Puck Soup - Xavier Woods

Episode Date: January 30, 2020

The boys welcome WWE superstar Xavier Woods to the show to talk hockey, wrestling and bar arcades. Plus the Matthew Tkachuk vs. Zack Kassian fallout, NHL All-Star Game ideas and reviews, the Seattle Kraken (which Ryan does not like), remembering Kobe Bryant, the trade deadline and the Super Bowl in Canada. Sponsored by Raycon! 

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, it's and tunes. It's your weekly bowl of hockey and nonsense. I'm Greg Wichenski of the Worldwide Leader in Sports ESPN, home of some XFL games, hosted by none other than Hockey's Ombuds. Steve Levy. I'm Ryan Lambert from this podcast.

Sean McIndoo from The Athletic, which we will probably be hiring 10 XFL writers to shortly. That's right. That would be fun. Might go for that. That'd be fun if you're an XFL writer and you're like, why I'm joining the athletic? Because it just came from your

XFL beat writer job that you were on for about two weeks. By the way, here's two things with the XFL. One, I don't know why the team names suck. If you remember the first XFL, we had the hit men and the maniacs and a bunch of other shit that was like all kind of Vince McMahonie. And this time they're like really normal names or like the fucking tigers or whatever. It's kind of lame. Yeah. Because they're not doing wrestling names is, I think.

Yeah, but the first time they did, right? Yeah. That's the point. But the difference is we're not in the attitude era anymore. That's why. I will say, don't they have a team called the Dragons, though, which is always like the go-to fictional name whenever you have to, that has never been used in a major sport, but probably should.

I was just reading a short oral history on the movie Any Given Sunday. And the Miami Sharks, I believe it was in that movie. Yes. were supposed to be the Miami Dolphins, and then Oliver Stone took the script to the Miami Dolphins. They were like, fuck, no. So they became the Miami Sharks, like, but the cool thing about it was the person who stood up for the production of any given Sunday and said,

like, whatever you need, I'll give it to you. Jerry Jones, NFL provocateur, said, yeah, I don't care. It's cool. You guys can make your movie. Here's everything you need. The XFL teams this year, this new, edition are the Renegades, the Dallas Renegades,

Houston Roughnecks, Los Angeles Wildcats, Seattle Dragons, not Crackens, D.C. Defenders, New York Guardians, St. Louis Battlehawks, and the Tampa Bay Vipers. Tampa Bay Vipers ain't bad. That's all right.

Yeah, again, you know, it's not the attitude error. This is the first, however many team. I don't know how many teams you just said. Let's say you said eight teams. This is just the first eight, like, logos that pop up in Maddens, like, make it, create a team. Create a team. So they were just like, yeah, those work great. Perfect. XFL 1.0, the Birmingham Thunderbolts, the Chicago enforcers, the New York, New Jersey hitmen, the Orlando rage, the Los Angeles outlaws. The Las Vegas.

Los Angeles Extreme. The Memphis. Hell yeah. Yep. The Memphis maniacs with an X and the San Francisco demons. Those are names. Yeah, that's cool. Second thing about the XFL that's cool is that when I was in St. Louis, I discovered that the St. Louis Thunderbirds.

Did I? What did I just say? Yeah. Oh, Battlehawks. Sorry, Thunderbirds, Battlehawks. You know, same difference. Tomato tomato. They're going to be playing in the, what was the RCA dome, the place where the RAMs played.

And I was asking a bunch of people, I'm like, so is this weird? Like, are people cool with it? Are they excited for it? And I had a bunch of people in St. Louis tell me that they're selling a lot of tickets, and they think they're selling out of tickets because the local fans want to spite the NFL and support another league, which I thought was an interesting dynamic that I would have never thought of. No better motivation than spite. Yeah, absolutely.

Always works. How do you think I ended up with this career? Indeed. Okay, so let's talk about what happened last night. Once again, Puck Soup, brilliant in our scheduling. We are doing this show in between Battles of Alberta. The Zach Cassie and Matthew Kachuk grudge match showdown game was last night. and all we'll remember from it is David Riddick throwing his stick in the air after poke checking the And Drysadle of a shootout.

Who would have believed the Oilers would lose that game? Incredible. What a crazy turn of events. But also, who would have believed that, like, I mean, we had, what, two scraps, one barely qualified with Chuck and Cassian. And the other one was between fucking Nugent Hopkins and Monaghan. Yeah. Which was actually great and fun of shit, because, like, who are the two least likely people outside of the goalies to fight. Yeah. It was a good fight too.

That was a good snap, right? Sum, yeah. Well, I mean, if a hockey fight can be good. It was a good fight for guys who don't fight, maybe. Right. Which is part of it, right? Because sometimes you need guys who don't know what they're doing because the guys who do know what they're doing half the time, it's, it's defense and holding on,

which is what it should be, because, you know, no one wants to get punched. in the face, but these guys didn't know how to not get punched in the face. So they just kind of awkwardly swinging at each other. It was, I don't know, I, that old school part of me kind of liked it. Like there was that time back in the day where everybody fought sometimes. They're just certain guys who fought all the time and other guys who did it rarely and to see two guys who pretty much never have that as part of their game. Yeah, Monaghan's first career fight they said on the Bronwyn.

podcast. So yeah, so that was all right. It's boring. And then we, uh, you know, we got the Cassian Kachuk deal, which apparently Kachuk was willing to go on the very first shift where they lined up together. And, and Cassian said no. And so yeah, they went and got it over with. And it was sort of like the old, you know, kind of the Claude Lemieux, Darren McCarty thing where it's like, yeah, let's just go and get it out of the way. And, you know, I think Matthew Kuchk knew he probably was going to lose the fight, which he did, if you're judging it on a scorecard. But everybody came out of it okay.

And from the sounds of it, that's now the end of it. Because both of the guys at the after the game were talking like, yeah, it's done. Yeah, because Cassie insecure at the bag. That's what it was all about. He was like, oh, I got my big negotiations coming up here. I need to make myself the focal point of the oilers for two and a half weeks. You think this was a bit to get him more money to show how essentially he was to the team? I mean, I'm willing to go with that.

That's a pretty good theory. Who's thinking about Zach? People are like, oh, yeah, I guess he's a free agent. And then it's all anybody in Edmonton talks about for almost a month. And then, oh, yeah, I just, I got, you know, probably twice as much money as I deserve and four times the term. a replacement level player who just got $12 million. I want to be in that meeting with his agent where his agent's like, look, Zach, I want to get you this money.

But what you're going to need to do, you need to find the biggest piece of shit in the league and then feud with him and then beat the shit of him. Get yourself suspended and then talk shit about him. And then in the next game, you know, by then you'll have your new contract. I just, look, like the circus atmosphere in that game or whatever, like, like, you know, people wearing their little turtle shirts and all that shit. I saw that you were a fan of that. Yeah, humiliating themselves.

These are grown men. Like, grow up. But, you know, like, again, it's fucking wrestling. Like, I don't know how anybody doesn't see that. Oh, completely. This was a wrestling event. I don't know what you're talking about. They legitimately hated each other.

then they fought for eight seconds and now they're their best friends like I wrote a thing for yesterday where I was talking about player rivalries and the different directions they go in and and I talked about how virtually all of them years down the line they kind of get to this place of mutual respect like even even Lemieux and McCarty you could get them to sit down and basically everyone other than Avery and Broder have eventually buried the hatcher but it usually doesn't happen in the first period of the first game where you're like, yeah, all clear, we're good. So I don't know.

I don't know. Maybe it's not that we got another game on Saturday. You know, Kachuk takes one more run at him, and we're probably right back to square one. Well, now we have to pretend the McDavid Gerdano thing's going to happen. Yeah. Yeah. Or, and then the other piece is Sacronaldo. Yeah, I thought we had to pretend that Drysidal's going to chicken wing Dave Redick for throwing his stick.

And then, yeah, the Zach Rinaldo thing where he was like, I got next. Did he get on the ice? At all, like, the rest of the game, I can, I'm going to assume he had maybe two more shifts the rest of the game. I was, I was so embarrassed for Zach Ronaldo last night. Like, the fight happens, you know, everybody, you know, has moved on. And this little fucking piece of shit's on the bench going, you know, I've got next, buddy. And Cassian is just like, I'm so much more wealthier than you now and just walks away. Yeah, no, like Cassian can't do that, though, because that's what got him, he was so insulted that Kachuk did that to him and was like, I'm not going to fight.

fourth liner. So you can't turn around now, or maybe you can if you want to, if you want to play the heel and really drive a guy crazy. But he can't turn around now and be like, no, I'm too good to fight Zach Rinaldo when he was mortally insulted by Kuchuk pulling the same card on him. That's right. But that's the point, though. Like, Zach Rinaldo is to Matthew Kachuk as or is to Zach, fuck. Zach, Zach Rinaldo is to Zach Cassian as Zach Cassian is to. Matthew Kachuk. Yes. And that folks is why he got a $1,300 on his SATs. That's right. Yeah. Well, it took four tries to get there, but I fucking did it.

The game on Saturday is in Calgary. So if the flames actually wanted to make that happen, they could at least, like, get them out on the same face off. And then, I mean, then Zach Cassing can skate away. That's, I don't know. I mean, it requires, but it requires Jeff Ward to be stupid enough to put Zach Rinaldo out there against the McDavid line. Well, like,

that's the real impediment to this happening is that, like, you would have to be a moron as a coach. It would have to be like a face off in the neutral zone right next to the flames bench. With two seconds left in the period. And if he doesn't, if he hasn't, if you're not punching him within three seconds of the shift,

you better be sitting on the bench. so that we can get someone else out there. So I don't know. We'll see where it goes. It was an entertaining game. It's bad blood makes the NHL more fun. And it was a good game start to finish, which kind of probably prevented it from turning into a gong show that it could have if it was 7 to 1. And the game was fun as shit.

And I enjoyed the gamesmanship. I enjoyed the mysterious play sink of Milan Luchich on Kach's line that was unexpected because it wasn't in the original lineup. up. I appreciated George Peros before the game playing the role of wrestling commissioner, you know, basically giving Sportsnet the, and if any member of the NWO interferes in this match, they will all be banned from ringside kind of, kind of set up to the event. And then after the game, so these are the actual quotes from after the game, courtesy of Wes Gilbertson, uh, Kachuk on fighting Cassian. I just didn't like getting kind of pummeled at home like I did. A lot of people didn't want me to do it, but I wanted to,

It was a way for me to stick up for myself. It wasn't anything to do with owning anybody, or owing anybody, sorry. It was just doing it for myself. He said, I wanted to do it earlier. He said no. And then I think after the Monaghan Nugent-Hopkins fight, he wanted in on the action. And I was like, sure, I'll do it. Absolutely.

And then Cassian told Ryan Rashog, before they fought, he said, thanks, kid. I appreciate you doing this. And by that, he might getting him $12 million. Right. And then Kachuk wanted to go right away, but Cassian wanted to want to. him to think about it for a bit first. And it was what Cassian called the game within the game. Here's my take.

I would never fucking fight anybody if I was Matt Kachuk. I am so upset. He just absolutely shouldn't have done it on it. Beautiful pest. That this beautiful, wonderful pest, this next level, this Brad Marchand before he sold out and became a player, fucking guy. Drop the gloves with Zach Cassian.

I am so upset with my sweet boy. I can't believe he did this. Pathetic. He ruined the bit. He absolutely ruined the bit. Sure. Yeah. You guys know where I stand on that one. Your boy, if it was good enough for your boy, Claude Lemieux, then I don't, yeah.

He was supposed to be the best of us, Sean. He was the chosen one. Again, like, we're talking about this in the wrestling context for obvious reasons all the way through. Like, you don't give them the blow off right away. You don't have the big blow off at SummerSlam. You have it at WrestleMania. baby. Yeah, this should have been a DQ or a countout.

Absolutely. And then you have the main event. 100%. Unless you want to move on because you're the star and the other guys, the mid-carder that you don't feel like carrying the feud on for months and months. You actually want to move on to. But like, peel back the layers here. The last game of the season is a battle of Alberta.

That's... Hold on. Well, he's... Chuck's not playing in that game. I mean, one of those teams is going to be a playoff team. Peel back the layers for a second. Okay, you're Matt Kachuk, right? You obviously have been pulling some pest shit with the oilers and what have you.

That's fine. You delivered two legal hits and then some guy beat the shit out of you for doing it in the last game. And you somehow feel it's your responsibility to have him beat the shit out of you again to like let the pressure out of the goddamn kettle? What the fuck? It's so dumb. Oh, I was so disappointed that he fought him last night. This is why he needs me as a Bobby the Brain Heenan type who's just advising him, guiding him through all his decision-making, putting him in a position to succeed. Yeah.

What you really need to do is convince Convinck David to turn heel and then rip Zach Cassian's cross necklace off him on Piper's Pit. There's therefore sparking the greatest feud in the history of wrestling. Well, McDavid might be tempted. Man, like I didn't think the Cassian contract was, this is one of those things where they, they, and I feel like teams and agents are getting smarter at this and leaking out crazier numbers before settling to the slightly less crazy number. And everyone goes, okay, that's not so bad. And I'm not suggesting the actual guy feels this way, but if, man, if I was Connor McDavid, I'd be sitting there going like, I left millions of dollars on the table so that you guys would. have the room to put good players around me and build a winner. That's what everyone told me I had to do. It'd be a good team guy and leave millions of dollars on the table and you guys instead are

putting career fourth liners on my line, having them have career years and then giving those millions of dollars to those guys to keep them around. I'm sitting there going, why didn't I just take the $15 million or $16? It's the early 2010s, Pittsburgh. thing where it's like anybody who played with Sidney Crosby or Regnie Malkin got two million dollars more than they should have and then the team sucked for five years. I am happy for Zach Cassian. I am at like this is a guy.

It's a good story. Like journeyman to, you know, four year contract. It's got to feel great to get, you know, not just the money, but to know that like, all right,

for the next four years, we don't have to worry. Like we're locked in. It's not, because this is a guy who, for some of his career was, borderline to stay in the league and, you know, whether it's, whether you want to call it. Now he should be borderline to stay in the league.

But he's not anymore. That's the thing. No, I know. You know what? He, you know, you have the skills that you have. And he did what he could to stay in the league long enough to get an opportunity to play with a star. And he cashed in on that.

And he's been productive, whether you want to call it a, you know, a flu shooting percentage season or whatever. He put up the numbers when he needed to, and he got his money and he got his years. And I don't know if it's going to work out for the Oilers, but I kind of like seeing guys like that. Yeah, I kind of do too. But I like seeing guys like this get their deals. Considering his salary drops to where it does in the final two years of the deal, I mean, this is basically like, here, Seattle, here you go, Seattle, and then trying to get him to draft him. Seattle's not going to be that dumb.

I mean, come on. I mean, fucking Ryan Reeves ended up on Vegas, man. I wonder, though, you know, and I know we're all kind of playing the numbers game with this vis-a-vis McDavid. I do wonder whether or not he had any input to say, like, here's a guy that does kind of what Luchich did, but he actually is producing numbers. And, like, maybe I want him around. Is that possible? Sure, it's possible. But is he producing numbers?

You know, he's still less than... 15, 16 goals is nothing to sneeze at when you're like, you know, a meat stick. Well, I mean, he had 15 goals not playing with McDavid last year. Well, he played with McDavid a bit last year. He's played with McDavid a bit like the last two years. And this year, there's a discernible drag on McDavid when he plays with him. But that's, you know, we know that. I just, you know, it's the same Ken Holland shit as he did in Detroit, where he's like,

hey, you're, you seem like you're pretty good next to Hendricks Zetterberg. How would you like to get paid for the next 15 years? No. No move and all that. Like, obviously you didn't do that. You take that back. He did not give him a no move. Kenny Holland clearly learning from his past mistakes.

Yeah. Only locking in a, what is it, 29, 30 for four more years? Great. Awesome. He just, he does not join such luminaries as Chris Russell and both goalies on the Edmondson Oilers as having trade protection. Oh, my God. Oh, boy. Yeah, old school hockey, man.

I appreciated last night. So while we have you on this podcast, Lambert, since you're here every week, how good are the flames? Pretty good. I mean, they're not. Okay, so under Jeff Ward, they've been really good. They have, I don't know, like a top 10 win or points percentage in the NHL, and their underlying numbers are all solid. I don't know how much I trust those goalies to go the full distance.

You know, Dave Riddick is having another good year, and, you know, Camp Talbot's having a good season, but, you know, he's Camp Talbot. I think that they're probably on paper the second best team. in that division? Behind. Vegas. Oh. Is that a surprise?

Disrespecting my Canucks juggernaut like you are. Well, I mean, okay, so the problem with the Canucks is, they don't really have a ton of, they have a lot of high-end talent, but not much besides that, let's say. Jim Eagle. Yeah, and Antoine Rousel, like, you know, Tyler Myers, like, you can go down the list. There are a lot of, just on the top of my head guys where it's like, oh, I guess he is in the NHL. All right, fine. And, like, I like Jacob Markstrom, but I don't know that I like him to the extent that he is playing a sustainable level at a sustainable level this season. Yeah, no, Vancouver's playing well.

You know, like, they're, they had that really, really good start to the season and things have kind of dropped off a lot in terms of their actual on-ice play, if not the results. You know, I think it's a three-team race in that division between the Flames' Golden Knights if they can get the goaltending straightened out in Vancouver, just because Vancouver is kind of in that top position. Now, why not the coyotes? Is it because Taylor Hall is in the team and his teams never win? Well, you know, I don't know. When's Antiront to come back?

Is he back yet? Because that's the only reason they were winning games before. Disrespecting Darcy Kemper. That's what I meant. Yeah, Darcy Kemper and Antiront, I guess. Sean, are the Oilers? Are the Oilers a playoff team? In that division, they might be.

You know, it is such a toss-up with those five teams, and I'm still waiting for one of the central teams to kind of flip the switch, and maybe, I don't know, I mean, Winnipeg's in this weird death spiral where every week they just get worse and worse, and then you look at the standings and there's still only three points back. And Chicago is kind of making a run at it. Even Nashville is, they've somehow still, even though we're into almost into February, they've still got three games in hand on everyone.

So, yeah, I mean, the Oilers are borderline, but I feel like they're going to be one of those teams that will be or should be buying at the deadline. Because this is, like, you don't, if you would say heading into the season, and they're going to be a borderline wild card team, but maybe more than that because of the division. Like, you don't go all in on that, but you go in a little bit on it because you don't, you do not want to miss the playoffs by two points

because you had to hold onto your second round pick or whatever. Yeah. And burn yet another year of Connor McDavid's prime without a playoff run. Yeah, take a run at it versus, you know, some of the other teams you look and you go, how much better are they going to get? Has Arizona already played their card?

you know, it's a possible Arizona even considers moving Taylor Hall now and kind of undoing that. Whoa. I don't know. Hot take. No, I've heard that multiple times in the last couple of weeks. I haven't heard it from like Arizona, but it, I've certainly seen lots of people wonder if that would make sense. But like what people though? Like real people or like Twitter people?

I can't, now I can't remember who. So it sounds like I'm totally banking that up. But I feel like the answer is, yeah, real people. I don't. It was on Don Cherry's podcast. There, we'll just say that. I mean, no one listens. I'm a big fan.

Oh, are you? Oh, yeah. You're just sending a lot of stuff I agree with on there all the time. Our next letter comes from Brian L. Grapes. Why are you right all the time? I think we're going to, I think it's a very distinct chance. we get five teams from the Pacific.

That's fucking crazy when you think about it. But, you know, like... But it's almost as likely we get three teams from the Pacific. Like, I don't know what the odds work out as necessarily, but I can't imagine there's too big of a gap, honestly. I mean, I think... I don't see... I don't think Winnipeg makes it.

No. I agree. I'm curious about Chicago, but maybe not. I mean, unless Nashville makes the rally... Chicago's hanging around. Nashville is still the team. look at and go. Yeah. Yes, I agree. That's, that's, that's, I mean, I said, I made the call back a few weeks ago. They were going to fire the coach and make the playoffs. I didn't know they were going to hire

the guy they hired, but, uh, I'm, I'm kind of standing by that, but, uh, I mean, Chicago's, at least feisty. Winnipeg. They have the goaltending. That's, that's the difference. Winnipeg has the goal tending, which is great, except they've had the goaltending all year. And they're still where they are. Like, normally any team you look at. and you go, well, hey, if the goaltender goes on a heater, who knows? Like, their goalie's been on a heater. Well, like, he was the Vesina mid-season guy, and it's still not happening. Then it kind of fell apart before the All-Star break, though, for him.

So I, yeah. Their last year's ducks where it's like, oh, boy, their goaltending is incredible, and the rest of their team sucks. I like that. Thank you. Connor Heller. Hart trophy. Yeah, no, let's go.

Connor Halebuck, hard trophy. There it is. Yeah. Goalers should get them every year, shouldn't they? Yes. I'm voting. I'm voting all Connors on my heart ballot. I'm voting all goalies for everything.

Hallowluck? Goleys for the Lady Bing. Who's the third Connor? Goalers for the Selkie. Kyle Connor. Connor. Isn't that guy Connor Garland on the fucking... Who's Tyoys?

Connor Garland play for these days. I think he's in the coyotes, right? Feels like he's bouncing around. Connor Murphy and Shoehl? Chicago if they make a playoff. Are we going to have like a league of Connors at some point? There's a lot of disrespect for Connor Brown happening right now. Like I just feel like it's the Ottawa guy. I got to. Sean, as a Canadian, is Connor the new Gord? Are we just going to be inundated with Connors now? No, Gord is the new Gord for the 87th year in a row.

Gord needs to make a comeback. Yeah. Gord never left. Don't call it a comeback. If I knew my kid was good at hockey at like 11 years old and his name was Connor, I'd change his name to Gord just to fucking differentiate him from the pack. Yeah, it's like pulling him out of school and putting him into new school so he can divide. Yeah, you change his name. Yeah, change his name. Makes sense. Right. All right.

So the Pacific Division, a fucking juggernaut, everybody who hates on the Pacific Division can like stick it in their ear. And speaking of sticking things in your ear, look around you. It's a wireless world and everyone needs. a pair of wireless earbuds. But before you go dropping hundreds of dollars on a pair, you need to check out the wireless earbuds from Raycon. Now, you already know Raycon earbuds start at about half the price of other premium wireless earbuds in the market, and that they sound just as amazing as other top audio brands you know. Their latest model, the E25, is their best one yet, with six hours of playtime, seamless Bluetooth pairing,

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I'm 70. But here's the thing. I love these earbuds in a very, very big way. And I think you'll love them too. So do check it out. Raycon.com slash puck. Raycon.com slash puck for 15% off of Raycon wireless earbuds. I feel like we should put a bow around the All-Star game. But let's start with something that really got into Lambert's Craw this week. The idea of fixing the All-Star game.

Oh, we're going to do so many things to fix the All-Star game and make it more exciting. Like, you know, like, I understand everybody's like, look, I don't want to write anything that matters at the All-Star game. You probably can't do anything that write anything that matters at the All-Star game. So every third person who got sent there by their publication was like, here's what I would do to fix the All-Star game. Boring, nobody cares, you can't fix it. That's the point. Like, you can't, there is no scenario in which you can go, well, what if we make it so that, you know, the players who win all get a million dollars or, you know, whatever the fuck it is?

You just, you can't fix it. It's an unfixable thing. It's, it's as bad now as it was back then, but the only difference is there's a three-on-three tournament instead of one totally stupid five-on-five game. That's the only difference between the level of effort now and the level of effort then. I see, I disagree with that. I agree with the main point that I don't think you can fix it. And I think the effort level is the issue. And I just, you know, there's no magic wand you can wave to get the players to work a little bit harder and look like they're interested.

I think the effort level was higher years ago, decades ago. It was never, I mean, you know, unless you want to go back to the Gordy How days, where guys were getting in fights in the All-Star game. That hasn't been the case in a while. But it has just continued to dip and drop. And we get it, right? I mean, these players are beat up. This is supposed to be a vacation.

They treat it that way. You know, in an alternate universe, it'd be nice if there was a leader in this league, a commissioner who could actually had a good enough relationship with the players that he could maybe even go in and say, guys, we just need you to up it a little bit. Because none of the highlight real goals look like highlight. real goals when somebody's skating half speed in the background, not even reaching their head.

Like, try to break up a pass. Try to, you know, take a slap shot every now and then. That's all we need. But they don't. The point of the All-Star game isn't to, like, produce entertaining hockey. It's so that the, like, junior vice president of social engagement at Enterprise Renekar can fucking shake Alex Ovechkin's hand or whatever. Well, maybe that's a bad example because he wasn't there.

But, like, no. But that's what. it is now. It's supposed to be about entertainment and it's supposed to be a showcase and a chance for you to put your product in front of people who might not watch it. Because in theory, at least, there's sports fans out there who don't watch the NHL but might watch an All-Star game. Well, it's the best and the best. They absolutely wouldn't because everybody understands. Everybody understands All-Star games are fucking bad. The NBA All-Star game is bad. The only reason to watch All-Star Weekend. Yes, it is. It just is. It's just, you. That still has the mystique of guys. In the NBA, people are like, these guys don't fucking try. They don't get back on defense. But you still watch it because the NBA is a personality-based league. And there still is this novelty of seeing guys that fucking try to break each other down every game now on the same team.

That used to be the case in the NHL. I think the Olympics fucked that up, to be quite honest with you. I think once it started happening where you start to see your favorite players playing on each other's lines in the Olympics, they didn't care about the All-Star game anymore. The other thing is that, you know, and this is, again, this is as me as someone going, like, you know, in the 80s and 90s, the All-Star Games weren't bad. In the 80s and 90s, you saw your own team, and that was pretty much it. And you saw the Leafs on Saturday night if you were somewhere else in Canada, but you didn't, it's not like today where we've seen all these guys. Like that, if 30 years ago, it was like, this is, oh, we're going to see Gretzky and he's going to play on the same line. Yeah, as a kid growing up in Jersey, it had access to Sports Channel America, aka no.

games, seeing like Theo Flurry was a big fucking deal for me in the All-Star game. Whereas now you've seen all these dudes on YouTube 100. So, I mean, and that's another thing that you just can't fix. That's just, this is what the league is now. And so, yeah, big picture, I still think a little higher effort level would go a long way, but you're not going to get that. And part of the reason you can't is because whatever passes for leadership in this league has made it a point to make sure that every interaction with the players is so contentious and

is always a negotiation and it's all give and take that there's no way you can ask these guys to work any harder. So they're going to show up. They're going to half ass it. It's going to be unwatchable hockey. We're going to hope this skills competition is cool enough that it at least makes the weekend feel worthwhile. And beyond that, I mean, you can do like little short-term things.

If you change the format, make it international, that might up it a bit for a year or two. I think it will. I think you throw USA Canada in a thing. To what it used to be. You throw USA Canada in a thing, like you'll get effort. I also think that you get effort and skills. That's why I like skills better. Like you can't fake fastest skater.

You can't fake like hard as shot. Like there's actual effort there. You can fake hard a shot as we found out from 50-year-old's Al McKinnis with his wooden stick. There were so many people that thought that was real. Like, fuck it. Elliot Friedman thought that was real. And I love Elliot.

But man, like, Well, again, Greg, it's the thing of, if you have to explain the joke to people, it wasn't a good joke. Right. Right. So, like, it's the NHL being like, isn't this fun? And everybody going, like, we don't know what was supposed to have been fun. Yeah. No way.

Like, apparently what it was is that was like the highest number McKinness had hit in an actual competition. Yes. So they slipped it in there. But it wasn't, like, that wasn't really explained. So everybody was just like, do you think we're stupid? Speaking of a witch. I think you would love that, by the. way is Seth Jones who came in under that number.

I think the joke, thanks. The joke played better in the arena because if you were watching the competition, the things where the radar gun times come up didn't come up, nothing came up. Well, yeah, because they didn't turn it on. And then they forgot to turn it on for Seth Jones. And then all of a sudden you saw it on the jumbo tron. So like, I think everybody in the arena knew that it was a bit. But like people watching it on like TV or wherever else were like, holy shit.

Old man did it with the wood stick. What are you going to say? Lambert, I'm sorry. Do we think that the gun in that AHL hard-of-shot competition was juiced 109 for Martin Frick? I don't know. He's only 10 miles away from the record held by every KHL hard-of-shot competition. It's so weird how these secondary leagues can seem to always feed the NHL. The issue with it from what I gather.

And for the record, like guys like once in future a Bucksup guest, Mike McKenna said that, like, Frick's got a really hard shot. I bet. I bet it's not five miles an hour harder than the hardest in NHL history. He took a few extra strides into the shot than, like, Chara does. And so I think that was the point of contention for some people, was that it wasn't the same kind of setup as it was for the NHL game. That said, fucking, I agree, like, I think Elliot might have, like, written this. Shea Weber's Zanocara, Martin, frick fucking death match and hardest shot next year.

Let's go. I said the same thing. Like, Shayne Weber versus Sedano-Cherra. We don't need Martin Frederick. Like, nobody out there is desperate to see the HL's hardest shot, like, put in with the NHL stars. Do your big name stars.

And it's the same thing. I don't care if, like, whatever the modern equivalent of Frederick Modin wins the local NHL team's hardest shot, like, give us the big names. Get it down to Cheren Weber, and that'll be cool. That'll be a moment. Completely. I completely disagree. I know you do.

I think having ringers in the All-Star Games Skills Competition is just so cool and so important. It's a way to make new stars. It's a way to put people on the map. It's the same shit the NBA has always done with the slam-dome competition. Yeah. Who won any of those? What new stars did they make when they used to do it that way for years?

Oh, I couldn't fucking tell you. That happened like 20 years ago. They don't make new stars that way. You just make people go, oh, that was. You just called Freddie Modine for. hardest shot. Like, you remember that. Because he was a leaf. Yeah. Well, again, like, it's, that's the only reason I remember that guy existed. He should not have been front and center at any All-Star. Dylan Markin's, like, coming out party at the national level was, oh, my God, did you see how fast he was? And, and again, he got to take an extra 15 strides before he. Which we're not supposed to imagine. But Dylan Larkin was a real All-Star. That's the thing. Dylan Larkin wasn't, like, the fourth-line guy where you're like, oh, he's pretty fast. He was an all-star on the red wind. What I'm saying is that...

Fucking Tyler Bertusie-ass. Right, Tyler Bertuzi. Yeah, it would have been fucking Anthony Manta if he wasn't hurt. No, I think, I think, though, like, hardest shot's a good example. Like, if you walk in and you have a harder shot than fucking Zedano Chara, you're on next level now. You, like, everybody's like... Next level of what? Better watch for that guy on the power play.

Next level of what compared to what you were before? I don't even care about it as a star-making thing. I just want to see, like, the guy. guys who are legitimately the fastest and the guys who legitimately shoot the puck the hardest or most accurately or whatever. I want to see the guys who are the best at that one thing because, like, you can be the best all-star at shooting the puck hard, but that might not be the hardest to shot in the league. So I just feel like they used to do.

Get all the teams to measure these things. And then you send the five best players and you go, you guys are doing it. Do something cool. And I don't want to say, I don't want to say star making. And then get rid of the all-star game altogether. I don't give a shit anymore. I don't want to say star making. Like, no one's going to become like a superstar because they did something in the skills competition.

But it gives you another entry point to these players, like another point of interest. It's the same, like I said, it's happened in the NBA forever where these journeymen go and they win slam dunk. And now all of a sudden people know who's Cedric Sabalos is or D. Brown or Kenny Skywalker. That's different because slam dunk is like there's a creativity to the skill. Like having five different guys take a slap shot and then we all wait for the radar gun to tell us. Because, I mean, I, nobody can tell. Nobody, like, Shea Weber takes a shot and everyone goes, ooh, and then the number comes up and we go, yep, okay, that was a high number. Right.

Like, nobody's, it's not like the slam dunk where people are doing stuff where you're like, oh, I've never seen that before. That guy, that guy did something that we wouldn't have seen if we hadn't brought him in here. Like, and it's the same fastest skater, too. Like, it's like you watch them go around and then you look at the number and they go, this guy won. And you go, okay, sure he did. And that's fine. Like, it's not having those guys be. nondescript nobody's that no one's ever heard of doesn't make it more entertaining.

It's not like they're going to do something that you wouldn't otherwise see. Until they win and then you heard of them. That's the point. For a week. For a week. And then that's, and then like their local fans become insufferable talking about how this guy's the fastest skater in the world and nobody else care. Like, give me Connor McDavid versus guys I've heard of.

And that's, uh, man, that's, that's more than enough for me. Unless you can bring some third liner from the Red Wings, and then we don't have to have an actual player in the All-Star game. Like, if that covers that team, then I'm open to it. Okay, yes. Now we're talking, okay. And we can get another like Tampa Bay Lightning or, you know, whoever on the team instead, then I'm open to it.

I still won't care, but there's at least a benefit. Two more All-Star things. Well, three more. First off, on Lambert's point before, the people that write these fucking kill the All-Star game, what's the point of this shit, columns? Never leave the press box. They never go to the fan fest. They never walk around the city. They never go and check out people that, like, travel to the game, repping their team.

They have no concept of what the All-Star game actually is on site. And on television, yeah, it's a different product. But, like, when you're there, it was like the lead story on the local news in St. Louis. like I mean, it was a very, man, oh man, we're really making inroads. But, but Labrude, you understand how many murders happened where that was the biggest news in C. Louis? But like, you know, like, I, I had a, I saw an awesome moment at the fan fest. And it really encapsulated why this traveling road show, all-star game thing is, is one of my favorite things. It was at the, uh, the thing where they have all the

trophies, right? And this dad is there with his son. And his dad, points the Selke trophy. And he says, that's what Ryan O'Reilly won last year. I'm just like, that's a beautiful fucking moment. Like, who gives his shit about the Selke? But here it is. It's a piece of hockey history.

It's in your town now. And you've just related to it on a local level. And you're educating the young end. Now, you didn't get into, you know, the advanced metrics that should be used to determine the Selke winner, in which case O'Reilly wouldn't have won. But that's neither here nor there. So the people that bitch about the All-Star game

are the last people that should bitch about it because they don't have any fucking concept of what it is. Secondly. Yeah. What?

I mean, I agree with your point. I think that people who are covering this, like probably do have some concept. I think you're going overboard on dumping on media guys who. And by the way, I think most of the media guys do get to the fan fest because I have to look at 20 identical pictures of the Stanley Cup.

I'll just say this. I agree with the point you're making. It is cool. And every time I complain. about the weekend, people immediately tell me, like, you know, it's not for you. It's for the kids. Except Adam Sandler and Uncut Gems, he also hates the weekend. That's nobody.

You guys didn't see the movie. I have no idea. No, nothing. That's a very good joke. I'm just going to say this. If it's about the kids, which is fine, you got to, you want to grow the next generation of fans, maybe don't have these things ending at 11 o'clock at night also. Like, maybe we could do the, like, the All-Star Game in the afternoon or something so

that my kids can watch it. Finally, my thing about how my, my, my, point about how you can't fix the All-Star game. We've been talking for 20 fucking minutes about, well, here's what we could do to fix the All-Star game. I pray for death every single day. Green Day. Edgy, huh?

It's crazy. That was cool. Good for them. Fuck it. Who cares? I don't give a shit. To your contract. Frigging back for more F-bombs next year. Great. Sounds good. Yeah. They got more attention than the entire All-Star weekend, which is a pretty neat trip. I was on a different podcast and they were, they were making the

joke that like is there anything more NHL than having somebody who was famous and and more productive many years ago and then finding out they have a multi-year contract? You're like what? The other thing that Green Day did was they, so it was really cold the day of the All-Star game in St. Louis. Yeah, they play the game on ice, Greg. Oh, not me outdoors. Yeah.

And so they had people waiting for hours like by the stage near the arena to see Green Day. because Green Day was going to do a quote-unquote concert outside before the All-Star game. Concert lasted two songs, and keep in mind, these are Green Day songs. So they're like two minutes long. Yeah, three minutes. They were there for a total of three minutes. Yeah, and then Good Night St. Louis, and they just fucked off. Finally, your thoughts on the newest event, the Shooting Stars Competition.

I was wondering how that played on television. Not great. Kind of sucked. Not great. It because it was confusing. And when I wrote about this, I said, I like the concept. There's something here. I hope they stick with it.

But it didn't work this time. And the main reason it didn't work is they put all these targets out there. But then they had the 10 point target, which they made look like it was the biggest target because they did like the whole thing with the arch. And that was a mistake for two reasons. First of all, it was like, why is the biggest target worth the most? And also it made it so the guys kept hitting the target and it looked like it should count, but then it didn't because there was like this kind of, you had to hit it exactly. So like on TV, guys are shooting and it seems and it seems like they're hitting it. And the announcers are like, oh, he hit it.

And then the score isn't changing. And even at one point, I think it was Marner. Like you could tell even the players were confused. Like, why did I not get points for that? And then you've got all these other targets that nobody's hitting at all except by accident. A bunch of OHL players to do math in their head. You can't count on that. So, like, and yeah, you know, it's the thing where they were just all shooting at the same target for the most part.

And so if you want to do the same idea, but make it something relatable to these guys and make sure they're shooting it more than one target and not just the big one, make it a beer pong concept. Where you have one team at one end, one team at the other end, that. They're shooting. The targets get moved away as they make them, and then the first team to clear the board wins. That's a cool idea. Yeah, I'm really smart. I like that. Except that then bringing up Brett Hall would have been a completely unfair advantage.

All I wanted to see was that happened. And when he started waddling up those. By the way, he lost the puck on his first attempt. I don't know if they showed that on TV or not, but it just dribbled off his stick, and it was pretty great. No, that's a cool idea. And I think for the people in the arena to do this again, You need something to indicate that it was scored. Like, they had, like, ring cards that were being put up.

Or the target or whatever. And that's it. Everybody's like, got it. Or just have it laid up or there's a puff of smoke or some shit. Well, there was, but then it was going off even on ones that didn't count. Correct. So, like, whoever is, I don't know, there's, like I say, there's something there. Yeah.

It's worth, I hope they don't just go. It didn't work. Let's scrap it. but I don't know. And if they do the beer upon concept, the NHL owes me $1 million. They owe you at least $1 million. That's a baseline. Look, and you need to get Zach Cassian to negotiate your contract.

That's right. I think here's the thing. The one thing that I take away from that All Star of Skills Competition, why the fuck don't we have styrofoam targets again? Or something that breaks upon contact? That was a mistake. I have no idea. I have no idea what we got away from that.

It's like popping a zip. It's like a cathart. Well, they got away from it because by doing the CGI, you could have like specialized targets for each player and it could say like it's his first all-star game and you could have picture versus stats. So I get why they thought it was going to be a good idea. You could just print up those targets though. You could just do that physically. It didn't work practically because there were times where players thought they were hitting things and it didn't wasn't registering or it wasn't counting. But it didn't, you're right. Like there's something just satisfying about the exploding styrofoam thing. Exploding styrofoam. Yeah. We need to have. And there was one point where I think somebody like... Fing off a glass doesn't work. There was somebody that I think it was Huberto

like missed the net at one point at registered. It was fucking dumb. Like you don't overcomplicate things. It makes no sense. All right. Our guest today also was from All Star Weekend. You may know him as Xavier Woods from the WWE, a member of the New Day.

You may know him as Austin Creed on your Twitch and your gaming platforms and on YouTube. Fascinating dude. This is a really fun interview. I think you like it. And here's Xavier Woods. All right. The first question.

Uh-oh. I saw you at the All-Star Skills Competition last night. Yes. I saw you with Gretzky last night. Yes. What's that like? Incredible. So when he came up on the big screen, when he was walking out on the ice,

I looked up from what I was eating. And in my brain, I was like, oh, my God. I think that's Wayne Gretzky. And then they announced it. And I was like, oh, my God, it's a wind. Like, being in the same building as him? Yeah. And then the fact, like, he was in the suite, and we got to go meet him and take pictures and talk to him.

He was like, oh, yeah. I was friends with a bunch of pro wrestlers back of the day. I'm like, oh, my God, this is so cool. Like, I'm semi-linked to Wayne Gretzky. As for me, and I've said this on many a platform while I've been here, I'm very new to hockey. Yeah. But, of course, I know who Wayne Gretzky is because I was big in cartoons when I was younger. And I saw my first exposure to Wayne Gretzky at that cartoon he was in.

Yes, incredible. And then the video. games, obviously. But then from that, then the advent of the internet and things like that, I've seen so much stuff with Gretzky. And now that I'm like actually trying to learn about hockey, seeing him in person is like, I don't know. It's, it's weird because he's so, he's so incredibly good. It's like somebody coming off of Mount Rushmore. Yeah. Like he's the sports deity. Yeah, like, it's like, hey, like I'm not, speaking to me. Yeah. Right, right. Like, you're taking your time and your day to talk to me?

It's funny you should talk about, like, I mean, I personally think that pro stars and Hulk Hogan's Rock and Wrestling shared universe. Oh, definitely. They're all on the same time. 100%. Yeah, shared universe. It was especially, so like for me, again, like, I wasn't around hockey. I grew up, like, first half of my life in California,

than in Atlanta, so like, it just wasn't hockey. Right. So while I probably knew about hockey, like, I just, I didn't know what it was. So that was like my first actual exposure, not only to Redski, but to hockey. What was your first NHL game? game then? A thrashers game.

Years ago, we went to one and my favorite memory about it is at half time they had college kids playing in sumo suits. Literally one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life. That's to the point where next year at this event, I have already pitched that we do like a weird celebrity threes in sumo suits. I love it. God, I would die. So your approach to hockey is sort of, you had the Gretzky.

cartoon thing, but it was probably through video games first. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Definitely. So like, so actually, actually, when I was younger, yeah, but what actually got me into it was my, I was hanging out with a friend, and they turned on a game, and it was during the playoffs. And so what I saw on the screen was

two teams who were both losing, and there was only 10 seconds left. I was like, this is the last game of this series, right? They're like, no. This is like the middle of this game, and this is a game two of the finals. And I was like, these guys are murdering each other.

They're like, yeah, that's hockey. It's like, well, why have I not been watching this? And so since then, since then I've been playing show a little bit. And that definitely helped me. Video games, yes, like you said, are my perfect avenue to come in. But yeah, it really started at the playoffs last year. Because you playing the game and kind of getting into it, it reminded me of being in college when I played FIFA.

Yeah. And I wasn't like a World Cup fan necessarily at the time, but I had so much damn fun playing FIFA on PlayStation, then I'm like, it got me into it. It got me more into it. I always thought video games were a good entry point for hockey because even if you watch it, you don't know what's going on, the game kind of gives you a sense of what the game is

and you understand it better when you watch it. Yeah, that's like what back in the day, NHL hits. Yeah. The Tim Kittrow's the voice, the NBA-GM brother. So like that game's incredible. Yeah. So if it wasn't for stuff like that, like I wouldn't have played hockey stuff for known about it.

How'd you get mixed up in this then? So, like I said, playoff stuff, super interested, started playing shell. And I told WWE, when I got hurt, I tore my Achilles last October. And I told them, hey, anything hockey, please, dear Lord, help me go to hockey stuff. And so maybe three weeks ago, they asked me like, hey, do you want to go to the All-Star game? I was like, yes, I've been playing. I'll do well. And while we didn't win, me and my man Fatality right here, we were scoring some goals.

assisted each other, we both scored. So I think it's a huge success. Yeah, yeah. I mean, they've embraced it so well as far as trying to know what a marketing thing it is and everything else. All right. What else did you see at the All-Star game last night? I saw you walking around with your Creed jersey, which I thought was a nice. So it's pretty sweet. The skills challenges? Yeah. So much fun. Yeah. So much. Like I want to do all of those. Yeah. I need a separate skills challenge for all the guests like earlier in the day and just people just falling down on the ice. Do you think you could do that top golf, dude perfect? 100%.

Oh, you think you could do that, yeah? 100%. I would love to do that. It would be great. That, and I want to do the speed skating. Yeah. When I'm healed, obviously. When you're healed, obviously, obviously.

And you can take down the record. I've always found your background in gaming to be so interesting. When did you, what was the auspices for up, up, down, when did you start that? So I wanted to, back in a few more, so as we travel from city to city, we're in a different city every day. So what I try to do is go to arcade bars around the country because the idea of bringing back arcades is great to me. But now we're all old enough. So of course we want to drink when we play video games. So I go to these all over the world.

And I thought, well, I think it'd be really cool to have a show, like a travel channel-esque show where you're just showing off all the places. So, oh, you're in St. Louis. They just built a new updown. You're in Georgia go to battle and brew, like wherever you go. Arcade, the city. Yeah. The WWE was like, nah, we'll pass. It was like, well, and then someone else in the office side of things wanted to make a YouTube channel with one of their talent.

And so we got put in each other's face and we're like, oh, well, let's do a gaming YouTube channel and see if they bite. And so it took like a year for us to get the okay because it's lots of like weird red tape, but we finally got through it all. And now we have the channel. And so we're almost five years deep. Yeah. And just happy that it's still progressing. There are worst ways to go through life than being the Anthony Bourdain of video game bars. You know, like it's not bad. Exactly.

That's all I want to do. Do you got a favorite one that you've been to in the U.S.? Or anywhere in the world? I'll say it's a chain, but I'm going to say up down. Yeah. Because they're incredible. They're so well done. And the one here, I went you for the first time last night.

It's the only two-story up-down. And it's got a good vibe. It's like ergonomically correct. Because lots of them, you can't move around. Like there's games, but like I can't get to the street fighter machine. So like, what am I supposed to do with this? It's funny because when I go to him, I find that. There are some, I've always found that they shift in one direction or another.

Like there's too many fighting games, or there's not enough fighting games, or there's not enough, like, old school point-off games. I think the right one has to have the perfect mix of all the genres. Yeah, it's like I always look for, like, my basic needs are NBA jam. Yeah. Usually DDR when I'm not hurt. And that's honestly it. Yeah.

And if they have one or two of those things, then I'm solid. But like your staples are going to be that six-player X-Men cabinet, the four-player turtles. Mortal Kombat 2, Street Fighter 2, that's like what your normal thing is going to have in it. So once you branch out from there, now we're getting into like, okay, what makes you different from the other ones around?

But there's one called Cold Beer. It's not a video game, but like you've got a piece, like a metal rod, get to move a ball around and try to get it into certain holes. So it's like a balance and timing thing, stuff like that. While drinking enough things to get properly hydrated, your quotes, really fun to do. Sometimes I walk into a bar, and if they have a certain kind of whiskey, I know it's my kind of bar.

But walk into a barcade and they have turtles in time or the X-Men game, I know we're solid. I know you're good. Actually, we're not allowed to call all of them barcades. Right. Because barcade is a chain. It's a chain. And so, like, I was calling them barcades, and then when I talk to them, they're like, this is actually our name. I was like, oh, my bad, my bad.

You know who else is a freak about that? Zamboni. Zamboni? It's not every ice surfacing machine is a Zamboni. Oh, wow. I didn't know. In the time, I've written in the past when a Zamboni would break down and leak fluid on the ice and it'd be hilarious.

Zamboni will actually call me and be like, sir, not a Zamboni. Ice surfacing machine. Wow. It's a whole thing. That's wild. Yeah, but I, too correct. I do love the people at Barcate. Just letting you guys know.

Have you found that you've gained more fans through Twitch than you would have normally had? Or are the people that are already into you from wrestling watching you? I think, I think I'm in a lucky position where I get to come and do stuff like this. Yeah. And so people that, in this situation, there are people here who aren't gamer, but they're here for the event. And so there are people who come to me and say, oh, I saw your name on the list and didn't think that I would like you or didn't know why you were here. And then they're like by the end of it, like, I love your energy. So like I'm going to follow your stuff.

So I think it's just like a certain vibe. So coming and doing that stuff here, when I get to be up people's podcasts, I've been doing a lot of Dungeon and Dragon stuff. So it's essentially, I try my best to put myself in front of new audiences that I think that I had vibe. with. And I think that I'd vibe with them because I'm interested in the same things, whether I already know a lot about him or whether I'm learning. I have not yet run into a community that has like stonewalled me and been like, we don't want you at our place. It's like, oh, as long as everybody's cool and has good energy, then we're about it. So I'm in that position right now, especially with being injured, a lot of times in wrestling, if someone gets

injured and they just kind of disappeared to their back wrestling again. And I don't want to do that. Right. Because I feel like it's a simulation for when I'm done wrestling, I don't want to have nothing to do and be lost and not know what the next chapter in my life is. At this point, burning the candle at both ends doing wrestling and gaming stuff. Now, the right side of the candle is fizzled out right now because I'm hurt. So now I'm just burning the one in. So rather than going, man, what I'm going to do while I'm hurt?

I go, oh, cool. Instead of two jobs, now I can focus on one and get that all set. So by the time I'm wrestling again, hopefully my fan base is on the gaming side. excuse me goes oh I've never watched wrestling but I liked him on the Dungeon to Dragons thing I liked him at the Chelle Challenge so let me watch him wrestle when he's back

so I'm hoping to create a synergistic relationship between the two two more questions hockey wrestling fan crossover I've always felt there is one oh definitely yeah definitely because everybody has some sort of tighter wrestling

whether it's like my grandpa used to take me or my stepmom was really into it like everyone has some sort of wrestling story And I think once people really understand what wrestling is, they have a different appreciation for it. Because obviously, it's 2020. We get it. Wrestling is what wrestling is. And then once people go like, you hear people say, oh, well, I just watch UFC because I don't want to watch that fake stuff.

Like, oh, you realize that dragons and Game of Thrones are not actually dragons. Right. And in shows that are on television, you have months, if not years to write a script. The actors then get those scripts. They then go over their lines and then shoot the scene 15, 20, 30 times. Yeah. Then they take the best cuts from all of those and they make their well-produced 12-episode show.

Our show is on 52 weeks a year. We don't get scripts or lines or things like weeks, days in advance. We'll find out what we're doing at like 5 o'clock and then go perform at 8. It could change in the ring what we're doing. We have one shot in front of a live audience to not only portray a story through words. It's improv physicality as well.

And then when people get that, they go, Oh, this is really difficult. And then on top of... On top of that, the reason they like UFC is because they stole all their gimmickory from wrestling. Exactly. Exactly. Just come to the source. Last thing. Was there a moment when you knew that you and Kobe and Biggie were getting over?

Like, is there that one, oh, my God. It's when people start saying New Day sucks. Is that what's? Oh, yeah. Because the thing is, like, I was taught by my first trainer that if people can make fun of you and other people know they're making fun of you, Yeah. That's where you're good.

Yeah. Because if you walked around and you were impersonating, I don't know, someone I didn't know, and it's like, okay, well, what is he doing? But if you're doing some sort of weird hand gesture and I know that, this one guy does it, I'm like, oh, cool, he's making fun of him because now this thing is memorable. Right. So, I mean, it's almost the card angle thing, right? Like, the minute they started chanting along with the theme song in a negative way,

you knew that all of a sudden he's going here. Exactly. And then as soon as he leads into it, no, I don't. Now, everyone in the crowd goes, yes, you do. Now we're playing a game. Right. And we're having fun. I'd rather, the worst thing for pro wrestler is no noise. Right.

Either cheer for me or boot for me. That's how I know I'm doing my job well. When I come out and there's no noise, I'm doing my job poorly. Yeah. So that's kind of what we have to play with. All right. Last hockey thing. Have you found a team yet that you're digging?

Oh, Lightning. You're a Lightning. I lived in Tampa when they won the championship. No shit, really? So, like, that's my deal. It would be thrasters, but they're gone. Yeah. Predators are the closest team to me.

Uh-huh. But yeah, I'll not say Lightning until I actually dig in, deeper. Yeah. So, and right until they suck. Yeah. You can go by the house.

Thanks for your time, man. I appreciate it. Take care. All right. Thanks to Xavier Woods for joining us. Uh, the,

uh, Chell gaming experience was a EA sports production and it went really well. Do check out NHL 20. Please don't call it Chell. Yeah. I know God say. I know that's, but I know that's a losing battle.

Like I know that is I've, I've, you know, I think I've, I've, I've sort of won incremental wars. against Selly, but I know that Chelle is just going to be what it is and there's no, there's no turning back from the kids calling it Chell.

There are some things that are just right and wrong and you just have to take your stand. And this is one of them. Right. I, listen, I'm not about to back down from the fight good sir. I'm just saying that I realize that it's a, you know, it's a suicide vision at this point. I mean, there's no, there's no getting out alive because it's just going to always beat Chell. That's the shorthand. How awful.

Fucking baby talk. All right. Different topic. Let's get Cracken in talking about the potential Seattle's name. Is it Cracken or is it Craken? This is my first question. No, it's released the Cracken. It is?

Yeah. Clash of the Titans is canon. And they said Cracken. There you go. In Clash of the Titans. Okay. So this is from John Hoven of Mayer's Manor. he was on NHL Network Radio and is probably kicking himself for giving away news on someone else's radio show.

From everything that I've heard, it looks like Seattle Cracken is going to be the name, he said. This is via Russian Machine Never Breaks, which is quite surprising, actually, when I was given the information just a couple of days ago. I was a little bit in shock personally, just because we had been told several times previously that was not the name they were going for. it looked like they were leaning towards Sockey's, and then now, I guess it's come out that there was a name that's been used in a book by an author, yada, yada, yada. Really well put there. Yeah, and a book by an author, you know, or a book. Those are the best kind of books? Yeah.

My opinion? If you're going to get a book, you're going to want one by an author. It turns out it was previously used in a pancake by an author. The best-selling Seattle Sokyes book series is by Jamie Davy. Davenport, and I checked it out. Jamie Davenport does, in fact, have a copyright on Seattle Socais. So that is, or a trademark, so that's kind of a sticky wicket. Too bad.

That's a great name. Also, I don't know if you knew this. It's a series of kind of dirty romance novels. Which as are 80% of best-selling hockey books. If you've ever actually looked at the bestseller list, yeah, it's depressing. especially if you are one of the authors who has written one of those books. And you're like, hey, who's ahead of me on the book author list? And it's just nothing but shirtless hockey players and like blades of passion and stuff like that.

Yeah, high sticking. Connor McDoodle and Leon Drysides are two teammates who find they have more in common than just hockey. I want a tower ranking of all of the, uh, close to real NHL names, but not used in slash fiction. So get cracking on that, Ryan will get on that.

Yeah, put me in charge of it. You can count on me, guys. So Seattle Socais, currently owned by Jamie Davenport, there was also talk about steelheads and things like that. Could be cracking.

So here's, the Seattle team put out a tweet that was like, we're scouring the bottom of the ocean, the highest mountain tops, and the deepest forests for our name that tells me that fucking Sasquatch could still be the name, baby.

But I, here's, I did some, a little digging around. This is very informal. This is, you know, kind of off the record shit. Cracken was definitely part of a primary marketing pitch that the Seattle group got and apparently was extraordinarily well received late last year. Like, that's, that's a fact. So if maybe they were on the fence about Cracken or didn't consider it, and I know in the past Jerry Bruckheimer has kind of indicated maybe he wasn't crazy about it.

I think maybe they had their eyes opened as to the potential for the brand. So everybody I talked to yesterday said it may not necessarily end up being the name, but it sure is shit as a finalist for the Seattle team. You know what this feels like to me? Because the guy who broke the story, it kind of broke it and then said, but it's not like final, final. this feels to me like the team deciding on this and then putting the trial balloon out there, right? Leak it out there and see what the reaction is and if they get killed for it, then they never announced anything officially and they can just go to one of the other options. And if people seem to think it's cool, then there you go. You've got your name.

Like this feels very trial balloony to me. Yep. 100%. So how did the balloon fly yesterday? For me, and based on what? what people were saying in my mentions, which, you know, I'm not going to attract maybe their target audience on Twitter, but people thought it was fucking stupid. So, you know, it was kind of a mix that I saw. I know the people who like it seem to really like it. And the people who

don't like it, many of them seem to really not like it. And then I'm sure there's a big batch in the middle who are kind of like me and don't care all that much about this stuff. It's certainly it's creative. It gives you a lot of you can work with. I feel kind of bad because I had, since we talked about this a few weeks ago, like I've more and more kind of started liking the sock eyes idea. Yeah, it's a good name. That were, especially when whoever, like somebody sent like those, those fake jerseys, like the concepts that, the mockups, yeah. Some of which looked really good, like really nice. You could call them the socks for short, too. Like, there's a lot of really good shit surrounding sock eyes. Yeah.

You're saying the cracks isn't going to be... Exactly. And that's part of the problem with cracking is like people are going to call the arena the crack house. And they're going to call the team the crackheads. I was the cracking skulls, crack house, crackheads. Come on, baby. I think, now, I'm not a marketing expert here, but I think the NHL would probably want to shy away from comparisons to crackheads. Hey, Seattle, join our, join our new fan group, the crack addicts.

Like, it's perfect. The crackers. I mean, that's on brand for the NHL. That's just beyond the pale. Oh, beyond the pale. I did the thing. There you go. So the, I am on the side of liking cracking a lot.

And which is weird for me because Elon Musk fucking epic. And also Cracken. What did you call last thing with bacon guys? Is that the term? Elon Musk is like, memes are epic. Like, that's what this. team is. It's the epic meme team, uh, if they're the crack and, and I, uh, hate it. I think that's us.

Out of curiosity, what did you feel about Toronto when they named their basketball team, the Raptors? Well, I was, uh, nine years old. So my opinions were maybe not as refined as they are now. You, I don't know. I always thought if you were the target audience for. Yes, no, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, I remember in Toronto that being a thing where it was like, everyone's like, oh, really? We're doing. Like, this would be, yeah, this would be like, it's not even like, like, I'm even trying to think it'd be like calling them like the Avengers or something where you're like, oh, my God, how fucking cool would that be. But not. Can't answer your question.

Seattle Ultron. I like, I'm not a big fan of the non-plural name for a team. Yeah, I agree with that as well. Although Cracken, I guess, is the plural of Cracken is what they would argue. of Cracken. Well, I don't know, is it? Because usually there's only one Cracken. That's the issue. Like, I don't know if there is a part where like, you know, hi, Captain, there'd be crackens on the horizon. Like, I don't think that's happened in fiction. That's true. That's true. But I would, I get, is the plural of Cracken crackin. And if so, that's okay. I mean, I'm again, not a fan of wild or heat or shit like that, typically. But the Seattle Cracken, if that's what we're going with, I'm okay with it. And I disagree. I love. I love. love all the ancillary crack house crackhead all that stuff obviously the team can't acknowledge it the fans have to acknowledge it um but you know as far as being a unique name with the potential to have some really cool iconography to it i'm i'm down i mean but i'm down from an outsider perspective like

i i wonder how people in seattle feel whether like you know we're defined by our native heritage we're defined by our fucking fish we're defined by the goddamn saskwatch and then like assholes are me like, yeah, but Percy has fought a Crackin and Clash of the Titans. Isn't that cool? Like, I can't imagine Seattle wants to stay, do they? I hope not. I guess we're going to find out. Yeah. Hmm. I'm holding out for Sasquatch. I feel like there's still going to be a potential for it. Um, but it may be too long. If you really don't like Cracken, then like, now's the time to get on whatever platform you have and say that loudly, because I really, think that this is what's going on.

They're listening to see it. Yeah, if only, if only you had a way for people to really hear your opinions about these things in the hockey world, Greg. You should see if any of the sports websites want to publish a take on that. If only I had a platform. You ever, you think we're ever going to get another expansion team in any sport that's just like a fucking pedestrian name, like tigers? That would be so cool as if they were just like the tigers in the NHL.

That would be awesome. I don't, like, I feel like every team that comes out has to be a tryhard. And they, you know, we can't get a, like, the closest we came probably were the Charlotte Bobcats, as far as, like, expansion teams and sports. Like, that was, and that was just a rich guy being like, the team should be named after me. After me, right. Yeah. Right, exactly. I don't think we're going to get another expansion to you.

Panthers and Jaguars was probably the last time that we got the generic kind of. Jaguars, I did that Jaguars is a weird-ass name. Panthers, that's a regulation sport. name. Jaguar's not so much. Well, Jaguars, I think it's just the thing of, like, it's alliterative. People always love an alliterative name, which is why Sockyes and Sasquatch are registering. Yeah. Right. And, like, I'm not saying I don't like an alliterative name. Like, I think that's cool.

And I still think it should be the Seattle Sea Lions if we're not going to go with sock eyes. But, you know, like, there's, there's options out there. The Pacific Northwest has famously a pretty good biodiversity. So this is very true. Yeah, it's interesting to see. My biggest thing is that I just hope the colors aren't black and red. That was a notion that I've heard for the last two years that they were going to go black and red. Because everything I've seen, that and with some teal in there, which doesn't sound like a good mix, but when you see it, it actually could work.

It's not bad, yeah. Just break it up a little bit. Like, don't give me the Ottawa Senator's colors. whatever the fuck. Like, give me a little bit of weirdness and teal would fit the bill. That's fine. Just don't go straight black and red. Did you guys see the Anaheim Ducks, Anaheim Angels mash-up jerseys? I have to think the Anaheim ducks are like trying to have the worst imaginable jerseys at every possible term. Like, yeah. Who thought that, like, how many, again, like, we've said this before, but like how many layers of PR people and whatever had to go through,

like, did that have to go through? And everybody was like, yeah, looks great. And nobody said, oh, looks like shit. You nobody said, that looks like a printing error. Like, no one said that at any point during the process. The thing that bothers me the most about the ducks, and you're right, their jerseys are fucking horrendous is that they own the, like, the, the, the, the, trademark on one of the coolest fucking logos in sports history.

And why not just go back to the goddamn Mighty Ducks logo? Like, why dick around with web feet D's and fucking all those other horridors? shit that they do. It makes no sense. I truly don't get it. I do not understand it at all, but, you know, it's the NHL. Like, when in doubt, the answer is incompetence. And... Oh, excellent point. Um, oh, uh, speaking of Mighty Ducks, Mighty Ducks reboot on Disney Plus. With, with Gordon Bombay as, as the coach and team or whatever. Isle McCree going to be involved? Is Finland going to be involved? Or Iceland. Is it Iceland? Iceland? Yeah, that's Iceland. As Puck Soup listeners know, I only saw parts of the Mighty Ducks until Lozo and I did the full commentary track on the show.

And you can listen to that back on the Patreon archives. I don't have a very sort of romanticized view of the Mighty Ducks movies or whatever. But I mean, is this going to be to use one of Sean's favorite terms a gritty reboot? Like, is it going to be like an alcoholic Gordon Bombay getting his life back together by coaching a youth team or something? Or some shit again. Yeah. And then physically abusing them. Mighty Ducks 1.

Right, yeah. Or is it going to be like he's had a great career? That's not even a great reboot. That's just, here's what the concept of the movie was. So you think they'll do that again? Like, you had a relapse or something? No. No.

I mean, it's going to be a thing where, if I were pitching it, here's what the pitch would be, is he was a successful NHL coach. and, you know, something happens where he doesn't, like, he loses his smile, basically, and he doesn't want to be an NHL coach anymore. And how does he get back to it? Well, you know, he and Charlie Conway, who has been the coach of the ducks all these years with his own daughter and that kind of thing, they get the band back together and Fulton reads there.

And, you know, like, it's the whole, it's the whole gimmick. But you just do, he lost his smile and he, you know, wants to get back involved with, uh, with you thoughty again. Can you do a good kid's, like, sports comedy? Like, part of the fun of the Mighty Ducks was, like, the fat goalie, right? Like, you can't do fat goalie again, can you? Yeah, you know, I agree, Greg. You just can't say anything anymore. They're taking away our freedom to laugh, Ryan. I'm going to make a documentary about this with my good friend Joe Rogan. Am I wrong about this? Like, Goldberg's either dead or in jail?

Am I wrong about that? Oh, we're going to have to fact-check that. I feel like something tragic happened with the guy who played Goldberg. I think it was in jail. Okay. I'm going to check this out, Roaldberg. I got that. Hold on.

Oh, well, Google gives us Goldberg Mighty Ducks mugshot as an option, so. Yeah. Oh, yeah, this just happened. Mighty Ducks actor Sean Weiss arrested on burglary and meth charges. Yeah. There's your, there's your fucking series. Well, I, you know, that's not. But, uh, yeah. Um, yeah, Weiss broke into a woman's garage and then into her car by shattering a window. Homeowner called police during the break in and found officers, found Weiss in the car when they arrived. Um, he's best known for playing his role as Greg Goldberg in the 1992 film. with the Mighty Ducks.

There you go. So not dead, just arrested, for the record. Yeah. Okay. Let's bring the room down a little bit. Thoughts on Kobe. My opinion, it's bad that his helicopter crashed. Let me reset this.

I didn't realize that, I didn't realize, like, obviously he was an iconic member of the Lakers. I didn't quite get the connection between Kobe and that city until the memorials. And I didn't get the connection between Kobe and like other elite athletes until this happened. That was the part that kind of surprised me is because I'm not being a basketball fan. I obviously knew who Kobe was and knew he was one of the all-time greats. but I didn't like it and you know obviously when somebody passes away people are going to go out of their way to to try to remember them in the best way they can but like it feels like he like Kobe was your favorite athletes favorite athlete and yeah based on on not just what he did in the games but but how he

prepared and how he approached and and there just seems like there's so many other like you know that that that elite athlete world is such a different world than any of us can imagine. And the thought that those, even, you know, those guys and, you know, those men and women have people that they admire and that they kind of look out to. And it's a little bit unusual and was interesting to me. And obviously the whole situation is tragic and awful. and it's just a terrible situation. And whether you're a basketball fan or not, and I'm sure especially in someone like Ryan

who follows the NBA much more closely than I do probably understands the impact in a way that even I don't. I was going to say that I was listening to the Press Box podcast on the Ringer. and Dave Shoemaker made an interesting point, which is that, you know, for, as a, as a Gen Xer, like, Jordan was my guy. Like, he was the top of the mountain, the pinnacle greatest basketball player ever saw. Kobe took so much from Michael. And that's not to say that he wasn't his own guy or anything. It's just that he was so influenced by Michael right down to, like, the way he dressed for games and stuff.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. He might be the first athlete I can remember that almost transferred the renown and the respect that one generation had for one player into a different generation and kind of keeping the same through line. It's hard to describe what I'm trying to get at, but it's kind of amazing to me growing up loving Jordan. And I'm looking at this and kind of seeing the same impact. than if this had happened to Jordan, say, in the late 1990s. Well, so what I guess I would say to that is, like, Kobe, yeah, like, he was obviously inspired by Jordan.

He was, what, 41, 42. So, like, he was coming into the league when Jordan was kind of leaving it. And he, I think, endeavored to be, like, okay, what if Jordan wasn't the biggest piece of shit? the planet basically. Because, like, he famously took a lot of young NBA stars, like, under his wing a little bit and, you know, showed them, okay, this is what I do to prepare and that kind of thing. And so that's another reason why a lot of NBA guys were just, like, devastated by it

was because, like, Kobe would reach out to guys and be, like, you know, come work out with me and I'll show you the ropes of what it takes to be an NBA star and that kind of thing. I know Jason Tatum from the Celtics was a guy who had a very close relationship with Kobe, like, through that lens, where Kobe was just like, hey, kid, I like your style. Let's work together and, you know, let's get you to be the best NBA player you can be, that kind of thing. And, you know, like, I think that's why, like, you know, everybody acknowledges Jordan's greatness. and when he dies, I'm sure that, like, A, you know, it probably won't be this tragic situation like it is with Kobe. But B, you know, I don't, I think there would be kind of like a different outpouring of support.

Just A, because, you know, Jordan will, there won't be anybody playing in the league who played with Jordan or really had a relationship with Jordan because that's just not the kind of guy he is. to the point that I think somebody on ESPN said like Kobe kind of tried to seek out Jordan's approval or help or something like that and Jordan was just like absolutely not, not interested. So it, but it'll be interesting to see if basketball reacts to Jordan's passing the way it has with Kobe

because, you know, he, like you said, he was like the Jordan for my generation, basically. Yeah. And a really nice job by the, by Ovechkin last night with the 24 jersey, and a really nice job by the Kings as well for not only recognizing Kobe, but also Gigi at the game in their tributes to both of them. It was super sad. I don't think I've seen a more, a compelling hour of TV than the TNT show

that would have been, I think, a Lakers Clippers game that night. Lakers Clippers pregame, you know. Right. And having the, first of all, the NBA show on TNT is the gold standard for any sports television, maybe in the history of sports television. It's the fucking, it's great. It's always been the best. And to have Shaq on and have him just breaking down and, you know, having guys

tell these stories and it's just fucking remarkable. Jerry West on there just like losing his shit because, you know, he's the guy sort of not, if not discovered, at least, you know, recognize what Kobe could be. Oh, man, was it fucking devastating watching that show? Super sad. But, you know, we should also mention, as we should, that Kobe not without problems of his own. I think a lot of people had some real issues with the Higia. that was going on considering what happened in Denver many, many years ago. Rightly so, because that's part of the story. I've got no issue when the tragedy happens in the immediate aftermath that if people's

reaction did not have Colorado at the top of their mind, I think that's fair. But you can't tell the story without including that and including it prominently. And the fact that there's a backlash against people who are doing that is, sad and worse than death. I think what we found out is that as a society, it's a one-day waiting period. Yeah. Because, like, people were getting called out

for bringing it up on the day of his death. And then, like, the next day, there was all of these sort of, like, officially sanctioned stories about it. Yeah, about his complicated legacy. And I'm like, oh, that's fucked up. Like, come on. You know, so that's what it is.

Like, you didn't wait the commiserate amount of time before bringing up that there was like rape allegations. It's just, industry's dumb sometimes. But yeah, devastating. I was, I was getting on a plane when somebody for the AP texted me to say that, that TMZ was reporting it.

And it was stunning to see everybody sitting around me finding out, like, through their TVs on the plane or through their phones. And like, the entire plane is now talking about this situation. It was just, it was really crazy. It was one of those moments. where it was, I mean, like Jeff Pearlman,

who's a writer, made the hyperbolic comment that it was like 9-11 level. Yes, that was fucking dumb. That was some kind of a take. Yeah, I think, I think like Princess Die would be the proxy, right?

Like, when the world stopped because a death happened that you didn't expect and, oh my God, and everybody is focused on the same person for 24 to 48 hours. Yeah. That sucked.

All right. Super Bowl. Chiefs. Niners. First of all, Sean. What's the Super Bowl like in Canada? Oh, it's a big deal. I mean, it's probably not at this point significantly different than what it is down there.

NFL is huge up here, and it's a big event. The only difference is depending on where you are and how you're watching. it, you may or may not get the ads. So some of us get into that whole thing and then others just see like 15 commercials for the same Jerry D. show over and over again. So other than that, though, it's the same thing. It's big deal.

It'll be on front pages and all of that. So bigger than the Grey Cup? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, in a different way. But, yeah, it's the Super Bowl is, I mean, it's, it's, it's, the Super Bowl transcends sports. and it's a cultural event, and so much of whatever you guys down there do culturally just bleeds up here whether we want it to or not. And yeah, this is, as far as like an event, it's far bigger than the Grey Cup. I used to love the fact that, like, the movie trailers would be the biggest fucking thing for me during the Super Bowl.

Like, I still remember the Independence Day trailer on the Super Bowl that, like, just blew everybody's mind and made that movie. probably made that movie $100 billion in its, you know, first two weeks, just based on the White House getting exploded by aliens on the Super Bowl. Now I feel like because the entire advertising thing because we're in a digital age has been diluted because you're getting the ads like weeks beforehand. And it kind of blows the whole gig. And the stupid like, oh, our ad got turned down. Here it is.

Please circulate it. Have a million people watch this ad that we never had any intention of having a peer anywhere. Yeah, it's not like the old days where like the ads are come on and then you had to go to like some weird website. You had to go to like I film to like try to watch them on Monday morning at work and like only six of them worked. And yeah, it's it's not quite the same. We'll probably have seen all the ads before they, before they even run. Yeah, it's a bummer. Do you have, what's your relationship?

You're not the, you're not, you don't have the best relationship with the NFL Lambert. Yeah, I mean, I'm not going to watch the game. I don't care about it. Was there a time of your life you did care about it? Yeah, sure. But I just kind of stopped caring about football and maybe the late 2000s, I guess I would say, mid to late 2000s. I don't really miss it. I'll maybe catch bits and pieces of three or four NFL games over the course of a season.

But, yeah, I mean, I'm not going to watch the game. Not even for Shakira and Jennifer Lopez at the halftime show? No, the only thing I'm really worried about is whether it will disrupt all the HBO Sunday night shows. Certainly. Dude, you've got to know by now. Like, I, as a huge 90-day fiancé fan that I've already said, we'll see you in two weeks. Right. No, I mean, I'm assuming that they're not going to show them, but I don't have that confirmation.

And if I do have to wait an extra week for the latest episode of The Outsider, I will be upset. Is that good? It's really good. I think what I would say to people, though, is if you can avoid spoilers, maybe wait to the whole season's done and binge it, or, you know, when there are only maybe two episodes left or something. Because I want the whole thing right now. It's that good and engrossing. And kind of the cliffhangers at the end of every episode are not as satisfying as you would necessarily want them to be where I just want them to, like,

keep feeding me episodes, and they're like, well, what if we, you know, just kind of ended on this half of a cliffhanger? And I don't like that. But the show's awesome. The show's awesome. Yeah, it's really good. And I'm not normally the biggest Stephen King fan. So, well, I would be worried about it because the one thing that I, I used to be a big Stephen King, like, fan, like reading the books growing up and shit. Dude doesn't know how to stick a landing. That's my issue. That's my concern. I mean, I think I said it on the newsletter, but my problem with Stephen King is often, like, he, for example, I watched Doctor Sleep. Did you see that one, Greg? No, but I heard it was good.

Is it not? It was pretty good, but the main villain is named Maggie the hat, and it's because she wears a hat. Oh, okay. And it's like, someone needed to tell you that this is not, you know, and like, you know, and like, you know, and like, you know, know, it's the same thing of, oh, how did they, how did they beat it in the first half of that book? Well, there was a big child group sex scene. And it's like, don't, though. Like, someone should have said, don't do that. And nobody does with him because, you know, he's Stephen King. So, like, he's always had that. And it makes it really difficult for me to get on board with a lot of

Stephen King's stuff. But I think when an adaptation is good as it is here, so far, three, four episodes in, I'm very into it. And then, like you said, are they going to stick the landing? I don't know. I haven't read the book. And I won't. So, Sean, you have a favorite Stephen King property? Not really. I do, I remember reading some of the books as a kid, but I didn't do a ton of the movies because I don't like horror movies. I don't... Spooky scary stuff, yeah. I've never understood why I would invest two hours to feel a negative emotion

when I could just watch the Leafs instead, which pretty much accomplishes the same thing. But, yeah, no, I did. My favorite joint was Salem's Lot. I was always a huge Salem's Lot fan when I was a kid. Vampires, taken over a small Maine town. I would very much watch a remake of that at some point. in the near future.

You're watching Curb, by the way? Yep. I didn't love the first episode. I think it wasn't super tightly scripted. Like, for example, if Cheryl says, oh, I'm really sick, and then Larry kisses her, and then he sticks his nose in the coffee, shouldn't that make Richard Lewis sick? Like, wouldn't that have been a thing? And Richard's mad at him at the end of that episode, too.

that seems like something that maybe would have happened in season four that I didn't I didn't like the second one I thought I thought it was I didn't think it was that funny I thought it was I thought it was better but still had like the whole date scene was yeah like that was like six minutes six minutes of no laughs the painting thing was funny I thought the first episode was really funny but I agree with you like from a curb perspective of everything sort of being in a tight package of narrative laughs not not the tightest like episode but I thought that it had some high spots and I will forever fucking, maybe a top 10 joke for me in a curb history was Leon's, there's no reason you should be out this late.

There ain't nothing for old white, old old white ball dudes this late. They ain't no yacht clubs open. Fucking destroy me. All right. Last thing, as everybody knows, birds of prey, the new DC universe movie is coming out. featuring Harley Quinn and the Huntress and Black Mask. It's coming out on February 7th. So it's time to play another movie game with Sean.

Oh, God. And this one's going to be short. This is not a full-fledged quiz or anything. It's a one-question quiz. Okay. And the quiz is this. Sean, can you give us the full subtitle of Birds of Peas of, pray. No, I can't, but it's something weird because I read an article about this. It's like the

something, is it emancipation of Harley Quinn? It's the something, something emancipation of something Harley Quinn. Am I close? You've nailed at least five of the words in the subtitle. That's not bad. Yeah, you're, you're most of the way there. You're so close. A passing grade is a passing rate. What I would say is I don't think I don't think I could nail it. So I'm not going to hold it again, Sean here. There's a descriptor of emancipation. Yeah, and I feel like it's fantabulous for some shit like that is correct. So now we've got this world, we're making some word salad. We've got our tongs out. We're mixing it around the word salad. Put it all together, boys. And you've got birds of prey colon. The fantabulous emancipation of, you. Of Harley Quinn. One Harley Quinn, maybe?

By the coward Robert Ford. That's right. Close enough. The only thing you're missing is it's Birds of Prey colon and the fantaguless emancipation of one Harley Quinn. That's incorrect use of the colon. That's... Yes, it is. That's true. You never want to... Just grammatically, I was totally going to see this movie featuring characters I've never heard of.

That is a spinoff from a movie. I didn't see that nobody liked, but apparently we're still we're doing anyways. I'd go see it if it was Birds of Prey and the incorrect use of the colon. I'd just see that movie. I think that may be taken by other movies, but... Yeah, I was going to say that's in the Seattle Sockyes series, right? Human centipede and the incorrect use of the colon.

It is. All right. All right, that's flex soon for this week. Oh, do we want to talk about the David Backus's not reporting to Providence and the Bruins don't care thing? That just happened. And so he's not reporting. So, like, what does that mean? Well, normally they would suspend him without pay or whatever.

And they were just like, yeah, we agree that that's maybe not the best course of action for him. So, you know, we're just going to move forward as though nothing happened, it seems like. Very strange situation. but for all intents purposes, he will never play for the Bruins again. The weird thing is they said that he's like fully healthy, which in theory, maybe that's them kind of putting out the smoke signal that, hey, if anybody wants to trade for this guy, he can play. But in reality, it's like, that's going to be awkward in a few weeks when they're like,

actually, he's going on the LTIR because we need the cap space. And it turns out he's not capable of playing, even though we just told you he was. Is anyone going to take him off their hands? I can't imagine. He has another year after this one. Yeah, that's the issue. It would have to be like a change of scenery type. It's at a discount.

It's at a discount. It's like not what his actual cap hit is, but it's just, you know, again, inevitable. I mean, there's places out there that have, there's teams that have cap space. So if some team wants to use that as an asset to get something out of the Bruins, then maybe, never know. We did our big trade deadline look ahead today on ESPN and, like, fascinated to see what the ducks are going to do. The ducks might be one of the more interesting teams at the deadline

because they're completely out of it, right? Yes. They've got a bevy of defensemen that teams like the Leafs would love. Andre Kasha, they were going to trade for Justin Falk earlier this year. And they also have a fucking mountain of cap space where they could take on some of these contracts for assets, too. They're really poised to have an interesting deadline. Okay, I'm sorry, we were trying to wrap up the show.

But where is this idea that the Leafs need defensemen coming from? Like, they have a defenseman that are hurt, and it's always good to have defensemen. But people are like, oh, they're desperate for a defenseman. It's like, if everybody's healthy, they have a really good blue line. What are we talking about? Well, in theory, I mean, it comes from the fact that they're not good defensively, which isn't always just on your six defensemen. it's the fact that they do have guys that are hurt and they're right on the

playoff bubble so they can't necessarily afford to wait and also all their defensemen are free agents at the end of this year so that's the thing like they kind of need guys with term for for next year because otherwise it's going to be like three guys right so like that's hence the Josh the Josh Manson stuff hence maybe like Damon Severson you know come buzz those sorts of guys yeah right like you get a little bit of cost certainty and what have you in case like you can't bring musen back or whatever so like i get that but i agree with you lambert like the desperation of it all is yeah is a bit yeah yeah and they should trade willie nielander who's having in fucking incredible season to do it yeah

yeah that's smart people cover the sport i'm still seeing that take it's it's it's more it's barry caponin that i think they talk about trading with c c c that's the it's the it's the it's the because it's the cap and Cici package that will... Cody C.C. for David Backus. Who says no to that deal? Who says no? Hopefully the Bruins for their side. All right, real quick. Tofoli goes where? I say, I say, uh, man,

ah, fuck, you know, I have a, I have a, I have a, boy, you came in on, really backed up. No, no, because I was gonna, I was, Boston, Boston wanted to trade for him, right? But like, if Boston could get either Crieder or Tafoli, they're taking Crieder every fucking time, right? Yes, I would think so. I'll say Criter to Boston, Tafoli to Calgary. Edmonton's got to do something.

They need a frigging forward, and I think Tafoli could be their guy. Yeah, that's... Those are good. Let me throw in for my buddy Jim Rutherford and say Penguins. Oh, I like that. Do we think that Pazzo will get traded or does he re-signed with Ottawa? I think this is maybe one. one of those rare cases where the answer might actually be both.

I was going to say the same thing, yeah. We always say that and it never happens, but I could maybe see that. He's having a great year. He could help teams flip him for something, and then I don't think he's going to be massively in demand so much on July 1st that you can't make a pitch to re-sign him unless you trade him somewhere and he likes it there and re-ups. but yeah, I could actually see this being the rare kind of dugweight double situation.

Double donk. Double dungy. I mean, the trade deadline will be, will live or die on somebody that no one is expecting to be traded being traded. Because like right now it's like the Alec Martinez Derby. And it's kind of beat. Yep. And so that means like a dumba probably. or Jeff Petrie.

Yeah, I'm interested to see what Minnesota does because they do stink and they, but apparently they, they recognize that that's the case. And so they're going to maybe do something about it. And I think that's where it should be. Do you think, like, I've heard you say, Sean, a few times that Edmonton has to do something. Do you think that they have to do something? Or do you think Ken Holland gets like a year of Mulligan before he really can. like dig it and change the team. He probably gets a year.

Let's just get Connor McDavid to his age 29 season and see where we're like, they got to do something. He probably does get a mulligan in the sense that every GM does that, which drives me insane that like some GM will come in and be like, yeah, I need a year to figure, like, imagine, imagine if you went and signed like,

you know, Artemi Panarin and then he comes in and goes, he's going to take me a year before I actually score any goals because I just got to figure out how things like, Bobowski's trying that. Brodsky is trying it. He's the guy. I was originally going to say that.

I was like, oh, that doesn't. But yeah, I mean, if they miss the playoffs by one point after having a quiet, like, oh,

let's play it safe deadline. I don't know, man. I forget about Connor McDavid. I don't know how the fans put up with that. Yeah, well, and it's also the thing of like,

a lot of times GMs will be like, oh, we think the answers are in that room, blah, blah, I don't know how anybody in their right mind thinks the answers are in that, in the Edmonton room. I'm being serious.

Like, it's, it's a bad roster. And, like, everybody new coming into the season, ooh, they have, like, a bunch of AHL guys on their wings. Are they going to do anything about it? Oh, no, not right now or not. So, like, now that there is a little bit of proof of concept there just in terms of, you know, they're sticking around a playoff spot, you kind of have to fucking do something about that.

Yeah, especially in a division where, like, based up every two points. Everybody's in it. Yeah. Yeah, that's the thing. Normally we're talking about bubble teams and we're like, oh, you know, if you missed the playoffs by one point, it's like, yeah, but we're just going to be a wild card. No, man, you could finish first in that division.

And even if you don't, that division is super winnable. Like, there is a clear path to the conference final right there. And you have the best player in the world in his prime. Are you really going to, oh, but this prospect might be a pretty good fourth defenseman someday. like, guys, he's, Connor's here now,

like do something. Yeah, you don't want to waste the first of five years with Zach Cassian. Yeah, that's my opinion. Exactly.

That's exactly. Bring it all the way back, full circle. All right. This is like the fucking Lord of the Rings, Puck Soup, where you thought it was over

and then there was like seven different endings. It was fantastic. I'm Greg Wushinsky. You can find my work at ESPN. com. You can listen to my other podcast, ESPN and ICE.

We did a full. All-Star Game Breakdown this week with our good friend, the delightful Steve Wino of Steve Winoe horses on Twitter. And yeah, that's me. Yeah, you can find my stuff. The Pug Soup newsletter's still going strong. I'm going to write one basically right after this, and I'm going to try to touch on a bunch of stuff we didn't talk about, although got a little harder at the end there. I also have something coming to college hockey news.com this week if you're interested in college hockey stuff. And I will, for at least the rest of the season, have a weekly feature on the Pacific Division for the Canucks blog, Pass it to Bullish. That's awesome.

That's that. Check it all out if you want. You can find my stuff on The Athletic. And yeah, read it all there. But on this coming Friday, I've got my weekly grab bag column, which is, as always, mostly just me making jokes and making fun of stuff, but also includes a Gary Bettman sound bite from the 90s that you kind of have to see to believe. Like, I almost flipped a table. I wasn't even sitting at a table. I almost got up and walked over and found a table and flipped it when I heard his response to an answer to a question about. the dead puck era and scoring levels and all of that.

So if you want to be mad and who amongst us doesn't, check that out on Friday. Yeah, wow. If you enjoy the blind rage of Town Goes Brown, check it out. All right, everybody. Thank you so much. We'll talk to you soon. Go nine. Later.

mute, but we also cover movies, TV shows, and tunes. It's your weekly bowl of Hagi and Netson, Bork Su.