Puck Soup - Wicked Pissah

Episode Date: May 30, 2019

The boys discuss Boston beer protocol, Carl Gunnarsson's urinal prediction, NBA vs NHL and the rise of the Raptors, Gary Bettman's press conference, Kuznetsov and coke, Phil Kessel trades, Dave Tippett and a full Stanley Cup Final food review! Sponsored by Leesa, Seat Geek and The Athletic.

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Promal code soup. Lisa mattresses. Enjoy the show. Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slap shots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to what if you commute. We also cover movies, TV shows, eats and tools. It's your weekly bowl of Hagi and Nonsense. Park Sue.

I'm Greg Wyshinsky of ESPN live from the apartment of Ryan Lambert of Yahoo Sports and Quincy Mass. That's right. Yeah. And my dog's here too. Hi, G.H. I'm Sean McIndoo. From The Athletic, I was not invited.

So I'm... No, no, you're at my dining room table, as always. But you guys have fun without me. That's cool. That's totally fun. We will. Do you feel left out? Because it's not just me and Ryan.

It's his dog, G.H. He's got three seltzers. lined up in front of him. And for those who wonder where, like, Ryan would live, I can... Why don't you give my exact address? No, no, no. I'm not going to give you the exact address, but I will say that it is very much like you'd expect.

There's a bunch of communist propaganda on the walls. Only a little bit. That's not... A small weapons arsenal, I believe, if necessary. I think these are just plants, Greg. It's pretty impressive. Oh, there's a giant... wall of printed out tweets from all the people Ryan has burned through the years?

That's right. Yeah. It's really impressive. Oh, you're in Puck's Soup. And you're in, of course, is the word of the day as we talk about game two of the Stanley Cup final. First things first. Boy.

Let's talk about the real P-centric story of last night, which is my groundbreaking video investigative journalism in which it was actually Emily Kaplan took a video of two full beer beers underneath the seats at the Boston game. Deadspin picked this up. Yes, I saw that. And there is a raging controversy over a couple things. First off,

should you kill your beers if your team loses an overtime and you have full beers under your seat? I think the answer is unequivocally yes. Of course you should. You pick them up. You walk to the concourse. You down your beer and you're on your way. Hopefully, hopefully to

public transportation. Don't want to be drinking and dry, no, in that situation. But the controversial part is that there are, first of all, there are some people that say that I don't understand the concept of squirreling away beer for overtime. Come on, who are you talking to? The second thing is that there are people that truly believe that two Boston fans whipped their dicks out and pissed in two beer cups and then kept them under their seats during the game because the lines of the bathroom for too long.

What say you, Sean? Wow, I was all ready to go up until you threw that little twist. on the end there. Yeah, of course you kill your beer. You finish everything in your cup unless it's a cup full of pee, in which case you should not do that. I don't know. That's an interesting theory, and I'm not going to go back and look at the picture in more detail to try to... Well, the picture, I mean, listen, when you get to this point, it could go either way. It is similarly colored substance. I would say that one visual clue for me that the, weren't Boston fans who peed in their beer cups because they were too lazy to go to the

bathroom before overtime is that one of the beers had a cap on it which means that the um or a top it should say which means that whoever pissed in the cup in theory if this was piss then placed the protective cover on top of you don't want to knock it over and and what yeah that would be rude on your shoes dog like what are you pretty pretty but now you've got piss on your hands because you obviously have, it's, it was filled so high that it had what I'd like to call geyser effect. So that's, so that's, the top back on the, the geyser of liquid goes through where the straw should go.

Yeah, that's kind of, that was my thing with it. It's like, I can totally see it being a fresh piss, right? Potentially. But, but that's so much piss. You know what I mean? Like, like, like, if it was half full, yeah, absolutely. Right. That guy peed in the cup immediately.

But because it was like that was what, like a 16 ounce cup? Like, come on, don't. But now you're secretly making the case for Team P, which is that there were two cups there. So maybe it's one perp, two cups. No, that makes even less sense. Why? If your argument is that it's too much P, let's see he had too much P. It's an insane amount.

It's 16 ounces. He filled two cups potentially. it's a long game I don't think you have the physical capacity to be like you know what let's go the full 32 ounces I have the bladder of an elephant and who doesn't go

before overtime right because you don't you know that there's no commercial breaks or anything like you're not ever going to leave during overtime you can't miss anything so yeah and he's in the lower bowl no less yeah and we learned from David Staples like if you can just pee in the sink if you need to that's totally

fun too so I don't understand. Yeah, I'm not buying that theory. I tried to sneak this reference into my story last night. Actually, not really sneak it, but make it the lead, but it was changed. I was very obsessed for a while with the Canadian water usage surveys that showed when Canadians all simultaneously flushed their toilets, like, during overtime games and, like, during the Olympics and stuff. I fucking love that, like, A, the most Canadian thing ever, and B, just a great sociological

study of how we exist as sports fans. And I tried to sneak that into my game story last night You're like, hey, why not get to the goal? Hey, good advice for us on this podcast. Speaking of piss, Carl Gunnerson comes sidling up to Craig Barubei probably checks out the merchandise and says, Hey, buddy, give me one more shot, and I'll bury this puck this time past Jukkarask,

and lo and behold, moments into overtime. Everybody had him in the game winning goal pool. Carl Gunnerson scores his first playoff. Did anybody? Yes, we're not supposed to talk about Fight Club necessarily, but there may or may not be a game-winning goal pool that circulates around the media. I think everybody knows it exists. I may or may not have won it back in the Rangers Kings Stanley Cup final meeting

that cost a nick of may or may not have split $800. I believe Mike Harrington, your good friend from the Buffalo News, may or may not have fooled Carl Gunnerson last night. Damn. And one, to which you would have heard, Oh, fuck, Carl, Gunnison, this is worse than when Bra, bra, bra, bra, sabres, bra, bra. Harrington's entire existence at this final, by the way, is basically writing on Ryan O'Reilly. He's on the O'Reilly beat, yeah.

Anyway, so Gunnerson scores after correctly predicting that he would score while standing next to Craig Barrube at the urinal, leading to the best question asked so far at the final, which was somebody asking Alex Petrangelo, is it normal for coaches to pee next to players? And his response literally was, well, there's a finite number of toilets. It's true. Your thoughts on the Boston P party. Your thoughts on the stream of conscious boast from Carl Gunnerson.

Your thoughts on play glory hole, your thoughts. Yeah. Well, I'm just, I'm glad that they were at the urinal because as Alexander Dague taught us, nobody remembers number two. Jesus Christ. The funny thing for this for me is, like, it's being played off as this, like, great moment in guarantees where, like, he's like, coach, like, give me one more shot. And it's, it's like, it's, it's not like this is some middle reliever where the manager's

coming out to take the ball and you're like, no, I've got this. Let me face the next batter. and he looks in your eye and those, like, it's like, yeah, dude, you're one of our six defensemen. You're going to be taking a regular shift in overtime. Coach, don't bench me for the entire overtime. I'm not benching you because you hit the post with a minute left. Like, it's fine. You're still playing.

Like, put your skates back on, Carl. Like, you're going out there. He'd had a decent game. Right. And it's not as, as if Ruby's walking back in the room, he's like, look, we're getting the puck to Gunny. He's feeling it's nuts. This is it.

Run the Gunnorson play. Let's do it. Number four in overtime. Bruins. He's coming up, the guys directing traffic. Like, come on. Set them up in the OV spot. For those who don't know the backstory on this,

it's kind of amazing. Like, as appropriate as it might sound, we only know about this because of a leak. Oscar Sunquist, for some reason, decided to offer up this information to Jeremy Rutherford to the Athletic. And then Rutherford basically just told everybody. Sprinted.

then we all went back to Oscar Sunquist and got our versions of the story from him. And it was, it was quite comical. And then, like, there's nothing I like better than when these guys don't really know what's happening around them as far as, like, the reporting goes. So, like, we walk into the press conference and, like, Ruby's standing up there and he's thinking, okay, questions about the four check. How does Bittington keep on doing it? And the first question is, hey, so, coach, I heard you were pissing next to Carl Gunnerson,

and he said he was going to score the game winning goal. It's pretty great. pretty fantastic. So that'll go down on Lord. I agree with you though, Sean. Hard for me to really see that as a guarantee. More of a declaration of purpose. I don't think it was him saying,

I'm going to score the game-winning goal. And by the way, it's Carl Gunderson. There's no guarantee that he was even expecting to get another shot on goal that game. Right. It's just been something for down the line. But Carl Gunnorson now has beaten Tukarask in the regular season.

He beat Tuka Rask with two minutes left to go or three minutes left to go before the end of regulation except the puck went off the pipe and nobody was there to tuck it in. Carl Gunnerson may be the way to solve Tuka Rask, which for you as a Leafs guy must make sense. He knows him. He knows Tuka.

They both were in the same organization at the same time. I don't know. Maybe. Probably not. But he knows all the secrets. Yeah. But definitely, yeah. Got traded pretty quick, yeah. He's just got to tell Steen and Bozac, and then from there,

it'll trickle its way down to the rest of the team. There it is. There it is. And, yeah, no, that's going to be, that's... Give your head a shake. He's the guy. He knows, he's got the secret. And had been, until last night, was leading the league in playoff games without a point and broke

that streak with the literally flushed that record away. Yes. Exactly. Yeah. Took the urinal cake, as it were. I think we're done with the... I think that that game last night was pretty good and I got to tell you that there was,

I don't know about you guys, but there was definitely a part of me after game one that's like, this is going to be a fucking sweep and the Blues are never going to win another Stanley Cup final game ever. They're going to be the Buffalo Bills of hockey. Yeah, it really, I mean, it was definitely the whole narrative of like the Bruins need to get their feet under him and once they did it was fucking over. Right. Yeah. And, and, you know, I think that was not giving the Blues enough credit. Like, they certainly looked horrible, but they also, like, you know, everybody looks horrible against a really good team every once in a while. And, you know, as far as I was concerned, like this was always going six is, is, the game number I predicted, I guess.

And it's just a thing of like, well, somebody's got to lose some time, right? Like, you can't, there was just no way it was going to be a sweep for me. Like, as much as I thought Bennington in particular wasn't good in game one. And I didn't think it was particularly good last night either. No, not at the start. But, like, did he even have to make too many difficult saves down the stretch? He kept him in. He did fine.

But he's, like, deceptive in that way. where, like, he's never done a Jonathan Quicky, Tukarasky thing of, like, dominating opponents. He just kind of makes the saves he needs to make. He went 935 for like a month straight. But not in the playoffs. No, the point is, he's an okay goalie, and they don't need him to be much more than that. He's more than an okay goalie because okay goalies don't do what he does constantly, which is play exponentially better in the next game after a loss.

It's fucking phenomenal. I don't. I feel like everybody wins the Stanley Cup. Like, that's, like, don't, isn't this.

That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Like, because that was the thing with Mika Kiprasoff too. Yeah, someone is so-and-so goalie is 10 in one after a loss. Where he'd give up five goals one night.

And then be better than next. And then only give up two the next night. And it's like, what a fucking turner. Well, yeah, I mean. Essentially what you're saying is that Jordan Benington's the next Mika Kiprasoff.

I completely agree. Yeah. He's going to go 906 one year, then 920, then 9. And is it from 38. I talked to, who did I talk to about that? I talked to Peca René about that earlier this season.

I'm like, because he like beat Kiprasov's record for finished goalies. And I'm like, you ever talk to him? You ever see him? He's like, dude, he's got, he's off the grid. He's a ghost, yeah. He's like the Tim Thomas. He's the finished Tim Thomas. But, no, I don't know anything was good.

I think it's interesting that the, you know, I haven't listened to Boston Sports Talk radio this morning. You know, I don't know quite where they are in Tukaresk at this point. He's a bum, Gregor. I can't imagine. I can't imagine they are. Can I just say that I've listened to Boston Sports Talk Radio on the way to the arena every morning.

I'm going to tell you my two favorite calls. One guy called up and said, I'm not what you call a hockey fan, but, you know, I am interested in this ruins run. I got to tell you, they need their own song. They don't have a song like Gloria. They need their own song. I'll hang up and listen.

And then the other call was about basically trying to pivot the Bruins' dominance in game one to what the Pats have to do in their first five games of next season, which I thought was the quintessential

Boston Sports Talk Radio call. What do you think Sean Correlli and a seventh round pick for Vladimir Tarasenko and first round Ryan O'Reilly because he's Irish.

The other thing, about the other thing. My other Boston sports media moment that I love so much was in the locker room where, you know, it's the day of game two. It's a big deal. And here's Sean Correlli. Good reference. He's talking to the media. He's the only guy in there, so everybody's asking him every question they can ask him. And this guy

from a local Boston sports TV station is like, he's like, Sean, Sean, thoughts on who's going to wave the flag, the fan banner tonight? You think it's going to be number 12 finally? You think it's going to be Tommy Brady? That's all anybody Bill Belichick

Wow We can't believe it He looked like he was having so much fun waving that flag last night Belichick He was like grinning from ear to ear Yeah Maybe in a former life He wanted to be a member of the color guard

Is that possible? Yeah What the hell are we talking about? Oh that's right, Bittington and Tuka-Rask I don't know what the reaction is in Boston I feel like they were ready to plan the duckboat parade After game one Yeah.

Do you think that they still think it's their series? Or do you think that it's... It's over, Greg. It's a fun series now. Like, the Blues have proof of concept that they can hang with these guys. And in some cases, knock them down a little bit, too. Boy, you know what would really help Boston is if their top line wasn't total dog shit. Fucking...

Horrible. Bradmore Shand, I don't know how many times I've seen him skate the puck into the zone, then pull up and do a little circle back to the blue line to see what else is available. I haven't seen them take a shot yet. And I'm going to assume that's because of the injury that he's fighting, that he's banged up. The line's not working. They're probably going to have to drop Pasturnak off that line

to balance it out a little bit better. But, yeah, that's a stunner. If you told me that Sean Coralli's line would be the best line in the Bruins right now, and it's a 1-1 series, not going to buy it. And it might not even be the best line. Fuck, the other line's really good, too. The Johansen line. It's really good, too.

I don't know. Are you worried about the perfection line, Sean? I'm, well, I mean, I'm a Leaf fan, so I've been so mentally scarred by that line over the years that I'm worried if from a Boston perspective, I'm worried that you guys are right, they haven't been good. And last night especially, they weren't super good for stretches of the Leaf series and even got broken up and then got back together and were pretty good. Not dominant like they were last year, but I think this is the kind of thing where you'll see them get broken up, past her and now. will get an assist on some first period goal in game three, and then they'll be back together by game four and probably doing fine. I'm not panicking, except for what you mentioned,

which is the injury possibility. That's the one thing. You know, in the playoffs, you always go, well, the guy was good all year. He's had three bad games. Don't worry about it. Yeah, except he might have like a separated shoulder and a punctured kidney, and we don't know about it. So that's, I mean, you kind of have to watch assuming guys are healthy

because that's the only information that we're given, but they're not. And we only find out at the end how significant it may have been for certain guys. Yeah. Pasternak in particular, I thought, has just been, like, actively bad in a lot of stretches of the game. He's been, like, this weird, he's Pasternak one night and then, like, you know, two games goes by. Is he still, like, oh, yeah, there he is, right. I remember him.

Sean, would you say he's enigmatic? Is he Russian or is he? No, he's, right? So, yeah, no, he can't be. He's not enigmatic. So that's, he's all right. Excellent. Yeah, I'm a little bit worried about that line.

I think Marchand's banged up. But it's going to be a fun series. So let's talk about one of the themes that's arisen from this matchup, which is the quote-unquote return of heavy hockey. Now, you wrote about this, I believe, the notion of, what we should or should not take from this matchout. Yeah, no. I mean, they are teams that are aggressive on the forecheck, is what I think you would say.

And they have bigger guys. Well, some of the guys are bigger, obviously, like Zaday and O'Chara and Charlie McAvoy are big for the Bruins. But the Bruins are like below average in terms of size. And then you have to go, well, actually, they just play heavy. And then it's like, okay, well, now you're just changing. changing. The blues are a huge team. They're all really big. But, yeah, for the most part, it's just being in aggressive on the forecheck and that kind of thing. And that's what people just associate with heavy hockey. And, you know, I don't think these are teams that throw a lot of hits or anything like that. There's nothing otherwise to suggest that they, that they're, like, physically punishing their opponents. Right.

And in fact, like, I mean, St. Louis kind of came out and tried to play that game in game one, and the Bruins just skated them out of the rink. Yeah. They just couldn't catch them. So, I mean, there was that Barry, it was Barry Melrose, right, who had the take where he was like, this is the future of hockey. We're back to big boy hockey and the little guys are all. That's right.

Which is. I take the fifth on that. Yeah. Oh, right. Yeah, sorry. On the reasons it may incriminate me. Yeah. There was a really funny moment with Melrose, by the way, the series where we're doing the podcast with him and Steve Levy, what to say, Leahy.

And Melrose, so someone asked Melrose, you know, you still like the Bruins in the series. Like they've gotten progressively better throughout the postseason. I think the Bruins in three. And Levy's like, I don't think your math checks out. But he meant like in three more games, not in three games overall. So, no, I agree. I think that, I think if there's anything to be read from this, it's that very thing. It's that the forecheck is invaluable.

And then you need guys that know how to execute it well. I don't think it has to do with, you know, finding a bunch of Keith Prevost and Chris Bratton's, you know, going forward. I mean, it's just not that league anymore. That's not what these teams are. And the other thing to crack me up about your unnamed co-workers take was like the idea that, yeah, like having really big guys, this is the future. Oh, yeah. This is the future of hockey.

It's, you know, the thing that we did for 98 of the 101 years of the NHL is now also the future. Like, I mean, you're not exactly looking forward when you're. Yeah. Right. And the other thing to say about it, too, is like, yeah, there are bigger guys in the series, like Sean Coralli is easily north of six feet. But like. And Teresanko is like six, three, six four or whatever. But, like, they don't play.

play, like, they're just big guys who can skate well. Like, and if you want to say that's the future of hockey, that, like, big guys who can skate with, like, that was always hockey. Right. Right. And, and they're not playing what you would think of as the big boy role. Like, the days of, like you said, like Chris Grattan, those days are gone. You will never see a Sean Thornton in the NHL again, right? And, like, that's good for the product.

That's good for guys who don't want CTE. you know um but it's just you know Sean Correlli is like the fastest guy on the on the ice and he's six two and like they're there you can separate those two things out yeah to learn the right lessons the right lessons are make sure you have four lines that can skate that's exactly right yeah like and meanwhile like Tori Krug is throwing the biggest hit of the series so far yeah that's exactly right yeah so I like I'm with Ryan like this this idea that oh they're playing heavy hockey everybody in the playoffs plays heavy hockey.

So, because playoff hockey is heavy. So it's a war of trition, yeah. And we look at the two teams that go, these teams were really good at heavy hockey. Like, it's just hockey. Like, they're good, yeah, these are two teams that are good at playing hockey. That's it. That's the end of the story. You don't need to staple gun your narrative about big, big boy hockey onto it.

Because it's, yeah. I couldn't have been happier with that crude play, by the way. So he gets Greco rum and wrestled by David Farad of. front of the net, leading to the great quote from Tuka where someone's like, Tuka, what'd you think when the guys were in front of you in that scrum? He's like, I don't know what the fuck those guys were doing. Just to prove a quote.

And then, and then Krug, Krug is trying to head hunt Peron, who goes to the bench. So then Krug, this little three foot tall lawn dart, he's like, you know, fuck it. I'm going to go hit somebody else. And then he just goes into the other zone and just wallops Thomas.

And it was, listen, helmet off, hair flowing, everybody remembers the hit. it's by far one of my favorite hits that's happened in the league maybe in the last five years because there ain't no more hitting but also because of just like the the context of it and I didn't think it was a charge by the way of course it wasn't a charge and here's why this sport's fucking diseased right is because that that hit happens

it's already three to two the game is fucking over it might have even been four to two I don't remember I think it was still three two okay but like it that hit had zero bearing on the outcome of the game but oh he had his helmet off it looks so cool like that was all anybody talked about nobody talked about

the fucking Sean Coralli play where he has a guy right in his face to score the game winning goal goes skate to stick in half a second and looks incredible goal if that goal happens you know to the other way

if the blues do it and it's three to two nobody mentions the crew kit but because But because, like, oh, it's like Bobby Orr, he left his feet. That's the part that made me queasy. That's insane. And then, I can't remember who, but somebody on Twitter, like an NHL person, like a media person today, was, like, more like Carl Gunn Orson.

And it's like, I'm going to fucking kill everybody. Oh, no, or Bobby, or. Oh, my God. The only thing I'll defend on the Crue kid is that, like, I do feel like the reason it got the notoriety it did. And I didn't see a lot of, like, era, the crew hit changed the trajectory of the game. No, but it's all anybody talked about. But it's because he's like a mascot. He's like a little tiny man who made a big hit.

It's because he didn't have his helmet on. Even even... And also because he didn't have his helmet on. If that hit happens and he still has his helmet on, people are like, it's a, you know, it's a big hit or whatever. And that's the end of it. Again, like, I'll defend the quirkiness of it. Like, you know, a three-foot guy guy with flowing hair and his helmet off late, it's a big hit. Guy who scores the game wing bowl, tells his coach that he's going to score the

the game winning goalie's got his cock out. Like, there are certain quirks that are just going to be catnip to people writing about these games. Yeah, I guess so. Especially when we have like five days between every game for the rest of the way. No shit. You need lots of lots of. Let's just, what was it? Was it Sean Fitzgerald on the athletic this morning was like,

the NHL's really scared. Sean Gordon. Sean Gordon. One of our many, many Shons. Shons, too many Shons. Walt to Wall to all shons. I wouldn't say too many. what is okay

what's the appropriate amount of Sean set of location however many we have if that group includes me it's the appropriate number of Sean's I didn't say like you should be first on the chopping block but I mean you know no but like

the NHL's terrified now that the NBA is going to be more popular in Canada because the Raptors are good A like the Raptors are going to lose Kawhi Leonard to the Clippers this summer anyway and they're going to be an afterthought again but B like, yeah, you could have started the series five days before you actually did,

and there would be no or relatively little overlap. Like game six and seven maybe would be up against game one and two or something like that. But now, if there's a sweep or the NBA or a five game, a gentleman sweep, I guess you would say, and the cup final goes six or seven, the NBA series will be over before. Like, what's, Sashon, you're, you're tweeting about this this morning and said some interesting things. What, what are your thoughts on, on that take of, I mean, it's, it does feel feel very, uh, MLS going to overtake the NHL story. Yeah. That's been written for like the last 20 years. But what's your take on, on the fact that the, the, the, the Raptors are this important to

Canadians. And what does that mean for the NHL? Well, I mean, I guess the first thing I'll say is don't, it is actually hard to overstate how big they, you know, the rapters are, you. Raptors run has been up here. I'm surprised. If you had told me before the playoffs, this is going to happen, I would be, like, I was, I happened to be out Saturday night at a bar here in Ottawa, and not even a sports bar, like just some, some pub. S&M bar.

And it was, yeah, not quite. That was later. I met this pot, and it's, and this place was jam-packed with people just watching the bat. I've never been in Ottawa. I've never seen a, been at a bar in Ottawa, and seen a reaction to a sporting event like that, including Senators games. Like, it was, I mean, the place was loud.

It was like people were hanging on every play. And this is, you know, this is for game six. And it was the clincher. And look, it's not, the NBA isn't going to suddenly pass the NHL in Canada. The ratings might pass the NHL this year because the Raptors are in the final. But like Ryan said, this is probably a one-off. This team was kind of designed for one swing at this. So, but at the same time, it's like, you know, as Sean notes in the article, like, you look at the, what are the, the Jurassic Park, they call it, which is where like all the fans are hanging out outside who don't have tickets.

So they just go and, you know, like, and the lines are around the city. Like, it's crazy how many people want to get in there. And you look at it and it's, that crowd is very young. It is very multicultural. And you look at the typical NHL crowd. and it is not those things. And I'm, like, I've tweeted a bit about this. Like, I'm, I've never been a basketball guy.

I've never watched the NBA. I don't understand it. I don't, I've watched some of this Raptor stuff, but even, like, I'm... Hold on, me, I want to pause you there. What do you mean you don't understand it? I just, in the sense of, you know, I don't understand it the way a fan does. Like, I'm watching the game and I get that, yeah, you know, the ball goes in the basket and you get the points. But I don't understand, like, I'm not watching, yeah, I'm not watching defenses and saying,

oh, they did this or that or this is, you know, this is what changed this game and this is why they won on a run. Like, I don't get any of that. I understand the rules, basically, and, and, and all of that. But I don't, I don't appreciate it in the way that a long-time fan would, the same as somebody who's new to hockey is, is going to miss a whole lot of what makes the game important. I'm missing that for the NBA. I don't get it. That's not me criticizing. That's just, it's not a sport I've watched. but I man is it ever hard to escape the conclusion that this NBA league is just way more fun than the NHL like just talk to the bottom it's just everybody seems like they're having so much more fun and I don't you know I don't I don't think the NBA is you know I've I've written a lot about

how I think parity in the NHL is out of control but I think the NBA is too far the other way where we're all just kind of sitting around waiting for the the next coronation of the war But I, man, it, it just seems like they're all having so much fun. And it, and then you go to the NHL and it's just sour-looking old guys on TV telling you why you shouldn't like anything that just happened. And it's, it's like, man, it gets, it gets exhausting sometimes. There's that aspect of it. And there's also the aspect of it that, you know, the NBA's got all the personalities

on the court. And, and they're all, and they all, they all do K-Fabe. Like, they're all into the idea that they know, the more heat they generate between each other, the better the product's going to be, and the bigger they're going to get to have these little feuds and all this other shit. And meanwhile in the NHL, like, we're all excited because some rookie goalie who never has a facial expression three months ago had a soundbite about how he's not nervous. Like, yeah, I don't feel anything.

And we're all like, wow, that's so awesome. He feels nothing. He's completely dead inside. What a great. what a great let's keep talking about this quote for three straight months and it's like I never really it's I never occurred to me the juxtaposition there you're right the NBA is all the emotion of the NHO we celebrate the one guy who doesn't have it and it just like it all it all comes back to me like this and and because that was the other thing the reason I like the

article is uh that that went up this morning that the Sean wrote on the athletic was was one of the points it made was it kind of tied into Gary Bettman had his uh press conference his his pre- Stanley Cup final media gathering. State of the NHL address. State of the NHL. And the state of the NHL, as always, is great. We're having the best year ever financially, right? This is, we're going to make more money than ever before.

And the point the show I made is that, that gets held up every year as this victory. Like, wow, the NHL made more money. You're supposed to. Like, look around the sports landscape. That's like literally what capitalism is about. And not only that, but it's like look around the sports landscape. Everything. Everybody's exploding.

You literally could not have lost money in this, you know, this sports landscape we have now. That's the starting point to say we're doing better than ever before. The next question is, how are you doing compared to everyone else in this business? And the answer is largely that, you know, a lot of them are either pulling away or certainly the NHL isn't gaining a lot of ground. And it just, you know, I don't want to turn the whole thing into a big, rant about the Gary Betman era and all of this. But every year around this time, you get these

pieces get written about, well, the NHL's making lots of money, and isn't that great? And then you look around and you go, okay, but they're completely dwarfed by the NBA. They're completely dwarfed all these other sports. You know, the NFL draft gets ten times the ratings that their biggest

playoff game gets. And it's just like, you know, obviously the NHL was never going to be number one in the U.S. It was never going to crack that top three. But there was so much opportunity lost in the last 25 years due to the just complete lack of leadership from Gary Betman and friends on anything other than whatever had a dollar sign attached to it. You know, if it was a TV deal or a lockout or something, yeah, Gary Bettman's been great. If it comes, you know, if it's about squeezing. And I wouldn't even say that's true about the US TV deal sucks.

Well, that is true. It does. Like, that gets held up. This record TV deal that got signed right before rights fees exploded and was long enough that it'll probably end right after rights fees come back down to Earth. Yep, that's exactly right. Meanwhile, you know, there's just like no leadership, no vision, no actual, you know, just the same product being thrown out. We're very happy. We're very happy to have the Stanley Cup final on Twitch TV. Like, like, honestly, and this is, I've been complaining about the question. quality of the NBC broadcast all week. They, by the way, had another Lance Armstrong excerpt last night. What is that about it? Like, you watch NBA broadcasts, and everybody's having a good time.

Yeah. Everybody, like, and, but not just that. Like, Chuck, Shaq, Kenny. Like, these are all guys who are, like, good on TV. They stand there. They're busting each other's balls. They're, you know, but they're still letting Ernie kind of, direct the, Sean, I don't know if you guys

have inside the NBA up in Canada, but we do, I don't watch it because, okay, you should watch it, but I should. It doesn't, it doesn't, like, almost is immaterial. Whoa, you're fucking mind. Yeah, so, like, there is a segment on there, and this is the thing I always hold up, is like,

the ultimate difference between the NBA and the NHL, where they, it's called who he play for, and they just, and they just asked Charles Barkley, hey, Chuck, here's, like, the sixth guy on some random NBA team, who he play for. And he, like, sits there and he's like,

I think he plays for the Nets. I'm pretty sure he was on the Pelicans last team. Yeah, and they're like, he has never played for the Nets when he's on the Milwaukee box. And he's like, damn, I didn't know that. Like, that's all it is. And, like, imagine the NHL having that kind, like, an NHL broadcast

having that kind of self-awareness. Anybody on any NHL broadcast ever admitting not knowing shit. Or, like, just having fun. Right. Like, the funny thing is, right? Like the thing about Don Cherry being like all these bandwagon fans in Carolina Like nobody is saying that same shit about the Toronto Raptors who nobody gave a shit about in fucking January That's a really good point right like believe me I paid enough attention to the NBA where and I certainly follow enough

Toronto sports fans where I know like how relatively easy it is to get into a Raptor's game and yeah nobody like there was no Jurassic Park first of all it's like three times the size of what it was for the Leafs in the first round. And, you know, maybe you can say that's a consequence of, well, they're fucking in the NBA finals or whatever. But it's also a thing of just like, I did not see this level of caring about the Toronto Raptors in other markets, too, because now they're Canada's team, blah, blah, blah.

Like, nobody in Vancouver was tweeting about the Rapsin. I disagree with that to an extent, though. Hold on. I'll do my representing Canada. The Raptors have had a strong fan base in Toronto. They have, you know, their Canada's only team in NBA since the Grizzlies left. So it's not a pure bandwagon thing. Certainly there are a lot of fans who, like me, like me, who never, yeah. But I just don't want to make it out.

Like, the Raptors weren't playing in front of 10,000 fans for the last 10 years and now suddenly the building sold out. But like, it's gone insane in the last month and a half. Right. And, but what I'm saying is Shaq's not on TV going like, who are all these assholes? Like, they don't care about the Raptor. Like, because the NBA is like, oh, it's cool when people like teens. It sounds like, it's actually fun and we love it. The NBA broadcasts actually feature people who seem to like basketball and seem to like

that's right. And like each other. Which is a weird. Yeah. Which is a weird dynamic. And also, I think they've changed the personnel now and again, too. Like, they've added people and subtracted people. It hasn't just been the same people over and over again.

It's a great story. It's an interesting thing. I will say to go back to your original point, though, Sean, like, it is harder to grow the sport because of the cultural barriers that are in place here in the States as far as people having played the game as kids, as far as their families pass down. It's the financial barriers, too, man. It's financial barriers, but it's also cultural barriers. I mean, there are states in this great country of ours where hockey is a non-factor, but they play basketball. They certainly play football. So, you know, you've got that aspect of it.

And then, you know, at the undeniable demographic disadvantage that the hockey has, too, where it is going to take generations to shake the idea that this is a sport for a certain type of person. Especially because the sport itself doesn't want to change that. Yeah. I mean, you know, it doesn't help. You're right. There is nothing that can happen. I mean, there's nothing you can do with Connor McDavid or do it whoever that's going to suddenly flip a switch.

It will take a generation or more. But the frustrating thing for me is we've had. a generation of Gary Bettman. Yep. And there was no progress made whatsoever. And I always go back to this. And I know people kind of roll their eyes a little bit sometimes when you bring this up. But that famous Sports Illustrated cover in 1994 with why the NHL is hot and the NBA is hot.

The Roswell UFO crash of hockey journalism. Yeah. And I know whenever you bring that cover up, people, like it's been so done to death that people kind of, like I say, rolled their eyes. And it's like, yeah, it was crazy that anyone ever thought. that the NHL was going to catch the NBA. I would recommend people, forget the cover. Go find the article that went with that cover. Sports Illustrated has everything archived.

It's easy enough to find. Read the article. It will make your head spin. This moment in time in 1994 and the Rangers are winning the Stanley Cup to just read how Sports Illustrated. This is not some random niche publication. Sports Illustrated describes the NBA and the NHL one year into when Gary Bettman had just arrived. And the words that they use, it's crazy. They talk about how the NBA is dull and defensive and it's boring, whereas the NHL is fast and sexy and fun and high scoring.

And then the devil's won the fucking cup, and that was the end of that. First of all, then we had a lockout for half a season that killed all that moment. Yep. And achieved nothing. Didn't get the salary cap. Didn't get... And to go back to your point, I mean, not only is what the NHL looked like at that point, it was after the

fucking Rangers Cup. Yes. Which was... Huge. They're on Lever and every single night. You know, like Mark Messier is one of the five most recognizable famous athletes in North America at the time. Yeah, without question. And now, you know, granted, there was also

like Michael Jordan had just retired and there was all this stuff in the NBA that was, in hindsight, was not a long-term situation. But the thing that amazes me is you get the lockout, the dead puck era arrives. Meanwhile, the NBA looks at its own product and goes, this is boring. This is defensive. This isn't fun. We are going to change it. And we're going to make changes. And we're going to make sure that our star players have room to play and that we can make the next Michael Jordan and that we can make the next, you know, and it took a few years. A lot of the 90s is kind of a write-off for the NBA, but eventually Kobe comes along and then LeBron versus the NHL, which hits the dead puck era, which is 20 years and counting and still going on,

and nothing. Just no leadership, just 20 years of soundbites about how they know they need to get better and we know we need the product to be more fun. and then they make a change to a face-off rule, and that's the end of it. It's just this complete abdication of leadership and vision. And it's, like you said, it's going to take a generation. We just had a generation. We didn't do a damn thing with it, and here we are.

While I will not – I don't pin everything on Batman. I've come around on some of the things Batman has done. I can't say I'm a fan or a defender, but I've come to understand some of the benefits to his commissionership. One of the benefits that was not of his commissionership was the way he tried to market hockey in the 1990s at a time when he didn't know what the sport was. He tried to sell like Forsberg and a generation of offensive stars at a time when his sport didn't look like that anymore. Right.

And he fucked it up. Do you know how much bigger the NHL would have been in the 1990s if they, at that point, based on what the game was? And, you know, we look back on it kind of side-eye it now because of what we know scientifically. But if he had marketed the physicality and the violence of hockey in the 1990s at a point when the NFL and UFC were growing exponentially, sport would have been fucking bonkers. I would push back on the idea that the UFC was growing. Like it was a morbid curiosity at that time. But that's where the trend was. And meanwhile, he's trying to sell offense at a time when the leading score in the league has like 70 points.

Yeah. It was fucking dumb. I'll say this about the generational argument. And I agree with you that there should have been bigger growth based on a generation of fans growing up in Bettman's NHL. When did the Predators come in a league? 98, 99. Okay. So a kid born the year the Predators arrived is 20.

A kid born in the year the Ducks and the Lightning arrived is 25. So I'm willing to give it a little bit more time because the only way that the demographics shift in the states for hockey is if more kids in those areas play. and if more kids from those areas get into the league. And now all of a sudden you have an example of somebody. You know, that's the... We've had 10 years of guys from California and shit. But you need more of them. It's not just simply...

You can't have it out. Like, Austin Matthews is an outlier. Like, you need like 10 kids from Nashville playing. You need a bunch of kids from Florida playing. Like, that's the demographic shift that needs to happen. And they can't look like the three of us. That's the other thing, too. No.

And so that... I can't. Well, so there's your problem. But how much more time? Because, I mean, I know that wave of expansion, the first big wave of expansion was in the early 90s and they went down to Florida, California, and that sort of thing. You get the second wave in the late 90s, early 2000s. I don't know how much time it's supposed to take. I can just tell you in between that in like, what was it, 95, that's when the NBA came to Canada. So we've had the reverse up here. And we've had what? that two first overall picks were Canadian in recent years. We have, you know, NBA has a major foothold here in Canada.

If we're comparing the progress in Canada, which is a non-traditional basketball market versus the non-traditional hockey markets in the U.S., I don't think there's any comparison that you can make that says the NHL is doing as well as the NBA is. No, no, and there is no comparison to me because it's very hard. And it's not all the mistakes of 25 years ago because it was only what, like a year ago or two, when Bill Daley was getting up there saying, we don't market players, we market teams. That's what our fans. They want to know about the teams, not the players. Give me a break. What are we doing? And they've reversed course. It is, there's no comparison. They say they've reversed course. They haven't actually done anything that would make you see that. Right. Right. You look at the crowds the Raptors are getting. They're enormous. There's a ton of, ton of, ton of people in Jurassic Park. The place is sold out, which means that if you want to see them against the Golden State Warriors, you only have one place to go.

Yeah. Look. What are you going to say it? With our friends at C-Kkeek. So that's a B. You should come in maybe like 10 minutes ago. I tried. We were having a really good talk.

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He doesn't do them, though. You and I do that. Come on. We're the faces that run the places. See, Brian, you can't criticize because you've never played the game. That's right. Damn, dude. Did you know that Seat Geek rates each ticket on scale of 1 to 10 and displays them on an interactive seat map with those glorious green dots that get bigger and deeper and greener, the better the deal?

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so you can take your dick out and pissing them in case the game goes so overtime. Please don't do that. Don't do that. Dave Tippett is the new head coach officially in Edmonton. We may have addressed this possibility in a previous episode, but we did not do a show since he had his introductory press conference in which he said some really good things and then also said some really not that great things. But the one thing I appreciated was we've been shitting on this hiring forever saying that they basically hired Ken Hitchcock again because he's such

a defensive coach and yada, yada, yada. And he's like, look, I was a defensive coach in Arizona because of the hand I was dealt. Like that's the way we played. We had to play. We didn't have any money. NHL owned the team. It sucked. He's like, when I was with the L.A. Kings, I ran their power play. I got hired by D. Doug Armstrong in Dallas because I'm an offensive coach. So I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt to see how the Edmond and Whalers play. But then again, in the same press conference, he went back and said, hey, you know,

if we're looking for a model, let's follow what the Blues and Bruins do, defense first and then offense. I'm like, okay, but they've got like Patrice Brasurer on. Yeah, they all tend to look at Praco and what were. So what did you think of the presser there, Sean, for David Dippittip? I thought the presser was fine. I think you kind of covered the sort of. dynamic of some of the quotes. I thought the best quote that he had was the one that he,

I don't think it was from the press conference. I think it was when he went on the radio here in Canada and somebody asked him about Connor McDavid in the defensive zone. And basically does Connor McDavid need to become a more complete 200-foot player? And his answer was basically that he went back and watched all of Connor McDavid's goals and none of them were scored from the defensive zone. And so therefore he wants Connor McDavid to spend. even more time in the offensive zone and that he does not seem to have any appetite to come in and try to transform Connor McDavid into Jonathan Taves or whoever you want to name as your two-way player.

He seems quite eager to take the reins off and let this kid do what he does and encourage that. And that's, you know, that would encourage me if I was an Oilers fan. I mean, I'm not blown away by the hire, but, Given who was out there and who was available, I think this probably made as much sense as anything they could do. And now we just got to, you know, on the one hand, you look at Dave Tippett and you go, the NHL is changing so quickly that it almost feels like anything from more than three years ago we should almost ignore. But on the other hand, that feels too extreme because, you know, there are smart people and there are people who get this sport and can adapt and have the right mind for it. And he might be one of those guys.

I think he probably is. So let's see. When three of the final four coaches are retreads, it's hard to say, don't hire a retread. You know? Like, and in Cassidy's case, a retread 15 years in the waiting. So, no, I thought it was interesting.

I thought he did fine. I think the big story out of Edmonton, though, that even more so than who's going to coach the team is, Ken Holland is actually doing the purge Edmonton. Like, Craig McTavish, in Russia, Paul Coffey, out of a job. Like, it's actually happening, he's purging the old boys network. And as much as I thought that Ken Holland was one of the

only guys that could do that, I didn't actually think it would happen. But it looks like it's actually happening. That's great news. Yeah. And by the way, this I recall we definitely talked about last week is because all that stuff happened like last. Coffee, I don't know if it did happen or not, but the coffee. Yeah. And coffee is not a big one. Like it's, I don't think anybody thinks that the Oilers were losing because Paul Coffey was dropping in a couple times a month and screwing them up somehow. It's just, it's breaking up the brand trust. It's a little bit unfair because it's,

these guys become the symbols of something that, that maybe isn't, isn't really what they are. But sometimes symbols have power too, and you have to tear them down. And I think that moving on from someone like Paul Coffey is, probably does send the right message or, or at least a positive message that this isn't, this isn't some,

being annoyed, there isn't some sort of lifetime appointment. And they're going to go out and actually get, the best people they can, whether or not they happen to have some connection to the franchise. I also thought it was really interesting that he, you know, he was in that Seattle mix, and it got to be a situation where he was going to have to dick around until 2021 to coach the team, and he's just like, I don't want to do that. Yeah, I can't do that. I also don't know if it's a case if they ever would have hired him, but I did think that was kind of an interesting thing. But apparently, he had a hand in everything out there, like the design of

the arena, the way hockey ops is constructed, all this other shit. So it sounds like he really had a good time out there. He was all ready to go with an expansion team and then decided he needed a bigger challenge. Right. He headed to the Edmonton Oilers. I, I, everybody in this podcast shifts on the Oilers because it's on. And, right. But, you know, we all want Connor to do well.

We don't want this team to be dog shit. So there you go. Hopefully this works out for our sweet boy, Connor, because we do like him a lot. We now wonder how it's going to work out for another sweet boy on this podcast, Phil Kessel. who in another ringing endorsement of Paul Fenton's regime in Minnesota said, yeah, nah, can't content, nah, don't want to go. And decided not to get traded in a mess of a trade between those two teams. What's going to happen to Phil?

I don't know, but first I want to say he did Paul Fenton a huge fucking favor. Because that trade would have been real bad for the Minnesota. It wouldn't have been good for Phil either. When Jason Zucker hits goal number 40 by March. It's not even that. Like, yeah, obviously, like, he would have, you know, Zucker is probably, you know, an equivalent level above replacement to Phil Kessel, maybe even a little better because he has more of a defensive game. Taking on that Jack Johnson contract. Oh, my God.

Like, can you even imagine considering that if you're an NHLGM? Now, granted, can you even imagine signing it? And the answer is apparently somebody could. could one year ago. I think the entire trade was Fenton being determined to get rid of the Victor-Assque contract to see he doesn't look like an asshole anymore. Yeah, well, and it means that's-send. Would the Jack Johnson contract be worse?

No, it's not a lot. It's not a lot. I mean, it's long, but it's not, yeah. But it's not a huge cap-it-dust. Yeah. I wouldn't say negligible, but as close to negligible as you can get for, like, a veteran defenseman probably. So what happens to Phil? He's getting traded. Everybody says he's still getting traded.

Yeah. The place that I heard over and over again is Arizona because of the Tocket connection. Yeah. And like that seems like a place where Phil would do pretty well for himself, you know? It's like he could wear his dad shorts and walk around and just no one's going to bother him. He looks like maybe just a guy who lives in Arizona. You know, it's, I think he'd do well there. Yeah, and maybe less of a, like, he'd be going from Boston, which has, like, an occasionally psycho hockey media to Toronto, which is 24-7 psychos, to Pittsburgh, which is back to where he was, and then, like, close out the career in Arizona where, you know, three people are going to talk to you on any given day?

That's sick. Does that also seem like an Arizona throwback, though, to when they used to wear the psychedelic Kiades jersey, and, like, it was like Kachuk and Hull. and Roanick and shit. That 2016, where it was just like a collection of guys, you're like, that guy never played for the coyotes. Right. Like, Castle and the Coyotes would kind of feel that way at first to me. Oh, sure.

It doesn't belong there. Yeah. Yeah. And the other question is, like, how does that trade work? Because the reason it makes sense for Arizona is not only do they always seem to have some cap room and the Tauket connection, but they could use the scoring. But we're told that Pittsburgh wants. scoring back. Like, this doesn't seem right now

like it's a pure salary dump, get this guy out of here. Like, I mean, they were going to get Jason Zucker back. Like, that's a good player you can plug right into your top six. I don't know who on Arizona. The coyotes don't have a guy like that, yeah. Yeah. I don't know who. I mean, it would end up being like a Gulchaniuk, but even then that's not a guarantee that you're getting back to the player

that you need. You know, but I mean, like, they've got a collection of forwards that I guarantee. Like, the penguins would you just make the trade, get the salary off their books, move on from Phil, get a bunch of fucking Christian Dvorax, and plug them in with Malkin and Crosby, then they score 30 goals. Yeah, they'll all be fine. Yeah, it'll be fine.

I mean, the thing we should say is, like, people are acting like Kessel's fucking washed or whatever. Like, he's just totally done. He was a point of game player this year. He's good. He's really good. And, like, granted, you know, he gets to play with some guys who are going to make a lot of even pretty good players look really good. But, yeah, I mean, it's one of those things where, like, he's, you know, he's one of the

time. He didn't play with Crosby much. He played with Malcolm kind of off and on. There were times where he was driving his own line. And that's what makes it tricky for Pitzford. And he's totally capable of that. Yeah. And I know it was a long time ago, but same thing in Toronto. I mean, he was dragging around just nothing out there and still being a top five or ten score in the league. So that's the challenge. If you're Jim Rutherford and you've made up your mind that you've got to get rid of this guy for whatever reason. and what trade do you make that you're going to replace any sort of thing chunk? I'm going to pull up the coyotes crosser here. And by the way, how dare you, sir, Tyler Bozak, three wins away from being a Stanley Cup champion.

To say Phil Kessel was scanning with nothing, I find that summarily offensive, Tyler Bozac is a gem of a human being. There were, my favorite was there were Toronto fans who were like, it's Bozac that makes Kessel. He's just like, oh, guys. Those fans are the ones. Oh, yeah, no. have done to

who Mitch Marner deserves to make more than Austin Matthews. They have now like, oh hell yeah. But,

uh, yeah. Wait, wait, make us, make us a Kessel Trey, Lambert. Hmm.

There's not a lot of here, dude. Uh, yeah, I mean, maybe, maybe you say, it starts with Brad Richardson.

Or the rights to Brad Richardson. Right. Uh, no, like, maybe you, maybe you,

your, your, your, your, your, your ask is stepping. I mean, that would help.

I mean, two years left. He's got two years left at six and a half. They just did that. Like he's been traded 26. Yeah. I guess you could do. But there don't have any other forward sign that you would want, like, or that also

Arizona would give up. They're not going to bail on Nick Schmaltz right after giving him that new contract. Christian DeVorak signed until 2025. Yeah. And everybody else has signed for like one or two years. And it's like Michael. Grabner and Vinny Hinoestroza. And like, so the only guy with any kind of term is Steppen.

There might not be a fit. There might not be a fit. Yeah. But do you need, if you're Pittsburgh, do you need to get somebody with, like, are you afraid of term? I mean, Kessel's got three years left. So if you're taking on a good young player. Everybody, everybody they have that's any good at all is either signed for one more

season. Like they're not going to give up Clayton Keller. They're probably not going to give up Christian Fisher or, you know, why would Pittsburgh want him? But yeah, they have, they just have a really weird structure to their long-term cab situation. They only have like four, four guys signed after next 2021. I think what you're saying is that the trade needs to be Kessel for Rick Tocke.

And get talking back on. There you go. Now we're talking. It looks perfectly. The team can all like each other again. Perfect fit, perfect fit. So if it's not Arizona, then you've got to figure out where else is it? And apparently he's got eight teams on his can trade list, presumably might expand that to some other teams.

But, and I would love to see that list of teams he can be traded to. Because I wonder what I always wonder with stuff like that. Like if you're Phil Kessel, do you put Toronto on that list knowing that they would never have you in a million years, so it basically takes one spot off of your list. I gave a little bit of mind to the idea that the devils could be a fit. They need offense, Heinz and Sherro, Sherro obvious. Who are they giving up, though? Americans.

I don't know off that roster, like, who they could give up. Because, again, you'd have to sacrifice offense for offense. But if you think about where they are and what they need, and you think about what they're getting in the draft, I mean, adding a winger like him is not the worst idea in the world. for Hall, fuck off. You know, you have to say

these things to me. Give me all upset. Give me all riled up. Bad enough, Taylor Halls can play for Boston two years. The one thing with Kesson is, it's not the salary

anymore, because you can retain the salary, and you can get him down to a number where he's going to be attractive to a lot of teams. And even if he's a guy who wears out his welcome in three years, all right, I'll take a good player for three years.

You know, he's not, He's a guy. He's, for all the talk about, oh, he's out of shape. He never misses time. He never misses a game. He's still the fastest guy on the ice most games he plays. I think you could, there's probably a lot of teams that could talk themselves into it. It's just a question of how do you do it?

And does anybody come to the penguins and say, let's make a hockey trade, like, give you a Jason Zucker type guy? Or do teams just wait it out knowing that he now has to trade Phil Kessel and then have him come back and say, you've got to, you know, we're not. We're not going to give much other than we'll take the contract off your hands, and you're going to eat some of the salary. You're going to eat 40% of the salary, and we're going to take the rest off your hands. Yeah, and essentially, I think what we're all dancing around is that the Minnesota fit might have been the best. Yeah. You mean, like, it would have been a horrible trade in a while probably.

But from a team perspective, I mean, that's the kind of deal that needed to happen. That was the right one. And then, but, you know, Phil Kessel says, no, because he doesn't believe in where the wild are going. And he's not wrong. I don't think he's necessarily wrong to say that. But no, I just, I guess my point would be that I really think this, Phil Kessel, like I say, you can get Pittsburgh to eat 40% of the salary. He's great value. He's absolutely fantastic value.

Speaking of things that are great value at 40% off. Wow. Very good. I'm going to say that might be the best one ever. That's a solid A. Incredible. That is, that is, that is a consmife level. Damn. Because he said it and I was like, 40% sounds an awful, awful high, but damn.

Yeah. He did it. He did it. I was praying one of you guys wouldn't come back with like, actually, the Leafs are already retaining a certain amount, so 40% would be. The Athletic is a direct-to-consumer subscription service servicing sports fans in North America, and the model is simple. Damn.

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each week as well as audio content. So subscribe right now using promo code soup. That's lowercase SOUP. Download the athletic app from the app store and come experience the athletic stories told in a whole new way. Look at that. Very good. Real good. You know, Sean walked up to me at the urinal before the podcast and he said, give me one more shot at a promo and I said, there it is. That's right. You said you were going to get one anyways, but sure, let's turn this into. Right. I think. Anything stand out from you for the Gary Bettman press conference. I don't want to turn this into another video review mandate conversation, but I will say that I was super bummed that he apparently is standing in the way of offside reviews coming out of video review. Like there is clearly a groundswell of people that don't want it there anymore, including GMs and players. But Batman said, that ship is sailed. You can't go. You can't get the ship anymore. It's gone. It's gone. So two points on that. First of all, again, just to go back and beat the drum,

if we had leadership and not a guy who just threw 31 GMs in a room and waited to be told what to do, then we would see more activity on this. And the other thing is just, and I'm like you, I don't want to do the replay review debate again, but anyone who's out there saying like, well, let's just give it a try. If it doesn't work, we'll just take it out. This is what you get. We've had offside review for, what, four years now? That's a very small amount of time.

And yet, according to Gary Bettman, this ship has already sailed and we can't get rid of it. So get it right before you put it in because once it goes in, it is very, very hard to get this stuff out. Which is nuts because, like, you go back to the Brent Hull, skate and the crease thing. And, like, they took that out when they realized it was a fucking disaster. And I can't understand why they came to the same thing here. Well, they realized it was a disaster after it ruined their Stanley Cup final. I mean, they got hit over the head with a fine thing. And then they realized and then it came right out.

But after four years of them saying they wouldn't take it out because the ship had sailed, and then the ship came back and ran them over. That's the thing I really don't understand about this league is the intransigence of like, well, look, we've done it this way for a good long while now. And sometimes that good long while is 80 years and sometimes that good long long. Like nobody's saying fucking get like outlaw the forward pass again, right? Like, just this thing that everybody agrees sucks, like, you are allowed to change it. There's nothing, there's nothing that says you have to.

Hold on. I agree with that because, like, it's the same thing with the salary cap. It's like, well, we're a cap league. Like, fucking Dick Clapper and New Zealand land under the cap. Right. You know, like, we could change the system whenever we did well, please. It doesn't always have to be. Yeah.

I mean, that's something that more has to be collectively bargained or whatever, like to bring in a luxury tax and a soft cap and mid-level exceptions, which, by the way, are all things that make the NBA more. fun. But, um... Yeah, isn't it funny how, like, people always are complaining about, oh, man, the NBA sucks. All these guys, they just kind of rate their own tickets on where they're going to play. And it's like, yeah, how awesome is that? Like, it's all anybody wants to talk about.

Even during the fucking playoffs, people were like, is Kevin Durant going to the Knicks? And that jim's up conversation about the league. Yeah, no, I mean, it's... It's just like, it's old people shit. I'm like, well, look, things are how they are. What am I supposed to do? This changed things just because everybody thinks it's bad? I don't know.

And it's not always like that. Because a few years ago, we had a bad rule in this league that came from a good place. They were trying to solve a problem. It was the compensation for coaches and GMs. And it was maybe a good idea, but it was implemented really poorly. And we had it for a few years. And it wasn't working. And people didn't like it.

and so they got rid of it. But the reason they got rid of it is because Gary Bettman didn't like that rule. He never liked it. That was done. It was something that was put in place. He sulked his way through it. He didn't want it there. Even though it was implemented in a way that didn't match what people thought they were getting,

he let that happen basically to embarrass the people who put the rule in place. And then he sat back with his arms folded until enough people complained. And then they got rid of it. So this league can get rid of things that people don't like. It's just that Gary Bettman feeling personally affronted that the league went and made a rule that he didn't like. That was enough to trigger his leadership to the point where he got rid of something. But on this case, something that's actually happening on the ice and affecting people's enjoyment of the product night in and night out, he's willing to just fade into the background and not do anything.

They get rid of things people don't like all the time. The Guardian Project, the Atlanta Thrashers. I mean, the list goes on and on. It could happen again. It could. It should. But it won't because, yeah, it's the NHL. Other things from the state of the NHL thing, we've been talking about the NBA a lot in this podcast.

I feel like the NBA's labor piece, it gives me at least some hope that we're going to not have to go down the lockout road again. Also because there's not a whole lot of issues to deal with. I think everybody knows they're going back to the Olympics. Players should strike them. They just have to figure out escrow. Oh, listen, you and I are on the same page. Like, fuck the salary cap. burn it all down, but these guys don't have the spine for it.

No. I asked... Maybe they don't have the money for it, right? That's true, too, yeah. I asked Bill Daly about player tracking and about how the NHL is using optical tracking, which is something they rejected as part of their new project. And they keep on saying the same thing, which is like, we didn't reject it, we just like this other thing better, but now we understand that the other thing,

plus this thing we didn't like is the best way to do it. They still say next season at some point it's coming in. I still say that this is problematic that they haven't been able to settle on one technology that works. I think that's fine, though. Like if they go, well, we wanted to do one thing. Yeah. It didn't seem technically feasible, but if we combine it with this other thing, that's good.

I'm hoping it works. I really am. And then Betman did a press conference, not a press conference, but a conference discussion for Sports Business Journal. And he said something really interesting about sports wagering, which is going to be a huge part of this player tracking thing, which is that he said, you know, there's not been a lot of, you know, margins on hockey wagering now, and there may not necessarily be in the future. Yeah.

And so I found that to be interesting because to me, this remains a boon. This remains a way for people to get into hockey. But it sounds like he's still on the fence as to whether or not there's actually any there there with it. Yeah. Which I guess is probably the right approach to take at this point. Yeah, I mean, like you don't. want to, you don't want to be like, this is going to completely change the way the sport works

and all that kind of stuff. Like, just kind of soft pedal it and go, you know, it might work out. It might not. Let's find out together. Like that, I think that makes sense. Speaking of gambling, I forgot to mention this on the podcast. I do the daily wager on ESPN news on at 6 o'clock most days. And, and so I got a FaceTime from my kid last night before game, game two. And she said, She's like, Daddy, I saw you on TV. I'm like, oh. Now, I'm just assuming if someone looked like me, like she was watching AP Bio when fucking Pat and Allswold came on.

And so she goes, I saw you on TV. You were at the hockey game. Like, really? And so it turns out that a television in her house was tuned to ESPN News, probably somebody watching the ticker, I imagine. And the Daily Wager came on. And I got really proud. I'm like, that was so cool.

I'm like, so do you think that I'm like as famous as the people that you watch on YouTube and she said maybe. Wow, that's not bad, dude. Damn. Take that and put it in your pocket. That is as good as it gets. Nothing I love more than when your daughter finds out that you're a major

TV celebrity on the third most important network on ESPN talking about hockey gambling. Either that, like, have you considered the fact that she might be a generic gambler? Yeah. I mean, that's a real possibility. Daddy, I like the Vig on Game 1

between the Warriors and the Raps. I'm a little worried about that money line, but... Daddy, I lost the prop bet. I bet minus 250 that Ryan O'Reilly wouldn't have a point last night. Then he got the goddamn assist on the game winner by Gunny. You okay, honey? I love it. So anyways, speaking of the generates,

Yvgenikiz Netsoff was filmed in a Vegas hotel room, according to him, with lines of what appeared to be cocaine on the table, him and a woman sleeping on a bed behind him that he didn't know. We know he didn't know because in his apology to the Russian media, he Vgenikuznetsov said that the moment he walked into this hotel room and saw, quote, illegal drugs and unfamiliar women. Well, he just turned around and walked out after sitting down and showing people stuff on his phone for an indiscriminate amount of time.

I think we've all. And, I mean, it's clearly not going to be an issue. But you were going to say people we've all, what, seen unfamiliar women in Vegas hotel groups? I think we've all been in the situation where we've had something on our phone. We just really wanted to show somebody else. You know, you see like a really good cat video or something like that or, you know, one of those lip reading video. And you're just like, I got to show this to somebody. And, you know, maybe you're a little too focused and you walk in and then you look up and you're like, oh, there seem to be lines on the table.

And random people passed out in beds. I will excuse myself. in his apology, he was so obsessed with expressing to the people that this did not happen during Worlds and this is not why Russia lost that the rest of it was kind of to the side. It's like, he walks in a room, Ray Liotas pouring bags of cocaine down the toilet.

And he's like, look, guys, this isn't the reason we lost at Worlds. Don't worry. We're still superior to the Finns. But yeah, it's not the best look, but like, what do you do? It's not like a video of him using Coke. And FYI, half the league uses Coke. Yeah, easily half the league from what people have told me is like, you know, front offices keep tabs on these kind of things. And that's why the NFL a couple years ago was like, look, it could be a problem here.

We might start really testing for Coke. And then he never did anything with it. They were just trying to be. Yeah, because they don't want to have to suspend half the fucking league. It was more like just communicating like wink, wink, wink, nudge does, hey guys, maybe use 8% less Coke. Yeah. And I bet that did not work. So it's a, it's a, it was crazy how it all went down.

It's crazy that Batman had to talk about it. But I mean, nothing will come of this, right? No, absolutely not. Like, like, maybe fans will have funny signs or at the next line change. Don't, you know, blow the snow and yeah, sure. But like, yeah, I mean, he's not where the Capitol is going to reprimand him. or something. Like, they're just going to, you can't prove anything in that video.

So everybody's going to act like, it's going to be like Greg, the Mueller report. You can't. Now, President Trump, you're arrested. Like, that shit's not going to happen. So, so, like, it's the same thing here. When the president starts cocaine, it's not illegal. That's right. So, yeah, he's just there.

He's just doing his thing. And no one can even say definitively that it's coke. That's what I'm saying. It could be riddle in. Yeah, it could be baking powder for all we know It could be just dressing up the room to impress the unfamiliar woman They were going to make muffins And you know

Sometimes you need rolled up hundreds to To have the muffins And by the way, I have to be a little bit critical of our friends From Eastern Europe You know, back in the day We had scandals like the Kistitsyn's dealing arms With Russian gangsters And now we're back to just doing

being around cocaine in a Vegas hotel room, and who among us, right? So the Russians really need to pick up their game again. I mean, there's a lot of scandal to be had, and I don't think that this is necessarily fulfilling the obligation that they have to entertain us in this way. That's my thought on it. Yeah. Not a sermon, just a thought.

I wanted to talk about food real quick on Puck Soup, which is what we often do. I wanted to play a game that people have been requesting us to bring back. This was the game back from the Lozo days called Yummy and My Tummy are only for a dummy. This, of course, Ryan, as you know, is a rip off of basically every bit on doughboys. That's correct. And so I wanted to apply it to the food items that the good people of Delaware North, and by that I mean that monster, Jeremy Jacobs and his people that created the arena food for TD Garden and many other places. They created a number of different food items.

And we're going to now assign whether they, are yummy in my tummy are only for a dummy. I will describe each one. Starting with the mac and cheese waffle bowl. A waffle bowl topped with tender pulled pork and guillie mac and cheese. Now, I am unaware of the delivery system of a waffle bowl. So are we talking about a waffle bowl like what you get when you have ice cream, like it's a waffle cone but in the shape of a bowl? Or is it like an actual waffle shape?

Like, I was thinking more of a waffle shaped like a bread bowl. Right. You might be right. Like, I don't know. Based on my knowledge of waffle technology, it would probably be like a waffle bowl that you would use for ice cream, repurposed for mac and cheese and savory treats. Right. I'm going to go only for a dummy because I can't imagine the waffle bowl would be able to sustain the viscosity of mac and cheese and pulled pork.

Well, I mean, so that's the question, right? Because if it's like an actual like chicken and waffles waffle. Right, then it could. Then that's... Then it gets more to sandwich territory. Right. But I'm going to say snack. I mean, yummy in my tummy for this one.

Sean. I'm going to pass on that one. I'm not a mac and cheese guy. So I'm the wrong audience for that. You have to say the line. Then you would have to say that only for a dummy. Only for a dummy. There you go.

There it is. Yeah. So officially only for a dummy. Yeah. Okay. I got out voted. That's fine. That's life.

Deep fried Oreo Sunday. A deep fried Oreo cookie top with vanilla gelato, caramel and chocolate sauce, and finish with whipped cream. That sounds like something you get at a state fair. Yeah. That's you on me and my tummy. Like the more we're even talking about. Yeah.

Yeah. Although I will say this. I don't know what the price point is, and I've always found that fried Oreos and fried Twinkies at like state fair Yeah, I agree. Always completely overpriced. Yeah, I agree. And, I mean, it's a rena food, so even more overpriced probably.

Yeah, this might actually cost $75. Right. But that's not what the question is. You're right. Well, do this price factor into it at all for you on this or no? No, we're just assessing, my understanding is we're just assessing the quality of the food. Quite frankly, as good as the food might be, if I had to overpay for it, I might get a little ajana, if you know what I'm saying afterwards. Sure.

Buyer's remorse in the old belly. I don't often patronize the concession stands at TD Garden when I go to a Celtics game usually. Mainly because I don't want to give Jeremy Jacobs my money if I can avoid it. Understandable. But I went to a Celtics Pistons game in, I want to say February with my dad, and I got the just straight up vanilla gelato. Oh, my God. It was so good.

Okay. So the vanilla gelato you're saying is a real selling. That's a draw for me. Okay, so I'll go yummy in my tummy along with you. It's hard for me to look at a fried Oreo and say that it's not going to be. And Sean, I imagine this is going to be a clean sweep. Yeah, I mean, I feel like that's the sort of thing if you ate it twice, you would die. But if you ate it once, it would be very yummy in your tummy.

Like cyanide. Cheese and steak hot dog, a foot long bacon-wrapped hot dog topped with steak and cheese, like you'd find on a cheese steak. Sure. First of all, it should be a steak. steak and cheese hot dog. The branding on this is all fucked up. Right. But yeah, yummy in my tummy. You had me at hot dog. Like, that's it

for me. I have to disagree. I'm going to say only for a dummy, only because I actually tried this at the garden. They had this available for the media to try because we're all fat fucks. And I got to be honest with you, it was very

hard to eat. I can see it being a bit sloppy for sure. Think about sauerkraut but even harder to keep within the confines of the bun. Yeah. Listen, bacon wrap hot dog, you had me at hello. You add the steak and cheese. One, not Boston.

That's some Philly shit. It is. Very hard to eat. So I'm going to go only for a dummy. Is it on, is the steak and cheese on top or in the bun? It is legitimately just like sourcrow. Like, just placed on the fucking hot dog. Okay.

No, if you put it under the hot dog. Yeah. Perfect. Incredible. Self-contained. Yes. But this, in this. Yeah, no.

You're asking for trouble that way then. Only for a dummy. Sean. All right. So two things. I'm still saying I mean my tummy, but one of my controversial food takes is that bacon wrap food sucks. It's never good.

It's never good over here. Bacon itself is amazing, but bacon wrapped anything is never as good as it should be. Love hot dogs, love cheese steaks. Just mashing two foods you like together to make a new food does not make a good food. This, I'm going to go only for dummies on this one.

You know, Well, I'm willing to go with you on your bacon take, if only because as much as I love a bacon-wrapped scallop at a wedding on a toothpick. Yep. I mean, it's the thing that I try to find. A perfectly cooked diver's scallop on its own. Yep. Better than that. I'll say this.

I think maybe a hot dog is the only thing that's better bacon. Not like a hot dog is great. Don't get me wrong. But, Oh, there are there. Players for you now. Yeah.

I am. Would you believe it? No. But the only thing I like from five guys, I think five guys is incredibly overrated. And the only thing I like from there, and you want to talk about overpriced, their $5 bacon-wrapped hot dog,

it's really good. It is. And it's better than their normal hot dog. All right. So I think we sell. only for a dummy on that one. Yeah, I got outvoted again. Surf and turf skewers, savory terriaki shrimp and steak tip skewers served on a bed of broccoli slaw. Now, the fuck you need broccoli slaw for it in arena is my first question. Well, first of all, I bet it tastes great. I love broccoli.

I should say. This is just me being a fat pig, but yummy in my tummy. I've, I've, I, I, this sounds awesome. I mean, ultimately yummy in my tummy because terriaki shrimp and steak. Yeah, awesome. It's going to be an unbeatable combo. I just don't understand the delivery system. Like, give me three of those skewers and I'll just eat them. And then I don't need to, I didn't, you need a fork to eat broccoli.

And having a fork for any arena food is kind of fucked up unless I agree. I agree. I can't eat this food. This, this sounds to me like they got most of the way through designing it and then realized it was way too good. and was going to cause stampedes and overcrowding. Like, I would, I would, I have no interest in eating broccoli slaw, but if you gave me a steak and shrimp skewer on a plate,

I wouldn't eat the plate, and that wouldn't be a deal breaker for me. I would just give you the plate back at the end. So I'll do the same with the broccoli slaw. I'm not going anywhere near that, but I would have really liked if it was the opposite, if it was the opposite where somebody at the game, somebody at the arena came up with this amazing broccoli slaw, And everybody's like, that's not going to sell. They're like, what if we stuck a fucking toothpick through a shrimp and a piece of steak and put it on top of it?

Okay. Yeah, I feel like we're going to get a lot of, uh, I'll take the, the serpent or skewer, hold the sloth. All right. All right, I'll go, I'll go yummy in my tub. Yeah, same steak and shrimp. All right, finally, the most contentious one, what might see the reason we're doing this exercise? The donut burger. The donut burger is a double cheese burger sandwich between two glazed.

donuts with bacon, fried jalapinos, and crispy onions. Now, I have, I regret to inform you that this is the second time I've tasted a donut bacon cheeseburger in my life. There was a minor league baseball team that did it many, many moons ago. They did it with crispy creams. I tried it. And it was basically the same as trying it this time, which is to say that it is an incredible taste when you taste the greasy bacon, the salty greasy meat, the sweetness of the donut. Now they've up the anthe with some fried jalapinos. It is incredible. And then you take another bite and you realize that you want to die. You just want to fucking die because it feels like someone has poured an entire truck of cement into your stomach. Yeah. No, like,

if it was just like, oh, we have this new like Southwest Bacon Cheeseburger or whatever, I'm in. Right. Adding the donuts, psycho shit. To go back to the point about bacon, that's like when everything had bacon in it for a little while. And it was like, chocolate covered bacon and bacon donuts. And it's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Like, you're overdoing it and you're overthinking things.

Like, who's buying this? Who is the fucking psycho that's like, yeah, I'll eat two donuts and a double cheeseburger simultaneously. It is. It is food made for a bite. Yep. And not for a meal. And I can't understand anybody who could get through it. I remember when I was in L.A.

Even if you cut the donut in half, like one half a donut on each side. Like that's more fine. But. Were you going to say, Sean? I remember when I was in L.A. for one of the outdoor games and like right by my hotel was this, I guess, famous. bakery that had, and their famous thing was bacon donut. And so I was like, I got to try it. And it was awful.

It was terrible. True story about bacon or sorry about donut cheeseburgers. This is like all, man, this got to be like eight years ago. We have a thing up here in Canada in Toronto, it's called C&E. It's an annual like fair in the summer, roller coasters and food trucks and all of that stuff. And it's been going on forever. and they had, they do like a food every year and they did these donut cheeseburgers. And it was this huge thing and everybody was talking about them for weeks.

And it was like one of the first times it had ever been done anywhere. And then like everybody got really sick. Like everybody would have one guy. It turned out there was like, it was like the jam or something had like it was contaminated and like all of these people were like laid out. So I'm not going anywhere near this thing even if it, uh, As a wise man once said, just having two good foods and mashing them together doesn't make a good food. That's right.

This one's a client sweep on the dummy category because I would not even want to touch one of these things. But if you do get one and you're at a game in Boston, make sure you keep the container with you in case you need to shit before overtime. So you have a place to store it. Greg, because we're sitting together, I saw on your list, there was one that didn't have a hyperlink. and it looked very intriguing to me. That would be the endless pastability stuff baguette. This is one I skipped

because I didn't really understand what the fuck it was. So your choice of radiatore pasta, what is that word? I don't know. It looks like radiator pasta. Radiatoria.

It's a radiatoria with meatballs, marineria and parmesan cheese or chicken, broccoli and penny and alfredas sauce. So it's the fucking stuff baguette with it's like a calzone bagu bagu bagu baguette. Yeah. Umy in my tummy.

Totally. me 700 of those. That's all I've ever wanted. Wow. Like just a slightly, like basically an Italian burrito with a baguette instead of like the flour rhapsode. Is this where you're in hell and the devil's like, you like baguettes? Yeah.

What about all the baguettes in the world? Yeah. And like Homer Simpson, I'll just be like, this is great. This is all I've ever wanted in an Italian food delivery system. Yeah, I'll go yeah. My Tommy too. Hell yeah. That sounds awesome.

A good sandwich is always great. Yeah. All right. That's, uh, I didn't, I didn't make a question this morning. Truth be told, I went to bed at like fucking four o'clock in the morning last night. Yeah, that'll do it. After this, uh, nonsense. And I had to write my column and the whole thing.

But it's fine. I, you know, it is what it is. Thanks to the good people at the AC hotel in Boston for not disturbing me. I will tell a story, uh, yesterday morning. I had the do not disturb sign on my door. I was in, in the room. I was writing. And I hear a knock on the door.

And it's the, uh, cleaning, uh, person. and she says, hey, I saw that you have the sign on the door. I just want to make sure you don't need anything. And I'm thinking to myself, I thought that would be the sign. Yeah, that's not require anything at this moment. One might say that it literally says,

do not disturb me in my pursuit of genius. Thanks to the good people at Neptune's oysters, where I mean and Izzy Kishruti and Emily Kaplan went for oyster orgy. I got this guy over here, Sean, to try an oyster. He is not an oyster guy necessarily. Yeah, I had them, you know, occasionally throughout my childhood and early adult years. And too slimy, not really for me, texture-wise. So I very carefully selected from the platter of, I think, 800 oysters you ordered.

Give it take a few. I carefully selected two that seemed like they would be the least slimy, and they were fucking awesome. They were fucking awesome. And thanks to the good people at what I assume is called Sully's, where we had drinks beforehand, as we had to wait an hour for a table at Neptunes at 3 in the afternoon on a rainy day on a Tuesday, which is just how you have to do it.

It's a small restaurant that everybody thinks is great. All right, that's a Puckoo for this week. I apologize. There is no question of the week. I forgot to put it out there. This is why I was telling you about how didn't get any sleep for sympathy. I'm Greg Wichenski of ESPN. You can find myself at Wushinsky on Twitter.

You can listen to my other podcast, ESPN, nice with the Emily Kaplan. We're doing daily podcasts each day of the Stanley Cup final, but because of various and sundry political concerns within the podcasting part of the company, we're only putting them on ESPN.com as sort of like quasi videos. Don't ask. I don't want to talk about it. And yeah, that's my stuff. Yeah, you can find me on Yahoo. I'm on there. And sign up for the Puck Soup newsletter. It's four bucks a month if you just want the newsletter or three bucks a month if you are also paying for the $5 of Patreon episodes of the podcast. So sign up for that.

I plan to see a couple movies this weekend. I'll have reviews of them like I did last week for the Aladdin remake. It wasn't great. And the souvenir, which is an A-24 movie. and Christ, what was the other one I saw? Oh, Book Smart, which was very good. Can't wait for Godzilla King of the Monsters right here. Yep, we're seeing that.

We're seeing Brightburn this weekend. No one gives a shit about the human characters in the movie. It's all about Godzilla versus King Godora. It's all I need in life. We'll find a big of fucking screw next to watch. Yeah, Brightburn, Godzilla, and the Elton John movie, Rocket Man. Oh, there you go. I'm psyched.

So those are the movies I will be reviewing this week. Sean. Ah, you can find my stuff at the athletic. I had my annual rooting guide to the Stanley Cup final, which was much harder to do than usual because I had to come up with reasons why anyone who wasn't a Bruins fan would possibly cheer for the Bruins. And yeah, if you're listening to this on Friday, check out the grab bag. I have a in-depth YouTube video breakdown of the second most awkward Gary Bettman Stanley Cup handoff ever. So that will be fun.

Worth the price of admission of that price, 40% off. 40% up. The athletic. There you go. It was up to 50 during a World Day weekend? It may have been, but, you know, 40% is fine, Greg. Oh, no, I'm not saying it's not. I'm saying you need to strike while the iron's hot.

Athletic subscription prices is basically like watching the stock market. You got to get in when the prices are right. Corn futures. Jump in now. Get in there while you can. Thanks everybody for listening to Puck Soup. Enjoy the Patreon mailbag that we're going to do in a second, and I'll see you next week. Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slapshots and goons We've got sportly commentary to what if you commute

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