teams in the league make coaching changes and almost immediately become better for it. That makes me nervous if I'm a coach of a team that's underachieving and I'm trying to sell my GM that, you know, hey, give me another. month to figure this out. You might not have another month at this point. It's go time. On top of the one that made a coaching change and won the cup last year. Yeah. I think patient zero in all this is Craig Barubi, right? And the fact that the blues did what they did and turned around what they turned around. And at the very least,

provided an example to teams and players to say, hey, it's possible. And then you see all these changes this season, granted some for other reasons, like you said. I will say, though, that as bad as the defense has been and as horrific as the goaltoning has been in the last two seasons, I think the story of the sharks might be they're not an offensive juggernaut anymore. They're bottom 20,

or sorry, bottom 10 rather, I think they're like 24th or 23rd in goals per game. Their power play, which was top six last season, is around 23rd or 24th in the league. The real issue is that they gave up a bunch of goals last year with sub-replacement goal-tending,

but then we're able to kind of Band-Aid over that by scoring a bunch of them. And, you know, you could put your finger on a number of things. A number of guys aren't having good seasons. A number of guys are still getting used to new roles as far as their five-on-five play. I think their power play, I mean, I think that's a Joe Pavelski problem. I don't think that they've really figured out how to do the power play without him in front tip and pucks and providing screens and being what he was for them for so many years.

They're just, they look aimless out there. So they don't have the goals to overcome the goals that Martin Jones and Aaron Dell give up. And by the way, I don't know what the fuck was happening on Twitter yesterday when DeBoer got fired. Because all of a sudden, you had a bunch of people trying to stick up for Martin Jones and Aaron Dell. Wait, no way, that can't be true. It's absolutely true. I had people in my mentions making the case that because they face a slightly higher number of high chances than other goalies, it's the system in front of them versus their play.

And other people were making the case that changed to DeBor's system in the last couple of seasons, you know, turned Martin Jones from being a competent NHL goalie into being a bad one, to which, you know, I would say two words, Corey Schneider, it could happen pretty quickly. So there were actually people standing for Martin Jones and Arundel in the last 24 hours, which fucking stunned me because, like, they're bad. They're demonstrably bad. They don't pass the eye test.

They don't pass the sniff test. They don't pass the analytics test. Did you see last night where it is somewhat apparent that Nixon Rangers owner, James Dolan, may or may not have been defending himself in a via a, via a shadow account or whatever? I did not. A burner account? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the word I was looking for. He was just like, you know, it started late yesterday afternoon.

and everything he tweeted about was James Dolan related. And just being like, he's actually really successful. Think about how good the Knicks would be if he was making the decisions and not this GM and all this shit. It's really fucking good. I'm going to see if I can find it or if he already shut it down, which is very possible. I guess my question is, what did the Eugene Melnick-Berner account say about the James Dolan-Berner account? Right. But, yeah.

That's what I mean to do. Those, so, like, I want to say the name on the account was, like, Jonathan Daly, which James Dolan, Jonathan Daly, you know. Oh, wow. And it's like, yeah, we're all those tweets to you coming from, like, Adam Dale. And John Martin. John Martin. Yeah. Like, I can't.

imagine, let's put it this way. In the month of December, you know what the shark's save percentage is? 856. So 8.56. That would be bad for like 1984 goaltending. It's 2019 though. And they can't outpace that with offense anymore. So Bob A Buguner, the boogeyman, takes over on an interim basis for the San Jose sharks. Their press conference is in a few hours after. we get done with the show. So we'll find out if this is one of those, hey, we're just biding our time until we hire Mike Babcock,

or if it's one of those, yeah, he's our coach for the rest of the season type situations. Pretty amazing, though, that they fired the entire staff and kept Boogner. Did Doug Wilson walk into the room and break a pool queue over his knee like the Joker and hand it to, you know, Steve shot at Johann Headberg and Bob Boogner and say, you know, I only have room for one of you on my team.

And the Boogie Man won. Yeah, Bob Boone are famous for last year's Panthers having really good goaltending, if I'm not mistaken. Good defensive system. Yeah, fucking unbelievable. He gets a ton of credit for being an assistant coach when Burns had like two of his best seasons in the NHL. He's kind of lived off that reputation for a while. And then obviously he had a huge reputation as a successful OHL coach with the Spitfires. But yeah, he takes over this team.

And yeah, Bob Boogner, the guy who. They literally couldn't shove out the door fast enough to hire Joel Quinville over the summer is now the head coach of the Shadzei. And can we also point out that among the assistants that were hired, Oh, I know. Evgeny Nabokov and Mike Ritchie. So again, what an amazing coincidence that a team that desperately needs to hire the best possible candidates to fill important jobs in the organization. just so happens to find out that those best possible candidates happen to be popular former players from the team. What are the guys?

I think they just did one of those things where they pull up something on their phone and they're like, who's a guy in the greater San Jose area that we can get on the fucking phone here? Like what are the odds of the best possible goaltending coach available? Just happens to be a guy that all your fans love from his, his past. Now, in their defense, the nepotism was already in place. Those guys were definitely like consultants on the payroll. Yeah. I've seen, I've seen them at games, right? And like, you're walking around the bowels of the arena and you see a Mike Ritchie scurry by and you're like, ah, but he was there consulting. The Bacoff was there consulting. What I find interesting is like,

are both those guys there? It was just like a shadow government? Like, were they waiting for the opportunity to... Well, it kind of sounds like it if they were consultants, because that's not really a thing in the NHL. I know. So, yeah. It's, so they were, like, just hanging around and on the team payroll and observing shit. And I'm like, if I'm like, if I'm of those assistant coaches who just got turfed, I'm like, what the fuck? Like, why are these guys here?

But yeah, Mike Ritchie, assistant coach in the National Hockey League. Was Mike Ritchie ever on your list of guys you thought would be coaches? Because I don't think he was ever on mine. No, definitely. Yeah. When he played, he was on my list of guys I'd see running around a hamster wheel after retirement or things of that nature. I was stunned to hear that that was one of the choices that they made. But hey, maybe he's that guy to fire up the boys on the bench.

But, you know, do it in a legal and safe manner. We'll get to the four-point plan later. Can the sharks turn it around with the new coach boys? Um, no, I mean, they still have the goalies, right? Like, that's, that's the real problem here. Everybody knows that's the real problem. So, yeah, I don't, I don't have a lot of optimist. Like, they can be better, I think, but I don't think they're turning it around anytime soon. Yeah, I, it depends what you mean by, by it. Can they turn all the problems around? Pennywise, the clown. Yeah. That's what I mean by it. You know, as Ryan said, they can't, he's not going to come in and fix the goaltending. I'm, I'm, I'm. not sure that he can maybe improve the defense a little bit, but that's, I mean, he was part of the coaching staff. It's not like he's going to come in and make radical changes, you would think. But can they turn it around in the sense of getting back into the playoff race? Yeah, this is one of the

most talented teams in the league. And they, they absolutely could roll off a couple of wins in a very, I don't know if I'm going to say a weak division, but still a strange division. Strange is a good word for it. It's been a weird 30 game, so I don't see why we would assume that the next 50 are going to work out the same way. So, yeah, I mean, the sharks could make the playoffs. It may be it's because of Bob Boogner. Maybe it's just because sometimes you make a change and write when things we're going to turn around anyways. Who knows?

But yeah, I'm not writing them off. Put it that way. Yeah, neither am I, because they are a streaky-ass team. It's just the fact that the streaks were all in the loss column this year. They're just the team that can get on a good role or a bad role and, you know, an eight-game point streak here or there. And lo and behold, they're right back in the playoff race. I will say that the firing is probably related to the fact that they can't do anything else. They're basically capped out.

They don't have a first round pick this year. They don't have their own third round pick this year. They don't have their own second round pick next season. You know, they've mortgaged a lot on this team, which obviously also speaks. to why they would make the move because there's a lot riding on this season. But I will also probably say that the reason that they made the move is that Redeemed Simic got hurt again. And as you guys know, he is the key to the team.

Sharks fans have told me time and time again that their success was directly tied to him being on the lineup. And so if he's hurt, they obviously know they have no future. They might as well just, you know, play out the string. Well, again, the only reason he is important to the team. Well, not the only reason. He's a decent player. But the reason he's important to the team is when he's held. they don't have Mark Edward Vlasic playing top pair minutes.

That's the only reason that, you know, like, he could be reasonably considered an important part of the team. Right. But his sub-replacement play, by taking that out of the lineup, it's kind of like pulling the drain on a bathtub. Everything else just floods down the drain without redeem Simic there to keep it stopped up. Speaking of coaches getting fired, Dallas fired their coach. Jim Montgomery for unprofessional behavior. Which at least as we're recording this, we still do not know what that means. It's somewhat amazingly.

I mean, I think when the news broke Tuesday morning and you watch that press conference and they weren't saying anything, you're sitting there going, well, like we're going to know in an hour. Like some insider is going to get the scoop. And we're sitting here two days later. And there's still no indication, at least form. indication as to what actually happened. I will say that, so I was at the Board of Governors meeting when this broke and obviously caught everybody by surprise. And, you know, by the end of the day, there were definitely some rumors swirling about what it could be. And, you know, I think it's

safe to say that even though, even if there's not a police investigation, which I think is something Jim Nell might have said, the rumors were pushing you towards the realm of legality and illegality. And so I think it's safe to say that when it does come out, it'll make sense. This is something they had to do. But it is kind of, the fact that it happened that quickly. Oh, go ahead. Sorry. Just just the fact that it went from, if we believe Jim Nell's timeline, they were informed on Sunday of something. It sounds like basically made the decision on Monday and then announced it Tuesday morning. I mean, it put it, it this way. It took the, how long did it take the flames to move on from Bill Peters? Like almost a week. Due diligence. And that was, and that was with Bill Peters being given the chance to resign.

Yeah. Mark Crawford, you know, a different type of situation, but that, that's an ongoing investigation that we're into the weeks now. There is a long history in the NHL of some pretty bad things getting, if not covered up, at least kind of passed over. and dealt with behind the scenes. So I don't want to... You know what that tells me, though? That tells me this feels like a last strike kind of thing. You know what I mean? It's like there's... It could be...

It could also, I mean, let's face it, this is... And I don't want to get into speculating about what might have happened with Jim Montgomery, although by creating this vacuum of information and not telling us anything, they've kind of made it impossible not to do that. I'll just say, you're right. When we find out what it is or what is alleged to have happened or however you want to frame it, it is possible that everyone will go, yep, okay, of course they had to, he would have been fired instantly today, tomorrow, 30 years ago, 50 years ago,

that that was something where they didn't have a choice. But I will say, even though we've been told repeatedly this is not related to stuff like the Bill Peters, stuff or any of the things that the NHL was talking about on Monday night, this four point plan. This is the worst possible time to be an NHL coach and have something happen. Like this is, if you are ever going to not get the benefit of the doubt or not get, like, this is clearly the time. This is not the time to be caught doing anything that you shouldn't be doing.

And obviously, you shouldn't be doing these. You shouldn't be doing things anyways. But this is the, if you're looking for second chances. or getting some leeway or being able to point to your winning record and say, I got the team on the right track, so you've got to keep me. This is not the time where you're going to get that courtesy from anybody. Yeah, the joke on Twitter last night was that it was insane that the sharks had to be like, listen, we just think he sucks.

He didn't do anything wrong other than he's bad and we don't like him anymore. Hockey-related firing was the thing that sources were telling. telling us. It's pretty crazy. And that might be the new way of the world, too, like going forward. It's just you have to make that caveat, especially with the NHL, you know, continuing on with investigations and putting out plans and shit. But, you know, it was shocking.

I mean, consider this. They were a wildcard team when it happened. It was on a game day when it happened. Yep. He had two years left on his contract. And here's the really fun part. if you like chaos. So there are a scant few weeks away from appearing in the Winter Classic at the

the Cotton Bowl against the National Predators. Guess what happens this week for the Dallas Stars? The documentary crews show up to start filming their shows for the Winter Classic. Hell yeah. Literally like they're all kind of like, hey, hey, oh, hey, everybody. It's me, coach, bonus. I'm your new coach. Isn't that exciting?

And then like the door swings open. and it's the fucking 24-7 crew or whatever they're calling that show now walking in and it's recorded. It is nuts the timing of this thing. That's sick. But that tells you just how much of a necessity it must have been.

So the Dallas stars now don't have a guy. You know, the content of his character is obviously hideous if he gets fired, but like they turned it around. They figured it out under Jim Montgomery this year and we're trending upward, clearly. What do we make of the Dallas stars now without that guy as the head coach?

You know, it's interesting. I think on the one hand, like you can say, he's certainly turned around a team that needed turning around last season. Maybe he had a little bit more success than he should of, just in terms of high save percentages and stuff like that. You can say some of that's the system, but you can also say, you know, when your team save percentage is north of 930, You got a couple of bounces there. But yeah, I mean, they're playing well. They finally, like, integrated all the tent. Like, the thing you said about they're in a wild card spot. They're now in a wild card spot after being fucking horrible for the first two or three weeks of the season. So they've been playing unbelievable hockey for the better part of two months now. It's really interesting to see, like, how, you know, I don't really have a great read on Rick Bonas as a modern NHL coach.

Because, you know, I don't think anybody could. Yeah. Because he has not been, I mean, this, this guy began his head coaching career in the 80s. That's insane. Like, I mean, this guy is. The last full-time job was what, with the expansion senator? Like, no, no. Well, yeah, I mean, he came in as a midter coach for the, before the lockout.

But he has not been a head coach. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I forgot about that. Yes. But, and yeah, like somebody on Twitter was like, is Rick Bonas now the most veteran head coach in the league in terms of when he started? And I was like, probably. But I looked at, I was looking at guys like Dave Tippett and Joel Kweb.

Like, he's got them beat by almost a decade. Right. And so, which, you know, I mean, there, sometimes there's something to be said. for that, you know, but, but I, I, I have a lot of time for Rick Bonas. I, I really enjoy, anytime I've heard him talk or be interviewed about hockey is, uh, I think he, he usually has very interesting things to say. He's obviously a lifer who's stuck around the game and there's some value in that. I would get a little bit nervous if I'm a Dallas fan when he was, like at the press conference when he was like, yeah, I haven't run a bench in 15 years, but we'll figure it out.

I don't, you don't want to hear we'll figure it out as, as a key, a key piece of something, but... Yeah, when you're in a playoff race, you're like, maybe not. Where's that bench door? Oh, there it is. Is Rick Bonas the Irish men of head coaches, Ryan? Well, his career certainly is. It's been going on fucking forever.

But... He's a crafty old relic, okay, giving it a new sheen. And we're all like, I don't know. then we watch it and we're all like, he still got it. Yeah. And they're going to like CGI him to be younger behind the bench. But then every time he walks, you're like, oh yeah, that guy's old. That's right. I don't want to give it away. But on my, in my Friday column where I do like an old YouTube clip this week, I've got this great clip of Rick Bonas from the Ottawa Senators days where the team is absolutely terrible. And you can tell he hates his team and he desperately wants the GM

to basically blow the entire roster up, but he's trying so hard not to say that. And the interviewer is like constantly trying to bait him into saying that his team is bad. And he's just like, like openly like I am not going to say what you want me to say right now. And it's one of the funniest coach interviews I've ever seen. So like right there, if he does that again, if he starts, if he brings that to the table, I'm all in on the Rick bonus era because it was hilarious. I think Jim Nill is too, man. And like, I was really surprised to see him be like, yeah, he's going to be, this is the coaching staff we're going to have for the rest of the season. Now, maybe he's just saying that in an effort to kind of like stabilize the ship, you know, but like, I mean, he said it.

And that's a really interesting move for, again, a guy that hasn't coached since before the canceled season. Yeah. I mean, they have other guys on the staff, right? Like, I mean, they've got Todd Nelson, John Stevens. Like, they've got guys who are former NHEL head coaches. your NHL head coaches. So it's not like this was the only guy where you look around. You're like, this is the only guy who's ever done it.

We got to, it's an emergency. We've got to throw him in. Like, they've got guys who recently were NHL coaches. Todd Nelson's a guy that needs another job. I think he's a real good coach, and I feel like he hasn't gotten the opportunity for some reason. But we'll see. Yeah. I mean, I think we know what the reason is, but sure.

What was the reason? Oh, did you have some going on? No, just fucking coach the oil. right? Oh, all right, that's fair enough. Most guys who get fired by the Oilers, it takes them years to get back in the NHL. You know what?

I'm like looking at the Stars' coaches page because I was like, wait a second, do they have John Stevens? And I looked in, like, they don't mention him working for the Oilers. They just kind of like, oh, yeah, he's a respected HL coach. And then you have to like hit the expand button or they're like, all right, he coached the Oilers too. That was the big news this week.

Pete DeBore, Jim Montgomery, out the door. And if they're out the door, hopefully they've got some away luggage in their hands. Oh boy. Today's episode of Puck Soup. Sponsored by Away. Who ever said that it's all about the journey has never traveled during the holidays. My God, that's the truth. Thankfully, Away's products are designed to work and fit together, making travel smoother

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That didn't take too long. With the Colorado Eagles, it was a trainer, right, for the team? Something like that, yeah. So, the way I remember the story, and correct me from wrong, Akeem Olu was going to a Halloween party while I remember the Colorado Eagles. They told him to arrive late. This is what he told the Wall Street Journal. And when he arrived, a trainer was wearing an Alew jersey and in blackface.

And there is a photo circulating with Alu standing next to this guy where the guy is smiling widely and Alu looks like he is a hostage. Yes. And so the avalanche put this guy on leave and then the Colorado Eagles released a lengthy apology to Akeemulu that was like, hey, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, this isn't us, except for the fact that this happened like several years ago and the guy was still working for the team as of like Monday. Yeah.

I mean, part of the thing you got to say here is that this is not the first prominent blackface thing dealing with professional hockey in the last few years. like I think it is way more of a thing like to think about in the U.S. than Canada and like Canadians just go oh yeah that's something you do and it's normal

and regular and it's like oh I don't know about that but yeah yeah I don't I don't know about that like I the thing with this story is like I get that there are people who go oh you know blackface is it really that big a deal well first of all yes Yeah, of course it is. It is. It's wrong.

It's always wrong. It's wrong if you're a dumb high school student. It's wrong if you're a future prime minister. It's wrong and dumb and crappy thing to do. And if you legitimately don't understand why, look into it and educate yourself and figure it out. And you'll see why this is an awful thing that is offensive whenever it happens. But this story, like this isn't just like. He didn't just show up at a Halloween party and like somebody was dressed up as Mr. T.

And, you know, it was like, oh, dude, you shouldn't do it. Like, they set him up. And he was new to the team, by the way. This wasn't, it wasn't like he'd been around for years. And this was like, you know, we're going to rib the veteran that we all love and, you know, have some fun with them. That he was new to the team. They set him up. They told him, don't come to the party until a little bit later so that he would basically walk in and see this.

And everybody could watch his reaction. Like, you know, and everybody. And then, and then they made them pose for photos and, you know, have to be the good sport. It's like, this story is just, it's, I mean, it's, it's not the Bill Peters thing, but it's right up there. Like, this story really, if you've just kind of heard it in passing and you're like, oh, we're doing the blackface thing again. Like, it's, it's that, but it's so much worse than that. And it's so, uh, I just got, like, the thing that keeps coming to me is like, I'm just so, I have so much respect and gratitude to Akeem-a-Lu that he's even willing to still be part of this and still be,

have anything to do with this sport and that he didn't just say, screw this and walk away forever because like what this guy went through, it's just like it's stomach churning. And I wish I could, you know, I wish I could convince myself that this guy just had the bad luck to be the center of all of these stories, but I know that there's probably a million more of these stories out there. Yeah. Because it's, it's just, it's, it's just gross. Well, the thing I, the thing I brought up about, like, I think this is partly just like a hockey ignorance problem. And, like, it sucks.

Don't get me wrong. But, like, I'm trying to remember, definitely Rafi Torres did blackface and was like, what, it's not racist. Tyler Bozac did it at one point. I want to say Patrick. Kane and somebody else from the Somebody was Rodman. Yeah, and the other guy was Scotty Pippen. But now I don't remember

who the other guy was. But like this is a pervasive problem. It's not and again like people go, you know, oh, it's not racist. I just, I just think it's a fun costume or whatever. Oh, here you go. It was but in this particular...

Adam Burrish was the guy. But in this particular case, it seems like, oh, no, it was just racist. Like for this one. I don't like I won't give anyone a pass for blackface but I do think there is an element where people like you said they're just ignorant they don't know they haven't bothered to find out and and then the question is when you're called on it do you immediately get your backup or do you say oh crap I may have screwed up here and and try to figure it out but like the was it was it Tony McKegney this week there was a story where he was like I was the only black player on every team. I ever played on until I was like 18 or 19 years old or something. And, you know, it's like that is, you know, it's not as much the case anymore, but it still largely is.

Like a lot of these players, this might have been their first black teammate. This might have been the first time they had a black guy on the team. And this is how they chose to, to recognize that by viewing his identity as a costume, something that they could all have like a laugh about. Yep. Sucks. Like, it's just such a garbage moment for the whole team, too, by the way. I mean, the trainer or equipment guy or whoever it was who in the middle of it, like,

screw that guy, he sucks. But he didn't just show up on his own and do this. And people were like, oh, dude, no, that's not cool. This was a big team-wide, funny joke to play on the new guy of let's really drill home to him just in case he forgot for one second. that he's different and that we view him as different and some kind of other. It's just awful. Yeah. Two things on that.

First of all, congratulations to Patrick Sharp because I'm looking back at that photo of Adam Burrish as Rodman and Patrick Kane is Scotty Pippen. Patrick Sharp was Phil Jackson. So imagine when they're all sitting around being like, what should our costumes be? And Burrish is like, I'm going to be Dennis Rodman and put on Blackface. And Patrick Kane's like,

I'm going to be Scotty Pippen. and put on a wig and Patrick Sharp's like, yeah, you do that. I'll be the coach. You guys do that. I'll either be the coach or Will Perdue. One of those two. You guys do what you do, or Tony Cooch.

Just scrambling to remember white bulls. Paxton, who was the other guy, right? So, the other thing, to go up to your point, Sean, like, Kim Davis is a really brilliant person. If you don't know where she's the executive vice president, basically in charge of diversity initiatives for the NHL.

She was recently put in charge of a special counsel they're developing to further all of these things to help with diversity and inclusiveness in the light of the Bill Peters scandal. She met the media on the second day of the board of governors meetings. And what you just said struck me because she's a black woman and she was sitting down in front of a room, in front of the media and not a single woman, not a single person of color, all white dudes.

And like 15 to 18 of them, just kind of sitting around, listening to her talk. And how many times does she walk into a room in this job in the NHL? And that's the configuration. Probably every day. So it's kind of stunning.

And it just kind of shows the amount of work that still has to go into it to change the configuration of the sports behind the scenes. But yeah, the alluth thing was fucking stomach churning and kudos to the avalanche for taking... Yeah, kudos to the avalanche for taking action

on something that they weren't even... They weren't even affiliated with the team when this happened. But they still cleaned up the mess pretty quickly, so good on them for doing it. The four points of coach abuse released by the National Hockey League at the Board of Governors meeting. A lot of people were surprised

that there wasn't a, like, framework for punishment. Were you surprised by that? That it was just sort of like a guidance thing and not like, here's how we're going to fuck these guys? Not really. I mean, like, this is all very, like, it's all going to be very lawyerly. You know what I mean? And so, like, for them to be like, and here's exactly what happened. With Gary Betman at the top of the food chain, it lawyerly? No. Well, like, just in terms of, you know, they're not going to, they're not going to just go, this is the blanket.

This is what we're going to do because they're going to have to necessarily have to, I think, in a lot of these cases taken on a case-by-case basis. So I was not surprised by that at all. Point one of the plan was, if you hear anything from your team about abuse, you better call me a bill. That's literally what it was. It was like,

Betman or Bill Daley have to be called personally by the teams. Immediately upon hearing accusations of abuse by a player or any team personnel. And a lot of people, when they heard this, were like, but why? because essentially the NHL is an organization that just leaves it up to the teams to administer punishment. Look no further than when Bill Daley was asked about the Mark Crawford investigation. And he's like, I don't know, it's the Blackhawks thing.

This is what can be best called the we don't want to get caught with our pants down rule. No surprises. Absolutely. No surprises. Which I think is a very, I think that's the right approach. And it was a very clear message to teams, maybe not in so many words. but if you have a situation, people will be punished,

potentially teams will be punished. But if you try to cover it up and you try to hide it away and we find out about it, we are going to bring all sorts of pain onto your organization and it will not be worth it. And that was one of the elements of this that I actually liked and appreciated, that it sounds like Gary Bettman is,

is delivering a very clear message that you do not try to sweep this away anymore. And you could ask you of Gennikiznetsov about don't embarrass the NHL suspensions that occur in this league a lot. So the message was clear. Point two of the four-point plan was basically them saying that any abuse that they find to have happened. happened will be met with severe punishment, which I think goes without saying. But the thing that was interesting about this point was that they said that the investigation is ongoing into the Carolina hurricane situation with Ron Francis and Peter Carmanos basically being at odds about whether or not ownership was included in at the time or not. In talking to some people

around the situation, it seems like maybe there's a little bit more of a belief that Ron Francis is telling the truth here rather than Peter Carmanos that might just be reputation-based. But here's what Francis said last night in an interview at the Seattle Times about one of the aspects of the Bill Peter scandal that has perplexed people, which is that here's the guy that physically assaulted two players, management knew about it, and then the general manager gave him a new contract. And here's what Francis said, we looked where the team was and how it was playing. it was moving in the right direction. We'd made a huge increase from where it was the year before to where we were that year.

And quite honestly, we looked at that physical abuse that's in bracket situation. We addressed it and we felt it was behind him. I don't know if that makes me feel better about Ron Francis at all, to be quite honest with you. Right. Yeah. I mean, that's, to me, that reads as, look, I mean, we know what happened. We made it very clear to him that if it happened, that if it happened, again the I don't know what there would be some sort of consequences maybe they made it clear if

it happened again he'd be fired and he made it clear that it wouldn't happen again and so we moved on which doesn't sound great today but even a few years ago uh probably was the way that it worked i don't know if you guys have seen it Justin Bourne had a piece this morning on on the athletic where he kind of gave a player's perspective on some of this stuff and it's an interesting read I didn't, I tweeted it out and I think I said it was, this is a very worthwhile perspective to get, which is my way of saying I don't necessarily agree with all of it, but I think, no, I mean, I don't, but I think it's very valuable to get a like a pro player's perspective, somebody who has been in this situation and he was kind of talking about, you know, where is the line? And, and he made what I think is an important point, which is we all need to stop talking about.

well, if this happened in my workplace and it's like, dude, you're, you're an accountant. It's not the same as being a pro athlete. It's not the same environment. So what would happen if somebody shoved you at your workplace really has no bearing on how it works in pro sports? But I think if you're somebody, if you're like, if you can't even get your head around why Bill Peters wasn't instantly fired by Ron Francis, read that piece because it won't necessarily change your opinion of Bill Peters or maybe even change your opinion of Ron Francis. but it will give you, I think, a valuable perspective in terms of somebody who has actually been there and been inside of dressing rooms and been on benches and giving a view that is maybe not necessarily the same as the kind of zero tolerance. This can never happen ever under any circumstances. And it's a firing offense view that I think a lot of fans have as their natural reaction.

Yeah. And I think that, you know, first of all, I think the more. more we hear from players, the better, the better it is. I thought the most interesting thing that Brennan-Shanahan said at the Board of Governors meeting, which was sort of drowned out by all of the other bad cocky and stuff, was in particular, in talking about Johann Franz and his experiences, Shanahan saying, look, when I was a player, this wasn't the shit we talked about. And it could be a situation where they thought it was wrong. And it could be a situation where really intelligent people like Brendan Shanahan look at a thing where, you know, there's mental abuse being levied on a teammate.

And maybe, you know, it's not something that you call out because that's just not what you did. But maybe you understand that it's, it's kind of fucked up. So I thought that was, that was, the more we hear from players, the better it's going to be. But like, look no further than the Peter LaVuette situation that I wrote about last week, right? Where he punched Villalue Ligano in the head, you know, during a game. And I know that LaVuette was asked about it and he said something. some bullshit like, oh, I was trying to hit my other hand with my hand when his other hand is like in his pocket.

It's a thing that happened. And if you didn't see the video and you heard someone say, I saw Peter LaVuette punch Villalieno in the head on the bench, I mean, you're going to have a certain perspective on it. Yet when you see the video and you talk to the guy that got punched, you have a completely different perspective on it because, you know, we see one thing and they see another thing. Yeah. And that was, what was so interesting to me about that case is you've got all these people going with the Bill Peterson going like, wow, how was this not a huge thing? How did we not hear about this? You know, they should have instantly, blah, but you've got the Peter Lavillette thing, which was caught on film and was all over Twitter and was it.

And everybody just made jokes about it. It was hilarious. So when you say like, you know, oh, the Bill Peterson thing, how could they not? Well, I don't know, man. Half of us saying that have probably got tweets about, oh, it's hilarious if Pierre Lavalette just punched somebody. So perspective shift and maybe they shift in the right direction. Like maybe we're seeing a transformation right now and we're starting to think about this right instead of wrong like we used to. But it's kind of one of those things where it's like, hey, maybe it's not as obvious as you want it to be because it certainly wasn't even just a few years ago when this was, no pun intended, a punchline.

I'll say two things on that. first off, for me personally, I think the two things that I've kind of figured out in the last few weeks are maybe a lack of appreciation for the power dynamic between coaches and players, which is something that Dan Carcillo is spoken to. It's something that Akeem-Lu has spoken to. It's something that I kind of, you know, in your own workplace, you understand the power dynamic between yourself and your boss, for example. But I don't think when it comes to a coach and a player, I really wrap my brain around the idea that, yeah, You can't come forward with something or else you're going to get fucking bagskate or sent to the ECHL or any number of little repercussions that can come your way, big or small, for what you do. The other thing that I realized, too, is that, you know, victims of use handle things in different ways. And by that, I mean, there are some guys that are going to be made of sterner stuff. and if they are, you say one thing to one guy, he could take it and he looks at it and he says, I've become a better player and a better man because of the things that you've said to me. And then you say him to someone else who maybe comes at it from a position like Patrick O'Sullivan, for example,

where he's coming from a background of abuse. And that same thing is going to read completely differently for that guy and have deleterious effects and make him feel shitty and put him into a depression and all that other shit. I think that's why the gray areas of the mental and verbal abuse are so difficult to navigate because I really think in some cases it's a case-by-case thing of who's on the receiving end of it. Right, which doesn't mean that either of those people are wrong. And this is kind of the thing. Like, if you're a coach, if you want to employ these methods, you need to accept that it might work for some people

and it might really not for others and you're responsible for both of those. You don't get to pick one and say, this is the right way to react and this is the wrong way. And some of that is knowing your players. And some of that is, if you're not sure, you just, especially these days, you don't go to that level. But yeah, you're right. You talk about guys getting bag skated and all this. This is what concerns me about this four point plan is this whole idea of the anonymous hotline. How anonymous is it going to be?

Like, you know, if somebody calls the hotline and says, Peter Lavillette punched me in the head. that's not anonymous, you know, like there, there may be cases where somebody might say, I witness something, but if somebody says, you know, if somebody goes to a coach and says, we have an anonymous report that you kicked a guy on the bench and that coach has only kicked one guy on the bench, it's not anonymous. And then what are the protections in place to make sure that guy doesn't, I mean, forget about being bag skated. Like just does his ice time go down?

Does he get a reputation as being not a team guy? Is he a distraction? all of these buzzwords that get thrown around. I don't know. And if I was a player with a story to tell, I would be nervous about telling it because I don't necessarily buy that this league and this leadership group is going to do the things

that they are saying they're going to do. Yeah, and that's kind of the problem, right? And I asked Betman at the press conference about whistleblower protection, and his answer was basically like the anonymity of the hotline is the protection that they need. And I'm like, no, it's not. Like, do you know how many more people would be empowered to actually, like,

talk about abuse to this league if the league stepped up and said, look, you know, if any, anything comes your way that we see as retribution for you reporting abuse within your organization, we'll have your back? Like, like, how empowering would that be? And they can even make that fucking step. It's very bizarre. And, and I'll just say, like, in the bigger point, because I know a lot of people are seeing this stuff and they're wondering like, you know,

they're not sure how to feel about what the league is saying. They're taking some positive steps. They deserve credit for that. This is what we have now is better than what we had last week, which was nothing. Yes. But at the same time, you are perfectly justified as a fan of this league if you don't trust these guys to get it right. You know, this is, we've had the same core leadership group in this league for 25 years. they spent that whole time telling us that they were going to increase scoring and then they never did

and that they were going to get us through a CBA without a work stoppage and they never did and that they were going to fix the situation in Phoenix and they never did and that replay was screwed up and they went oh well the ship has sailed and just kind of shrugged it off like you're allowed to look at that group and go no I need to see it I need to actually see it before I'm going to applaud anyone because It's, again, this is, there's lots of lawyers, lots of PR people. It's one thing to come up with a nice four-point plan. It's another thing to actually do something.

And as a fan, you are not under any obligation to give them credit for doing anything until they've actually done it. I don't know, fellas. I think 1-800 bad coach is the way to go here. It'll work. Fucking ridiculous. It's a hotline. So that was point three. was the anonymous tip line.

Oh, we're still fucking talking about this. Holy shit. Point four was the annual diversity and inclusiveness training for any coach or team executive under NHL contract. Emily Kaplan and I talked about this on ESPN on Ice, and we were wondering if this is going to be a thing where they have to fly somewhere and sit in a big room for this presentation. Like, is it going to be like orientation where you have to sit and watch a bunch of, uh, DVDs and answer little quizzes? Or is it going to be the worst thing it could possibly be, which is the training that you get on your laptop, where it's like you have to budget out like 50 minutes and watch a bunch of videos and answer easy-ass questions and then you've passed it? Like what is this training going to look like when the NHL administers it?

Yeah. And how is it going to be received? Because that is, and I think maybe it was even Kim Davis who made that point that like people have to take it serious. and some of that is on how you presented, but I've, I don't know about you guys, I've sat in diversity training or, or things like that where everybody was just walking into the room

kind of rolling their eyes like, oh, this is a thing we have to do for an hour or whatever. And if that's the approach, then it's, there's not going to be value in it. No matter how well it's done, it's, there's not going to be that value.

So this is, this is on the league, but this part is also kind of on the coaches that they have to actually go into this, being willing to learn a thing or two. Right. Like, the problem is that I think a lot of it is just going to be common. Like, it's going to be, unless there are Homer Simpson going like, oh, garbage goes in the garbage can.

Makes sense. Like, oh, don't kick a player. All right. Well, it's a novel approach, but I guess I'll give it a shot. Like, I don't, you know, what could this training be that isn't just like, yeah, no shit kind of stuff? Yeah. Yeah. So we'll see what that ends up being. That's the one that I have the most doubt about it being effective because I just don't think that these guys are going to take it seriously. And part of that is human nature of having to sit in that room and unless it's a scared straight thing, which is what it probably should be, which is to have people that were, you know, suffered abuse or, you know, had to deal with what Akamalu went through and actually talking to these people. And the other part of it is this can also be an opportunity for the league to say, don't tell us you weren't warned that we're going to drop the hammer if these things happened.

Don't sit there and say, oh, I thought that you have now been told we have checked that box. And there's going to be a serious price to pay. And there's value in doing that too. Remember your training, as the great Obi-Ban Kenobi, I think, once said. Who? Oh, you know, old Ben Kenobi. Oh, sure. Ben, I wonder if they're related. Well, what's interesting about Ben Kenobi.

Aliates in the history of the galaxy. What's interesting about Ben Kenobi is that after he did all his Jedi shit, he actually went into exile and was alone living by himself for a very long time. I wonder if there was another Jedi in a Star Wars canon that went into exile and lived alone by himself. Yeah, and hiding out on the home planet of his former apprentice and best friend. really. Shadow. Great plan, Obi.

You did it. Well, Obi, you see, that was his mistake is that he should have gone to the big island where they had the, the big cows

you get the green milk from like Luke did. Yeah, that's right. That's where you need to be. Yeah. Ben Kenobi was his burner account. That's right.

You're right, though, man. That's one of the greatest moments in the whole fucking series is, I wonder they meet old Ben Kenobi. Oh, what's a great alias? We fucking worked. Clearly went into the Jedi protection program after the Clone Wars. Somehow they did not find him.

Right? So, yeah, and also like, you know. Okay, nerds, get back on topic. Geez, what are we doing? A heavily, a mob boss heavily connected to the empire, lives on that planet, too. That all, you know. Yeah, and a fucking spaceport full of bounty hunters, you know, that too. That's right.

There wouldn't be a bounty on a fucking, the last, like the last Jedi or anything like that, right? Nobody was like, you know, nobody was going to Bosk and saying, hey, well, hey, by the way, if you see this old fucking guy, like, go go get him for me. Stupid ass. He may be going under the alias Ben. All right. So another board of governors thing that happened is the world kept is, is again dead for the moment.

It's going to come back probably in 2024. And then again in 2008. As I wrote on ESPN today, my working theory is that the Canadian stewards of the National Hockey League are, this is a conspiracy theory to keep the Americans out of best on best international tournaments, knowing that we have a team that can finally end the tyranny of Canada. I believe this is all been, yes, this is all been orchestrated by the Canadians. I am not sure about that one. They know they know the medal is as good as ours in the Olympics if they go. They know the giant doorstop is as good as ours at the play of World Cup. And this has all been orchestrated by those maple syrup motherfuckers who want to make sure that Austin Matthews, Jack Eichael, don't take over international hockey.

That's my working theory. I'm sorry. Who are the Canadian stewards of the NHL? Because this, I think, will be welcome news. Yeah, because, you know, Colin Campbell, Mike Murphy. You know, the guys behind the guys. the guys who make the big decisions. The guys really pull the strings.

Exactly. Not the lawyers. No. The hockey men. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

You know what? I'm convinced. Your thoughts on the World Cup being delayed under the auspices of another, of the CBA negotiations. Yeah. I mean, again, it's fucking insane that this league is like, oh, we're going to do a World Cup. We're going to do it every four years. Oh, are you really? Oh, no.

I mean, we're definitely not going to do it every four years, but we could do it every six, maybe? It's the most NHL shit imaginable. Yeah. And especially since they clearly, and by they, I mean the American stewards of this league, they clearly want this to become their thing that they can do instead of the Olympics. Instead of the Olympics. This is Gary Bettman's. In fact, I think he even said, you know, he was like, this is the tournament where everything's great and the timing works and we still have issues with the Olympics.

in which case, freaking do it, man. Like figure out like, oh, we ran out of time. How do you run out of time on something that's every four years? And it's also a year and a half away. Yeah.

There's also that to talk about. And I'm sure, like, I'm positive that this is one of those things where there's far more that goes into organizing it than their needs to. But this just to me feels like another thing where the owners and players should be able to sit down and figure this out if they were actually able to sit down and figure anything out. But because over the years, it's been made very clear that absolutely everything these two sides do together has to be a fight.

Everything's a negotiation. Everything that the players want to do has to involve giving something to Gary Bettman to be allowed to do it. So I can understand why you run out of time because, I mean, with all the other, the dance that's going on with the CBA, yeah, neither side probably. even wants to bring this up because they know that it's going to immediately turn into either a fight or a negotiation where you're being asked to give stuff up. And so once again, the fans are the ones that get screwed. I like the World Cup. I know, you know, it's not the Olympics, but I've, I've, I've always been a fan, you know, even going back to the Canada Cup days. It's fun. I think they should do like a gimmick team, like team Europe, the U23 team.

Like there should be a gimmick on every team, though. It should, it shouldn't be just like, Some of the teams get a gimmick. Every team should get a gimmick. I think they definitely need to do it in season. Like I felt like doing it in the preseason, the hockey wasn't great. These guys didn't really fucking care quite yet. I think if their competitive juices have been flowing for several months, if it's in season, I think they'd be much more into it.

See, I don't think in-season works. I think because the problem with in-season is, first of all, everyone's hurt, everyone's banged up, everybody just wants to rest. and nobody I mean the All-Star game is the extreme, obviously, because the All-Star game doesn't matter. And so nobody cares. But I think you would have some of that element of it

where it's like, oh, so what am I going to do? I'm going to go and block a shot and get hurt and miss six weeks of the regular. Like, you know, and yes, in the Olympics, because the Olympics is a higher level, that issue doesn't really seem to come up. But I just wonder if we wouldn't get caught a little bit in that same way of thinking, as opposed to at the beginning of the year

where, again, you still get the whole season, but at least everyone's healthy, everyone's ready to go, and it's kind of replaces the training camp they would have been doing anyways. Right, but keep this in mind about the Olympics. The reason the players are always such in favor of the Olympics isn't necessarily because the players that are going. It's the guys that get a three-week break in their season to rest up and be with their families and all that other shit. Like, I think there's, there's going to be an amazing support from the players to have the World Cup beat in season, I think, if, if and when it comes back. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I don't, I'm not in the fucking Ken Campbell, Damien Cox, the World Cup of cash grabs, a fucking thing that they always say about the World Cup.

Like, I don't think there's any problem with the NHL and the PA developing an event simply to, uh, create massive amounts of revenue for the league. If there's a demand for it, that's fine. My problem with the World Cup is that, much like how when the Olympics came around in 98 and we started participating in the Olympics then, it ruined the

All-Star game in many ways, because now we see these guys play on the same team as each other in a tournament that matters. I think the Olympics have rendered the World Cup completely just neutered it. It doesn't matter. It doesn't

matter. We've seen a tournament that matters, and it's the Olympics. And I know I respect what the World Cup has meant in the past. I respect what the Canada Cup has meant in the past. But the horse is gone. We can't even see it from the barn anymore. Like, the Olympics are the only thing that people give a shit about. Well, I think they should, I mean, I think they should care a little bit about the World Cup, because at least there's a history there, and it is the only other best on best tournament. The All-Star game sucks. And, can anything that. But when you say there's a history there, there's a history for Canadians.

Like, no one else in the world gives a shit about the World Cup. No, I would disagree with that. For a long time, it was the first and until 1998, the only best on best hockey tournament. And yeah, clearly it was more important to Canadians than Canadians won. You're telling me the Eurozone doesn't care about this break. You know, or the world championships or like what, you know, it's, so, yeah, I mean, like anything else hockey. it. Yes, of course, it mattered more in Canada than anywhere else. But I wouldn't say that nobody else cared. I mean, the Americans, when they won in 96,

certainly seemed to care that, you know, the Russians took it seriously. Yeah, it's the same way how we started caring about World Juniors when we got good at it. You know, the same principle. Yeah, and weirdly, when the team's not that good, everybody's like, oh, I guess I don't really care about World Junior. Geez, well. But that's every sport. Watch the best thing.

That's every sport and every fan base, right? Like when, yeah, when your team has a chance to win, you're more interested. That doesn't mean there's no interest in something in the other years. I will say this, though. Like, if the effort is to replace the Olympics and make the hockey World Cup akin to, like, the FIFA World Cup or some shit, then they're going to have to open the floodgates and let players that aren't in the NHL into this thing. It's an NHL event right now. They keep all the money.

It's the whole thing. You got to make it more of a thing where, you know, like part of the fun of, remember Lambert World War III and WCW? Of course I did. And so it was like a 60 man battle royal and they had people from other territories show up. Like it's got to feel like that for it to feel like an actual World Cup instead of just like an NHL event. Yeah, but I mean, but how many players would really be. there, if you did that, how many impact players are going to be coming in?

There's going to be some guys from the KHL, obviously, but it's not like, you know, Team USA is missing its like eight guys off the roster because it's not open to people outside the NHL. I mean, the NHL is the league where almost all the best players in the world are these days. Right, but what it would allow you to do is to create a field of actual, like, international teams instead of having to do like Team Europe and, TNA again. Like if you wanted to actually have Slovakia or Latvia or whoever in there, you certainly can't populate that with NHL player.

I think they do as a play in, but I don't think anyone wants to see Canada beat. If you want, if you want that, I don't think very many people do. I don't think that's like, oh man, you know what would make the World Cup great as a fucking Latvia was involved. But the league, but the league does. Like,

the league came out already, much to our chagrin and said, we're not doing team Europe and team. A again. They're going to try to fill out the thing with Switzerland and someone else probably. Which I think that's the way to do it with some sort of play in tournament. I don't think you necessarily want, you know, you don't want Canada playing Latvia because only two things can happen. Either Canada wins and everyone goes, why is Canada playing Latvia?

Or Canada loses and then you go, oh, crap, we just screwed up our whole playoff bracket because, you know, because a goalie got hot and that's hockey and it can happen sometimes. Thanks, Ted Nolan. But yeah, I mean, I don't know. I'm a little bit old school. Like I would rather see that extra spot go to a European team that won a play in tournament rather than this generic team Europe. And you're right. In order to do that, you do have to open it up. My hot take, of course, is that the creation of TNA was done by the Canadian stewards of the NHL to siphon off the young talent from Team USA in order to continue Canadian dominance in the world.

objectively true. So, right. Clearly. Absolutely true. So what we're going to end up with in 2021 instead of the World Cup is some international-flavored, all-star game. So one of the ideas the NHL has been banding about going back to the John Collins days when he was with the league is a Rider Cup-style tournament where you have different countries face off against each other in multiple games, round robin style. and I think that's what we're going to end up with, is something along those lines of replacing the All-Star game

and having it be some sort of international tournament thing. Now, in my ESPN column this week, I put forth this idea. Okay, four teams. Round Robin, you start the games at 10 a.m. on a Saturday. You do it kind of like rugby sevens where you just kind of duck in and out. drinking when your team's not playing. You come back, watch your team. At the end of the, at the end, you have like your big championship game at the end of the night. So one team is Canada, Avi. One team is Team USA. Again, Avi. One team is Sweden and Finland. Combine those forces

under one team. And that, of course, leaves the rest of the world. So rather than doing Team Europe, which was very sort of generic and their logo looked like that of a natural gas company. You do a team ofetchkin. You just name the team after Ovechkin, make him the czar of hockey, and everybody marches under his flag for the fourth team in the tournament. I don't know. That's stupid.

How would you set it up then if you were going to do an international flavored all-star game? We'd just do North America versus the world again? No, because I think then USA and Canada are like just super old. overpowered. There are, obviously there are great players from other countries, but like the vast majority of elite talent in the NHL are from those two places.

But even, yeah, but even more than that, like the whole point is that you need, I mean, that's, that's your money match right there, right?

Like you need to have USA and Canada play. Yeah. No, you definitely do. And so, yeah, I mean, I do think it should be about,

less about the international, but like they're just going to, they've decided. that's what it needs to be. So, you know, me saying I think it should be more about promoting your stars than promoting which country should and shouldn't be involved or whatever. Like nobody gives a shit about that at head office. So, yeah, how would you do it, Sean? I think if I had to do it and I'm kind of like, as you're explaining this, I'm seeing the issues. And yeah, I mean, the way to do it would be to do a six or an eight team tournament

and actually stretch it out to a week and not try to cram out. all into a weekend. If you have to do a four team, I guess I would do Canada, U.S. I would probably keep Russia because there's still some vague remnants of rivalry there with both Canada and the USA. And that's, you know, you can sell that on American TV. You can still sell USA versus Russia hockey, even all these years later. And then I guess you do like either a rest of the world or a rest of Europe. and which would be a pretty good team. But, yeah, I mean, I would rather see them if you're going to do it, do it for a week, do eight teams, do, you know, do real hockey, not just like cute little three on three mini games.

And hope that the players care enough that it's not as bad as the All-Star game because the All-Star game is awful and unwatchable and has been for a long time. and that's why I'm, even though I don't love this idea, I love the fact that it replaces something I have no interest in watching, and I'm willing to give it a shot. You really don't like the three-on-three tournament in the All-Star game? It's better than what it was, but it still is, they're doing the best they can. I've talked about this, I've written about this.

The issue with the All-Star game, as much as I blame Gary Betman for everything, it's not a league problem, it's a player problem. The players don't care. They don't want to be there. They don't want to try. And I'm not talking about hitting and fighting and blocking shots even. I'm talking about taking shots and, you know, looking vaguely interested in trying to stop the other team.

I've used this example before. Yeah, that's what we'll tune into the All-Star game for is defense. Well, yes, but there has to be defense because otherwise the offense is meaningless. And I've used this example before. One of my favorite all-star memories, and you guys may still remember this, is the year that it was in Pittsburgh, and Mary Lemieux scored a ridiculous goal. He comes in, Ally Afraidy slides across the ice to try to stop him. Mario tow drags around him and then snipes a goal, and the place goes crazy because it's his home marine and all that. And it was this great memorable moment, but it's only memorable because Ally Afraidy actually tried to stop him.

him. Like, Ally Freddy actually said, if Ally Freddy had just kind of been nearby and vaguely waved his stick and let Merrill Lemieux cut in on the net, nobody would remember that moment. Because who cares? Who cares if. I hate to tell you this, but nobody remembers that moment and who cares? No, I disagree. I disagree, man. You're talking about two 58-year-old men in the, I don't know, 1984 fucking All-Star game. No, we're talking. This is a, if you think nobody remembers it, then maybe nobody remembers it. But there are hockey fans out there who do remember things that happen. happened in the 90s, man. Like, I'm sorry that's, that's, that isn't. I think, I think, I think Sean's points a good one in the sense, like, you know, offense, offense, offense is great, but it would be cool to see a, you know, someone, like a Mark, Mark Stone picking somebody's pocket and scoring the other way. Like a little bit of D. Yeah. I'm not saying, go a long way. I'm not expecting guys to be blocking slap shots. It would be nice if sometimes there was a slap shot.

And it wasn't three guys with no defense passing it around it because none of them even want to shoot. It's awful. It's a joke. Hockey is one. Like some sports, you can play at half speed and they still kind of work. Baseball is the, you know, the example of an all-star game that probably works best. Hockey isn't that. In hockey, if nobody cares, it's absolutely unwatchable. And three-on-three helps mask that a little bit, so I'll give them credit for at least trying it. But it's, it only masks it a little bit. And I have no interest in watching two teams trade three on O's with 14 passes. And the goalie isn't even tried. The goalie's just kind of like vaguely, you know, trying to slide over. It's, it's terrible. What if one of the

players was a goon? Would you be more interested in it then? Do you know anyone who could make that happen? Just saying, Pittsburgh fans are trying to get me to John Scott Jack Johnson into the All-Star game. Sorry, no. I, I feel like I'm the gatekeeper for such things. I do not endorse your Jack Johnson for All-Star Game, a joke campaign. That's right. And if Jack Johnson wants to go to the All-Star game, there's only one way to do it, folks. And that's with Seeky. Oh, boy.

All right. Look, they have millions of live event tickets from sports, live comedy, or live comedy, live music, comedy, and more. Seek has the tickets you're looking for all in one place. It even rates every ticket, every deal on the site, or on the app, rather, on a scale of one to ten. and it shows you on a little interactive seat map. There's green dots that mean it's a good deal

and red dots that mean maybe stay away from it. That way, you can stop searching for the perfect seat and just start enjoying it. You don't have to worry about these things anymore. Every purchase, fully guaranteed. And folks, that's a good reason why Seek has... How many five-star reviews do you guys think? I'm going to say hundreds.

I would say probably like $2.1 billion. Well, it's kind of right in the middle there. 50,000. Okay. 50,000 five-star reviews. So look, again, I'm going to a Celtics game in a couple of weeks. Got those seats. Where I get them?

Seekek. That's right. And I think I even use the old Puck Soup promo code. $10 off if you use the code soup and it's your first Seekkeek purchase. All you need to do is use it. You just type it in at checkout. And, yeah, S-O-U-P soup, $10 off. Seekek has all the tickets you want.

And Jack Johnson can get it. it. Yeah, he should pick that green circle, that's for sure, if he was going to pick one. Well, he's got the money. I don't think he has to worry about it as much. He didn't pay for another four or five years, I think, so. He's also friends to Sidney Crosby. So, like, Sid could probably put him in a box or something at the All-Star game.

That's true. I mean, or let me rephrase that. He could use Cid's tickets for the All-Star game because, you know, this is not going. Yeah. Jack Eichol will go because I think. that dude's played himself into the heart trophy conversation in the last two weeks. A 14-game point streak, the Buffalo Sabres resurrected from the bowels of the Eastern Conference to being in a playoff position as we speak.

Jack Eichael finally making the leap to superstardom, boys. Yeah, he's now doing the Connor McDavid thing of like the team is an absolute dog shit when he's off the ice, but when he's on the ice, look out. You see, you could have ended up with Eichael or McDavid, you would have been fine Buffalo, you were going to write the entire time. He is McDavid now. How excited. No, no, Eichel was the guy they wanted all along, Greg.

Oh, that's right. All along, that's right. You went to training camp that year and you just saw people in Eichael jerseys all over the place. Yeah, not a single Mick Degel one. That O-HL game that Jack Eichl was involved in. Oh, man, those are some deep fucking scars from this decade, man. But he's very, very good. is, yeah, and he's cool, man.

And it's fun to watch. And it's, I'm like, how many times in the last few years have I been like? And it's nice to finally see Sabers fans have something to cheer. And then like a month later, it's like, well, they've lost eight games in a row. So I don't want to get roped in yet again. We've already been down this once this year,

but they look good. And the Atlantic, other than Boston, is wide open. Because, you know, Toronto's still iffy. And Tampa, like, we're all like, eventually they're going to look dominant again and they just still don't. Nope. It's right there. It's there for the Sabres.

They refuse to do it. Man, it'd be fun. Is John Cooper going to get DeBorde, by the way? I think it's increasingly looking that way, right? Like, you just can't, again, it's partly a goaltending thing because Vasilevsky has not been good this year, great investment there. But, you know, partly like they, you know, the, you know, the, you know, the, thing to say about them is they got by on relatively thin margins in terms of like the actual

play on the ice, you know, like expected goals and stuff like that. Like they just had the finishing talent to convert those expected goals at a higher rate than anybody else, which is like why you go get finishing talent, right? You know, I don't think that that talent's gone anywhere, but if it, you know, isn't showing up at the kind of level you expect, you're going to see those results really thin out. and that's particularly true in net so far. So somebody's going to pay for it and it's not going to be the fucking GN. Right.

And you combine that with what happened in the first round of the playoffs last year. And so, and then you also keep in mind that what's, how do you pronounce this cat's last name? Because I always screwed up. The Syracuse coach. Benoit, is it gruel? Gru. The X is just silent. Gru.

Yeah. Like, as in like despicable, despicable me? Like the freaking minions guy himself. Yep, that's right. So this guy's been like on the on the tip of many tongues as far as being a potential NHL coach. Yes. And so you would imagine that would be the flex if they, if they turf Cooper.

So I agree, man. I think I think it's becoming increasingly possible that John Cooper is not going to be the coach of this team for the full season, which is stunning. Incredible. They just have the fourth best regular season in the history of the NHL, yeah. Congratulations. to the New Jersey Devils, you may not have to hire Dan Bilesma. There may be some other coaches in the pool come higher in time. Peter Lavillette, I don't think, is out of the out of the woods yet either.

No, I agree. It's the other one. And I guess, especially with Cooper, my take was always, he's completely safe during the season. It's going to be whatever happens in the playoffs. And that was also my take for Mike Babcock. So, like, these guys have less time than we think sometimes. Yeah. And because Tampa just still, there's, there's, there's stretches where they look like Tampa.

But, I mean, at what point, you know, oh, yeah, it was October. Don't worry. They'll figure it out, okay, it's November. Okay, it's November is gone now, but it's December. They'll figure it. And it's like, we're halfway through December now, and it's still just not, they don't look right. Not coming together.

Yeah, exactly. And this is with them having spent a lot of time at home of late. Mm-hmm. You know, like early in the season, they played a ton of, I keep bringing this up. But they played a ton of road games, and I was like, oh, well, I mean, you know, you play that many road games. You're not going to look great every night and they're going to Europe and all that stuff. I get it. But now they've been at home for a huge chunk of their last however many games.

You know, I think they've had like two road games since mid-November or something like that. And they're just still not fucking winning. Seven, six, and one at home is very characteristic for that team. I will say this, though. They have three games in hand on Montreal for the last. in the Atlantic, and they're only three points back. So a situation worth watching, maybe not super dire as much as like DeBor's was, but yeah, just not looking like the lightning quite yet, which is a very weird thing.

Yeah. Hope everybody took the under on the point total for the season, God willing. Hey, speaking of Jack Eichol, has there been a single entertainment property that has influenced the National Hockey League more than Peekee Blinders. Maybe Slapshot would be the only other thing that I could think of that influenced hockey more than fucking Peky Blinders and the fact that it is determined the fashion sense of at least three teams.

The Bruins, the Sabres, and Nichols case, and I think the Leafs too do a little Piqui Blinders thing, don't they, like Austin Matthews? I do not know what that is. So Piqui Blinders is a show. It's on a stupid hats. old suits. It's like an old-timey

British gangster. They'll wear like, they're just like fucking newsboys. Like there's a picture of Eichel with the little newsboy hat and shit. And so the Bruins definitely dressed like it for their outdoor game. And they explicitly said that's how they were dressing.

That was the influence, right. So I feel like it's changed the fashion sense of players off the ice. Is this one fucking show that they all watch when they're on the plane. Peaky blinders. You know, no peeky blinders shot? I think it's, yeah, no, I, I, I, I, it's, a show I refuse to watch based only on how stupid the title is.

Just incredibly bad. But yeah, based on your description, it's that slap shot and terrible self-help books seem to be the, the, the trio. Yeah, Jordan Peterson, uh, is a big one for them. Peeky Blinders sounds like one of those shows that would, like, come on on PBS at, like, 1130 at night after, like, faulty towers. coming up on PPS, it's Piki Blinders. It does sound like that. My conception of the show is it's just a bunch of people saying, oi, brough, to each other for 60 straight minutes.

What's always said? Et cetera. Peaky Blinders actually the original title for Red Shoe Diaries. A lot of people don't know that. It's true, though. No, it's not. The Red Wings suck. That's another thing going on these days.

Winless and 12 straight. Yeah. Yikes. Winless and 12 straight. And yet not on a 12-game losing streak, according to my colleague, Pierre Lebrun, who I'm going to have to fight in a parking lot over this issue. They lost 12 games in a row. He's summarily obsessed with the notion of what a streak is and also about resurrecting the World Cup. I've never seen anybody more fucking dedicated to something than he is to the World Cup.

They're really bad. I always get a chuckle when I see him, I mention someone being like, they should fire Jeff Blaschell. Like, why? He's doing exactly what they needed to do. point the ship down and well it's not even that it's okay yeah fire Jeff Blaschell let's let's bring in

the bet let's bring in Joel fucking Quinville what do they win three more games in this stretch like this the roster is so fucking bad like what are you supposed to do yeah it's it's bad and and the amazing thing is and it's like Ryan

I cover that this week like this may be the worst team of the cap era and that includes teams that we're actively trying to lose. Right. And I feel like the Red Wings clearly aren't in win now mode. I feel like this is kind of like a soft tank. This is sort of like, hey, we're just going to go out there, do our thing, try to develop the young players.

And if we lose a bunch of games, we don't really care. But like there were teams like in the McDavid years that were stopping just short of shooting the puck into their own net. And they're going to finish like 20 points ahead of this Red Wings team. It's excruciatingly bad. Indeed. Our friend Craig Custin said the Athletic did an interesting thing this week where he did a ranking of the microcores. Now, the microcores apparently is something that Dean Lombardi coined when he wasn't talking about Roman generals about how teams need a number one center, a number one defenseman and a goaltender to be in good position to challenge for a.

Stanley Cup. I've often dabbled in the microcore idea. I extended it out to two top centers and a number one defenseman and a goaltender. I think that's actually the formula for success. But in Dean Lombardi's world, you just need Ange Cobra Tard, Drew Doughty, and Jonathan Quick. That's the microcore. Yeah. And so Craig talked to the scouts and shit that he usually does and did a ranking of all the microcores. found it to be interesting that after our conversation about how Andre Vasleski has been straight up ass this season, that the Tampa Bay Lightning are number one with Braden Point, Victor Headman, and Vaseliske as your microcore. They're tied with the Bruins with Patrice Bergeron, Charlie McAvoy, and Tuka Rask as their microcore.

Makes sense, right? I mean, I love the concept. First of all, I guess that'll be my first point to make. I really, I don't know. I just really like, it clearly it's, it's, it's, it's simple it's oversimplified but that's part of what makes it work and i and in the piece craig talks about how like maybe maybe it should be two centers or maybe we should count wingers instead of centers because there are some teams who are the best for it as a winger and but i like the simplicity of it it's just kind of a neat way of looking at it and it's it's kind of surprising how even though you're like well it's three guys it's too simplistic and then you look at the list and you're like yeah this kind of does conform a lot to which teams are in good shape and

and which ones have a long way to go. And it's fascinating to see because this isn't, this isn't Craig just ranking it himself the way I would do. This is somebody actually talking to different people and getting, getting their views. And some of the teams are fascinating. Like, what do you do with the Oilers? Like, how do they,

how do they rank when they have the best center in league, a good defenseman? And that's it. And no gold. Miko Koskenen is the guy that they have in goal in their ninth. Miko Kosken and a guy I was once again reminded this week is somehow 31 years old. That was so funny when somebody tweeted that. And you just saw all these people are like, what?

Like I thought he was 25. That's, no, no, he's not. Insane. Also, also, is Oscar, it's Oscar Kleffbaum really like in league with some of the other names that are on this list? No. Yeah. But Conner really so above and beyond. That would be very good.

Fucking cruel. I was surprised to see Vancouver solo. They're 15th. With Elias Pedersen, Quinn Hughes, and they'd have, he has Jacob Markstrom. I don't know if you'd go with that or if you go with... Thatcher Demko, yeah. Well, right. If it's Demko, I think it's a different conversation.

But, you know, also we've seen one, not even one year of Thatcher Demko. So I get why anybody would be like, yeah, I don't know. What the fuck? And it is kind of a... His pedigree is real good. So, yeah. Yeah. Like, it's based on right now, but with a, in case of a tie, they go with the younger guy.

But, yeah, it's... Which is why I was shocked to see 58-year-old Patrice Berserone so high. I mean, that guy, he's been in the league forever. So, like, he's a pre-lockout player. Let's put it that way. 19th is the Flyers. 20th is the Sabres. Flyers, they had Couturier, Proveroff, Carter Hart, and the Sabres.

It was Eichol, Dahlin, and Linus Olmark, which I'm sure the goaltender brings down that a bit. I would say that's the only reason. They're that low. Yeah. I mean, they just don't have a Carter Hart's a goalie. And Linus Elmark, who knows? So, interesting, interesting concept. And, you know, I think it's a great read and it's fun.

Like, find your team, look at the teams around them. Like, you get into the debates and this and that. So, yeah, it's one of my favorite pieces that he does, every. Yeah, get on Twitter and just post the name of a player who wasn't mentioned. Just say, like, no player name question mark and just send that tweet, because that's always super valuable feedback that we enjoy getting. All you, Thatcher Demko stands, get on it. Let them know you're there.

Get his ass. All right, one more thing before we go today. It is the holiday season. Many people are thinking about Christmas and Hanukkah and whatever. I wanted to ask you boys about holiday movies. Is there, is there one that you go to? Is there a go-to, I am going to put this flick on for it as the holiday season movie for you guys or no? Not really, no.

You know, like, I could be like the epic bacon guy and be like, like, I love Die Hard. It's a fucking great movie. And there was a time where I, you know, would watch it not every Christmas, but some Christmases. But, you know, it's been kind of tainted by, let's say, unsavory elements. And so, yeah. And it's kind of come around, it's come around to the point where, hey, did you guys know that Die Hard's a Christmas movie has now become a punchline? Yeah. That's, I think we're kind of done with that.

That was, it was cute for a while. But I met the point now where I'm like, can we talk about whether hot dogs or sandwiches again, please? Because I'm sort of like epic bacon guy shit. Yeah. Fucking save it for Reddit. I'll give you three. I like throwing... Die Hard is the one that everybody points out, is that it's the Christmas movie.

I was always a Gremlin's guy for being a Christmas movie. You know, I haven't seen Gremlins in many, many years. I couldn't even tell you the last time I saw it. It holds up, but I will say that for the people on this podcast and for I'm sure many of the people

listen to this podcast, Gremlins 2, the new batch ends up being probably the superior film just because of how fucking weird it is. Gremlins 2 is fucking cool as hell. And if you've never seen the Key and Peele sketch on Gremlins 2, you really need to see it.

It's a boardroom meeting in which they come up with all of the gremlins that are in Gremlins two, and it's one of the funniest fucking things Keen Peele ever did. So that's a movie. as far as like Christmas-y comedy shit

Christmas vacation for me was always the funniest vacation movie to be quite honest with you I know the first one is It's definitely the funniest vacation movie The Christmas one right? Yeah I think so too

And I enjoy it I think it's funny And uh proper amounts of Randy Quaid Proper amounts of Chevy Chase And And a good cast of characters It's a real fucking funny movie, and I definitely put that on every year.

And then, of course, I mean, as anybody who follows Twitter knows that I'm a big mystery science year 3000 fan. The Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, MST3K, is a stone cold classic and definitely something that I put on around this time every year. Sean, do you have anything in your little family? We don't have like a traditional go-to. And, you know, obviously the fact that I'm not a movie guy means that my kids aren't super big movie kids. I think the last few years, like, we've watched Elf. They liked that. This year, I'm going to try to, yeah, I've, I've, we haven't watched it yet,

but I'm going to see if this year I can work in Scrooge. I like that one. And I think, I think they're ready to, uh, to enjoy that. But, uh, no, there, there's no, uh, other than like, we will, we will try to find, like, the, uh, like the classic half hour Rudolph cartoon and the Grinch and, and those sorts of things. Yeah, Charlie Brown Christmas. movies. I would say,

yes. I mean, it's really good, but also like, you know what you should do is just check out that soundtrack every once in a while. That thing is so fucking good.

Like, man, theme from Linus and Lucy, you don't get, it doesn't get much better than that, folks. It's a banger. I know, Sean,

I know you're trying to introduce your kids to Scrooge to introduce them to Buster Poindexter as a backdoor entry into the New York dolls. I'm imagining, right? Absolutely. those are all references I understand.

Beautiful. All right. So there you go. That's Puck Soup for this week. My editor just asked me what the Seat Geek code for Puck Soup is. That's interesting. Askedat Johnson, baby. That's right.

So anyways, I'm Greg Wyshinsky. You could read my column, the wish list on ESPN. It comes out on Thursdays. This week we explored the Department of Player's Safety, not really suspending a lot of people so far this year. What the fuck's up with that? And then also touched on the World Cup and winners and losers.

My other podcast is ESPN and I with Emily Kaplan. It's the one where I don't curse. Ryan? Yeah, sign up for, well, check out all my stuff at Yahoo, obviously, and then sign up for the Puck Soup newsletter. Yeah, it's, you know, know, me writing about hockey and movies and TV shows and music and that kind of thing. And also, uh, every once a month, me and, uh, Sean Gentilly do are very popular, critically

acclaimed, uh, podcast that stick to sports on there. Who are these critics that have acclaimed it? Uh, Roger Ebert. Definitely one of them. Yep. That's right. The ghost of Roger Ebert or before he died? You know, why, why are we getting into these specifics?

Oh, yeah. It's all semantic. at the end of the day. That's true. Sean, you can find my eye stuff on the athletic, including this week. I had a super fun article that I wrote, a post where I love when this happens. Somebody gave me an idea that like just instantly, as soon as I saw the idea, I'm like, that's brilliant.

I'm doing it. It was with regards to Caden Primo, debuting in the league. Obviously, his dad, Keith Primo's brother Wayne played in the league too. and somebody said could an all-time team of fathers and sons beat an all-time team of brothers from the from NHL history? So I went and made full 21-man rosters plus coaching staffs, front offices and ownership groups. And it was way too much fun. And the comment section has kind of descended into madness as well. So that's fun.

Check that out. Grab an athletic subscription. If you don't already have one, if you do have one, grab one as a gift and get some of your Christmas show. shopping done. And if you have people still left over on your list, buy my book. And it's out in paperback now. It's also audiobook if you're doing last minute stuff. And get it all done. And then stay home this weekend. Don't go to the mall. Just athletic subscriptions and books for everybody. And you're done. That's true. And you know what? If you've got more than one stocking that needs stuffing, get Sean's book and then get a little slice of fried gold called Take Your

eye off the puck, how to watch hockey by knowing where to look, by a bright, bright-eyed and bushytailed native of the great state of New Jersey, Greg Wischenski. I will give you a free plug. My wife read that book, and she really enjoyed it as a kind of newish quasi-hockey fan, not newish, but not quite as dedicated as some others. She really enjoyed it and learned a lot and gives a hearty recommendation. That's quite lovely to hear that. always like hearing that from people.

It was fun to write, and I learned some shit doing it as an American, not one of the Canadian storage of the NHL that keeps the Americans out of international tournaments. That's right. All right. Hey, Patreon. Mailbag, check it out. You'll love it. Also, bonus episode this month is the fucking end of the decade awards.

You know it. Patreon.com slash puck soup. over 1,800 of you on a monthly basis sign up for the bonus content. We would love to see that number get to 2000. That would be a real ego stroke. So maybe along with the books,

gift your loved ones a Patreon a fucking subscription to your favorite podcast. Wouldn't that be amazing? All right, that's Puck's here for this week. Thanks everybody for listening. We'll talk to you next week. Bye. Later.

Bye-bye. and slap shots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to what if you commute. But we also cover movies, TV shows, it's in tunes. It's your weekly bowl

of Hagi and Nonsense. Part two.